Chris Walters of ANHD testifies on comprehensive planning

Great.

Thank you, Chair and committee members.

My name is Chris Walters.

I'm the Associate Director for Policy and Research at the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, A&HD.

I'll just give a top-line summary of our more detailed written testimony, which we'll submit to you.

We believe Block by Block is an ambitious plan that needs to be supported by comprehensive planning.

We support its goals of both creating and preserving 200,000 affordable homes and its recognition of the need for a more equitable distribution of affordable housing.

However, building more affordable housing, while essential, is not enough on its own.

As you all have raised today, New Yorkers need affordable homes and neighborhoods with the infrastructure, services, jobs, and amenities that allow communities to thrive.

And they deserve a meaningful role in deciding how their neighborhoods grow.

We believe that comprehensive planning is the missing tool that can connect these goals.

I failed to mention as well, we also convened the Thriving Communities Coalition, which is a citywide coalition working to advance land use justice and

We urge the Mamdani administration to fulfill his campaign commitment to comprehensive planning and build on the strengths of block by block by addressing three critical gaps.

First, planning must begin with an accurate assessment of housing needs.

We believe the administration's recently released Fair Housing Growth Strategy falls short of providing that assessment, particularly for the needs of low-income households.

Second, housing growth must be coordinated with neighborhood investment.

And third, communities must be empowered as equal partners in planning with meaningful opportunities to put forward their proactive plans to shape local development that meets citywide needs.

To help advance these goals, we would make the following call to City Council.

We would love to work with you alongside the Thriving Communities Coalition to advance legislation establishing a meaningful community-based neighborhood planning process and establish a clear pathway for their consideration and implementation.

And second, we would like to work with you all to help develop neighborhood plans in your district, as many of you are doing already.

In conclusion, again, we believe comprehensive planning can help reconcile the urgency of housing production with the equally important goals of community participation, equitable investment, and neighborhood stability.

Thank you very much for your consideration.