Deputy Speaker Williams Q&A: Mangin on upzoning research and Southeast Queens homeowners

So New York City specific research has found that upzoning activity was positively and significantly associated with the odds of a census tract becoming whiter.

thing that neighborhood upzonings can accelerate gentrification pressure in the short term.

Are you familiar with that research?

I'm not sure.

Thank you for the question.

I'm not sure which particular study that you're referring to, but I'm happy to look at it.

Yeah, it's by Jenna Davis, How Do Upzonings Impact Neighborhood Demographic Change?

It's in the Land Use Policy Academic Journal.

So given the strength of your statements about the causes of gentrification, shouldn't evidence pointing in the opposite neighborhood level direction be a part of your analysis?

Absolutely.

And when you mentioned the author of that piece,

I have seen that a couple years back.

It's a few years old.

And I would say this is one of the reasons why at City Planning,

have always advocated for broad-based approaches to addressing the housing shortage that drives gentrification and displacement.

And neighborhood studies that pay attention to parts of the city that may not have been pulling their fair share in terms of housing production.

So like the Soho-Noho neighborhood rezoning, for instance.

And if we're taking a broad-based approach to creating housing,

And if we're paying special attention to maybe some of the wealthier, whiter parts of the city that have not contributed to housing,

production, then we can address some of those issues that are raised by that study.

I fully understand, sympathize, agree with communities, maybe lower income communities of colors who say, why us?

And that is one of the big reasons why

You know, we focused on City of Yes for Housing Opportunity that asks all neighborhoods to contribute.

Okay, just a few more questions specifically around homeowners.

I know, you know, obviously in your responses, you repeatedly contrast lower income communities of color with wealthier neighborhoods that use political power to restrict housing.

But that binary does not describe large parts of Southeast Queens, as you know, you and I discussed, you know, largely black and brown homeowners that are working in middle class.

Would you characterize the Southeast Queens community as the kind of wealthy exclusionary community your theory is directed at?

No, I would not, Deputy Speaker.

And I'm a huge supporter of homeownership in general.

I recognize the opportunities that it creates for stability, for wealth creation across generations, and I'm in no way opposed to homeownership.

I mentioned my...

My last job before I came to city planning was to create limited equity co-ops in partnership with black and Latino tenant associations in DC so that they could access

the benefits of home ownership.

It's City of Yes for Housing Opportunity.

Personally eliminated the obstacles in the zoning to affordable homeownership projects.

And it's just part of the broader sweep of the fair housing work that I've engaged in over the course of my career.

Housing choice is not just about neighborhoods.

It's also choice about what type of housing that you want to live in.

For some families, it's going to be an apartment in a central location.

For others, it's going to be a one or two family.

Home a little farther out in the city, and our housing policies should support that full range of choices.

I appreciate that.