On Wednesday, Village Preservation Executive Director Andrew Berman presented to Community Board 2’s Land Use Committee our updated findings from our study about the failures and broken promises of the 2021 SoHo/Noho rezoning. Four years after the rezoning was approved over widespread community opposition, nearly all of our predictions about what the rezoning would actually do as opposed to what the City claimed have come true: not a single unit of affordable housing has been built; multiple units of existing affordable housing have been destroyed as a result of the rezoning; developments are moving ahead that are 100% super-luxury with no affordable component whatsoever; and planned developments that do include affordable units are segregating them into separate buildings rather than integrating them with market-rate ones as the city promised would occur. Luxury office and retail developments are rising where the city claimed affordable housing would be built or where no development would take place. 

We’re working to ensure that the true impact, false claims, and broken promises of the SoHo/NoHo rezoning and other rezonings like it are known and understood, and we are demanding that city and state officials — including our incoming Mayor — do not repeat these same mistakes. This is critical, as many are seeking to double down on these failed policies and impose more similar rezonings throughout our neighborhoods and city.