Housing in focus (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

The inclusive, affordable, and transformative redevelopment of the Astoria waterfront is at risk of falling apart without decisive action from the State Legislature. 

Last year, the City Council and Mayor Eric Adams approved the rezoning for Halletts North; a project that is set to transform a long-dormant site on Astoria’s waterfront into a mixed-use building with nearly 1,400 homes for families of all sizes, including 335 apartments at deep affordability

Housing focus (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

Affordable housing construction in New York has declined significantly in the last few years in the wake of COVID-19 through a combination of factors including higher interest rates, inflation and supply chain instability resulting from the overall disruption of the pandemic. But a key factor that real estate developers, city and state government officials, and many housing advocates cite is the expiration of the state’s 421-a property tax exemption for the construction of affordable housing as part of larger rental housing developments.

Ground-breaking (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

May 19, 2023 - Max Politics Podcast: Top City & State Housing Officials on the NYS Budget Impasse and What Comes Next, with Jessica Katz & RuthAnne Visnauskas

At the annual NYSAFAH affordable housing conference in Manhattan, Max Politics host Ben Max of Gotham Gazette moderated a discussion with New York City Chief Housing Officer Jessica Katz and New York State Housing Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas about the state budget failure on housing and what comes next at the state and city levels.

Listen to the

Housing on the board (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

May 11, 2023 - Max Politics Podcast: The Push for Housing Development in New York, with Basha Gerhards of REBNY

Basha Gerhards, senior vice president of planning at REBNY, joined the show to discuss housing policy at the city and state levels, disappointment in the recent state budget agreement, and more.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter @TweetBenMax. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or

Affordable housing on the docket (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

The great strength of New York is our diversity. Strangers from all walks of life share the subway, the sidewalk, and the park. Of course, it’s not perfect: spiking inequality coupled with an acute housing affordability crisis has fostered disparities that have been exacerbated by the pandemic.  But very few large cities anywhere on the planet has our “gorgeous mosaic” of the well-off and the working class; the immigrant and the well-established; the young and the old; the cis- and