{"id":16210,"date":"2025-11-07T10:06:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T15:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/?p=16210"},"modified":"2026-03-09T14:08:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T18:08:40","slug":"nyc-needs-affordable-climate-resilient-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/2025\/11\/07\/nyc-needs-affordable-climate-resilient-housing\/","title":{"rendered":"New York City needs affordable, climate-resilient housing. There are policy solutions to help us get there."},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City faces a\u00a0twin crisis: housing that is increasingly unaffordable,\u00a0unavailable\u00a0and unsafe, and climate impacts\u2014like flooding, sea level\u00a0rise\u00a0and\u00a0extreme heat\u2014that are growing more frequent and severe.\u00a0In fact,\u00a0<\/span>more than half of all households\u00a0are\u00a0rent-<\/span><\/a>burdened<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>tens of thousands\u00a0of those homes are\u00a0facing climate\u00a0risks<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0Low-income residents and communities of\u00a0color\u00a0are\u00a0affected\u00a0disproportionately\u00a0by both\u00a0crises.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The recent New York City election offers an opportunity for new leadership to tackle the housing affordability and climate crises together. <\/span>This is why Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has partnered with the Regional Plan Association<\/a><\/u>, Association for Neighborhood Housing and Development<\/a><\/u>, Cornell University\u2019s Department of City and Regional Planning, and the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability<\/a><\/u>\u00a0to develop a set of policy solutions<\/a><\/u>\u00a0designed to increase affordable, climate-resilient housing and build resilience in New York City.<\/p>\n

To do so, we collaborated closely and built consensus with key government and nongovernment stakeholders from housing, resilience and environmental sectors across New York City to study the intersection of housing loss and opportunity, as well as opportunities to adapt infrastructure to climate risks. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Credit: Anushi Garg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Policy solutions for\u00a0an\u00a0affordable, climate resilient\u00a0future\u00a0in\u00a0New York City\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Learn about actions to include in a resilient land use framework<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

1. Adapt a resilient land use framework<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

New York City lacks a unified, citywide planning framework to guide how housing growth, investment and climate adaptation intersect. Such a framework could drive<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>citywide decisions about where and how to build to achieve healthy, safer and more affordable housing development.<\/span><\/p>\n

It could also guide leaders to center equity, nature, health and wellbeing of New Yorkers by making development decisions that keep residents out of high-risk flood zones.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Credit: Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2. Expand retrofit programs and make them more accessible <\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Extreme weather conditions, predicted to increase and become more severe,\u00a0put\u00a0deteriorating and outdated housing at\u00a0risk\u00a0and\u00a0increase\u00a0financial burdens.\u00a0In fact,\u00a0at least\u00a0<\/span>42,000\u00a0New York City Housing Authority\u2019s\u00a0(NYCHA)\u00a0public housing units\u00a0already\u00a0need repairs<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Retrofitting existing housing for all building types will ensure families can continue living safely in their homes and are prepared for climate impacts. While retrofitting programs are available, many are limited in their scope and funding or operate in silos, meaning there is no reliable and affordable option for many building and unit owners or managers. The City should expand current programs and promote them on a \u201cone-stop shop\u201d website for resilient home retrofits to ensure information is more accessible, and individuals can navigate program options that best fit their needs.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Credit: NYC Mayor\u2019s Office of Housing Recovery Operations. Home elevation work underway in Brooklyn to make it more flood resilient.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

3. Strategically build community wealth and wellbeing in low-risk areas<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With increasing climate risks, low coastal flood risk areas are likely to have more development. This could lead to higher costs and demand, possibly displacing families and businesses many of which are already rent burdened. Increased growth, if not properly planned, could also increase impermeable surfaces which could exacerbate other climate risks, like rain-based flooding<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0extreme heat.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Leaders should adopt strategies to build local wealth and home ownership which can improve long-term neighborhood stability and mitigate affordability displacement while also promoting community resilience. These could include expanding programs to promote local wealth and land use, like community land trusts or establishing anti-flipping policies. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Credit: David Lloyd<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

4. Establish a dedicated resilience fund to support resilient initiatives and projects\u00a0 <\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Improving overall city resilience is critical for keeping individual housing safe during an extreme weather event or disaster. To make continued progress on resilience, New York City needs an ongoing, dedicated funding source that supports flood resilience infrastructure initiatives. This type of fund could cover costs for efforts including capital planning, retrofitting, buyouts, operations and maintenance, green infrastructure and neighborhood-scale coastal infrastructure to reduce reliance on federal dollars that often fall short of addressing these varying needs. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While some\u00a0funding options\u00a0are already\u00a0<\/span>being explored<\/span><\/a>, we need to establish a targeted fund for this work through sources like flood management, new development or utility fees. This dedicated fund will complement federal and state resources and promoting equity, addressing multiple flood hazards and linking to a resilience framework. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As New York City welcomes a new mayor and City Council, we have a unique opportunity to change how we tackle the City’s dual housing and climate crises. By adopting these policies, the next administration can ensure that our city grows in a way that is affordable and resilient, protecting residents today while ensuring a safer, more sustainable future for generations to come.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read the full report here<\/a> and learn more about policy advancements to increase affordable, climate-resilient housing in New York City.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York City faces a\u00a0twin crisis: housing that is increasingly unaffordable,\u00a0unavailable\u00a0and unsafe, and climate impacts\u2014like flooding, sea level\u00a0rise\u00a0and\u00a0extreme heat\u2014that are growing more frequent and severe.\u00a0In fact,\u00a0more than half of all households\u00a0are\u00a0rent-burdened\u00a0and\u00a0tens of thousands\u00a0of those homes are\u00a0facing climate\u00a0risks.\u00a0Low-income residents and communities of\u00a0color\u00a0are\u00a0affected\u00a0disproportionately\u00a0by both\u00a0crises.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153080,"featured_media":16223,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107017],"tags":[],"coauthors":[120619],"class_list":["post-16210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coasts-watersheds"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/153080"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16210"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16240,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16210\/revisions\/16240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16210"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=16210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}