Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Law
Flexibility And Conversions In New York City's Housing Stock: Building For An Era Of Rapid Change, Ingrid Gould Ellen, Noah Kazis
Flexibility And Conversions In New York City's Housing Stock: Building For An Era Of Rapid Change, Ingrid Gould Ellen, Noah Kazis
Law & Economics Working Papers
Post-COVID, New York City faces reduced demand for commercial space in its central business districts, even as residential demand is resurgent. Just as in past eras of New York’s history, conversion of commercial spaces into housing may help the city adapt to these new market conditions and provide an additional pathway for producing badly needed housing. If 10 percent of office and hotel spaces were converted to residential use, around 75,000 homes would be created, concentrated in Midtown Manhattan. However, there are considerable obstacles to such conversions, including a slew of regulatory barriers. Allowing greater flexibility in building uses—including by …
Learning From Land Use Reforms: Housing Outcomes And Regulatory Change, Noah Kazis
Learning From Land Use Reforms: Housing Outcomes And Regulatory Change, Noah Kazis
Law & Economics Working Papers
This essay serves as the introduction for an edited, interdisciplinary symposium of articles studying recent land use reforms at the state and local level. These papers provide important descriptive analyses of a range of policy interventions, using quantitative and qualitative methods to provide new empirical insights into zoning reform strategies.
After situating and summarizing the collected articles, the Introduction draws out shared themes. For example, these essays demonstrate the efficacy of recent reforms, not only at facilitating housing production but at doing so in especially difficult contexts (like when producing affordable housing and redeveloping single-family neighborhoods). They point to the …