Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani, Deputy Mayor Leila Bozorg and Deputy Mayor Julia Kerson released the Streamlining Procedures to Expedite Equitable Development (“SPEED”) report, a sweeping set of reforms to deliver affordable housing faster across New York City.
The reforms target every stage of the development process, including pre-development, permitting and lease-up, and will cut timelines for all affordable housing projects by eight months. For projects that require a zoning change, the reforms will reduce timelines by as much as two years.
The SPEED reforms will make City processes faster and more accountable across four stages of development: environmental review and planning; pre-development and financing; permitting and approvals; and marketing and lease-up.
As a part of the overhaul, the administration will cut the “pre-certification” process for many projects requiring zoning changes from roughly two years to six months. The City will also reduce the permitting timelines for both new construction and office-to-residential conversion projects by approximately five months.
To move New Yorkers into completed affordable housing more quickly, the City will also overhaul the City’s housing lottery system. The Mamdani administration will implement immediate improvements while building a more flexible long-term system that is fair, transparent and easier to navigate.
The reforms will cut the time between construction completion and move-in in half – from 210 days to fewer than 100 days.
The reforms were developed by the SPEED Task Force, which Mayor Mamdani created by executive order his first day in office. The Task Force held roundtables with more than 100 industry experts, advocates, developers, builders and trade organizations and received more than 500 recommendations that informed the final reforms.
None of the reforms require legislative action or change the City’s discretionary approval process for projects.
These reforms build on additional housing initiatives launched by the administration, including the City’s first-ever Expedited Land Use Review Procedure (ELURP) and the Neighborhood Builders Fast Track program. Together, those initiatives will reduce the pre-development timelines for affordable housing projects by more than two years.