David Brand

1 week ago | gothamist.com | David Brand

Peering at Long Island City from across the East River makes it easy to see why the neighborhood has become synonymous with new development in recent years. Modern high-rises dominate the neighborhood’s waterfront, with still more being built. Soon, an additional 14,000 homes could be allowed in Long Island City through land-use changes that Mayor Eric Adams’ administration is proposing as part of a broader effort to address the local housing crisis.

2 weeks ago | gothamist.com | David Brand

The world’s biggest vacation rental platforms are all but locked out of the country’s biggest city due in large part to new regulations that went into place in 2023. Now Airbnb is spending millions of dollars to back candidates for local office who support easing those restrictions. Airbnb has seeded its SuperPAC “Affordable New York” with $5 million to influence local elections, making it the single biggest spender in the 2025 campaign season so far.

3 weeks ago | gothamist.com | David Brand

The looming, earlier-than-expected end of a key federal rental assistance program could force New York City to come up with at least $175 million a year to help thousands of low-income families keep their apartments. Agency officials and local lawmakers tell Gothamist that it’s still unclear where they’ll find the funds before the money runs out at the end of the year.

3 weeks ago | gothamist.com | David Brand

Hoping to buy a home in the five boroughs? Step one: be rich — or at least have family members who can bankroll a down payment. It can be pretty grim out there for the vast majority of New Yorkers who can’t afford a median sale price that reached $785,000 last year, according to a new report from the Center for NYC Neighborhoods.

4 weeks ago | gothamist.com | David Brand

The site of an abandoned police station on a busy block in Brownsville, Brooklyn, will soon become an affordable apartment complex, with an assist from the New York City Housing Authority. NYCHA is set to transfer development rights and a 6,500-square-foot L-shaped sliver of land at the edge of its Howard Houses campus to the owners of the adjacent lot, where the abandoned precinct house now stands.