{"id":1278,"date":"2026-06-05T10:39:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T10:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1278"},"modified":"2026-06-05T10:39:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T10:39:35","slug":"spencer-pratt-and-zohran-mamdani-should-both-follow-this-ny-citys-housing-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1278","title":{"rendered":"Spencer Pratt and Zohran Mamdani should both follow this NY city’s housing lead"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Insurgent Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt and New York City socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani don\u2019t agree on much.<\/p>\n

Read more Senate passes $70B immigration enforcement bill<\/a><\/p>\n

Pratt pledges to force homeless drug addicts into treatment; Mamdani aims to swell the \u201chomeless services\u201d budget to $4.2 billion.<\/p>\n

Pratt proposes a major\u00a0increase in the LAPD\u2019s ranks; Mamdani halted plans to hire thousands of new NYPD officers.<\/p>\n

But the Republican Angeleno\u00a0and the Gracie\u00a0Mansion DSA member do agree on one thing:\u00a0Their cities take far too long to issue developers the legally required permits they need to start building new homes \u2014 and both have promised to speed up the process.<\/p>\n

Pratt vows \u201cfaster approvals, lower costs, measurable results\u201d and says he\u2019ll drop permit fees completely for single-family-home rebuilding if elected \u2014 a response to the glacial permitting that\u2019s thwarted the restoration of LA\u2019s fire-ravaged neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

Mamdani intends to make permitting \u201cfaster and fairer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both might be surprised to learn that a much smaller city in Westchester County has already figured out how to jump-start housing construction \u2014 and has managed to lower rents in the process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since 2015 the City of New Rochelle, pop. 85,000,\u00a0has found a way to\u00a0enable construction of 5,130 new apartments and approve 2,746 more, with another 3,100 likely on the way.<\/p>\n

All told, it will mean a 37% increase in its overall housing stock \u2014 a boon for the county and the entire region.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert says her town has no need for rent controls; the flood of new construction has held rent increases to just 1.6% above 2020 levels.<\/p>\n

Indeed, between 2020 and 2023, the average New Rochelle rent went down<\/em> by 2% \u2014 even better than Mamdani\u2019s rent-freeze campaign promise. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Development Director Adam Salgado calls the \u201cNew Rochelle Model\u201d a \u201csupply-side solution\u201d to the housing crisis.<\/p>\n

The key change is both simple and an ambitious challenge for any bureaucracy:\u00a0Three linchpin city agencies \u2014 the Bureau of Buildings, the Department of Development and the Planning Board \u2014 must give developers a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down within 90 days.<\/p>\n

New Rochelle changed its zoning and conducted a general environmental review covering much of its downtown, allowing developers to\u00a0avoid time sinks that once meant projects needed two years or more to gain approval.<\/p>\n

To date, Salgado told me, not one project review has gone past 90 days. Most take just 60.<\/p>\n

It may seem\u00a0like plain common sense, but New Rochelle\u2019s approach is actually radical enough that the city last month won the University of Utah\u2019s annual\u00a0Ivory Prize for\u00a0housing affordability.<\/p>\n

Read more Judy Chu doesn\u2019t know much about Woodrow Wilson \u2014 but here\u2019s why you should<\/a><\/p>\n

The city \u201cset the playbook, then private developers could come and play,\u201d Scott Rechler, chief executive of the development firm\u00a0RXR, has said of the plan.<\/p>\n

His firm has invested more than $1 billion in New Rochelle. Overall planned private investment: $2.5 billion.<\/p>\n

Can New Rochelle provide a model for LA and Gotham?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both have a long way to go.<\/p>\n

In New York, a new city report focused on speeding up the permitting process revealed that \u201cbefore a project can begin construction, it must receive approvals from up to 15 City agencies.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

No wonder the permitting process alone \u201ctakes 16 months on average.\u201d<\/p>\n

Add on the time of construction itself, and \u201cit takes an average of over four years from the initial filing of a new building permit to officially complete construction and all inspections.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Los Angeles,\u00a0 the\u00a0Journal\u00a0of Urban Economics recently found, it takes an average of four years to build a new multi-family building \u2014 with a year and a half of that devoted just to obtaining permits.<\/p>\n

Researchers concluded that bringing that process down to one year \u2014 far longer than New Rochelle\u2019s 90 days \u2014 could increase available housing in LA by 23.7%.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The authors\u2019 conclusion applies just as much to NYC as to LA: \u201cLengthy bureaucratic timelines\u201d lead to \u201ccostly delay and disincentivizing of new investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Mamdani is willing to learn from Democratic New Rochelle, he should note that its fast-track approval rule applies to all<\/em> proposed new housing, not just to so-called affordable (that is, income-restricted) units.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

New Rochelle recognizes that more supply brings competition, and competition helps restrain housing prices overall.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a lesson Mamdani should take to heart: His\u00a0recently announced Streamlining Procedures to Expedite Equitable Development ( or SPEED) plan focuses only on reducing permit hold-ups for \u201caffordable homes . . . frequently delayed by red tape.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In other words, it\u2019s OK for market-rate housing to get stuck in the permitting mud.<\/p>\n

That limited mindset will only serve to\u00a0keep New York City mired in its never-ending housing crisis.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d do better to heed his New Rochelle counterpart, Mayor Ramos-Herbert.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can say rent control or rent freeze and I understand it,\u201d she\u2019s said. \u201cBut the success of our model has allowed us to invest and explore other opportunities around affordability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howard Husock is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of \u201cThe Projects: A New History of Public Housing.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Zelensky calls for face-to-face negotiations to end war in public letter to Putin<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A small city in Westchester County has already figured out how to jump-start housing construction \u2014 and has managed to lower rents in the process.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nSpencer Pratt and Zohran Mamdani should both follow this NY city's housing lead - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1278\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spencer Pratt and Zohran Mamdani should both follow this NY city's housing lead - Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A small city in Westchester County has already figured out how to jump-start housing construction \u2014 and has managed to lower rents in the process.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1278\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-05T10:39:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1278#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1278\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\"},\"headline\":\"Spencer Pratt and Zohran Mamdani should both follow this NY city’s housing lead\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-05T10:39:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1278\"},\"wordCount\":859,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1278#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/e8ec7cfbd3f8ff1901c4d7f73f9fc4c9.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1278#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1278\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1278\",\"name\":\"Spencer Pratt and Zohran Mamdani should both follow this NY city's housing lead - Metro Transit Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1278#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1278#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/e8ec7cfbd3f8ff1901c4d7f73f9fc4c9.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-05T10:39:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1278#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1278\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1278#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/e8ec7cfbd3f8ff1901c4d7f73f9fc4c9.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/e8ec7cfbd3f8ff1901c4d7f73f9fc4c9.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=1278#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Spencer Pratt and Zohran Mamdani should both follow this NY city’s housing lead\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Metro Transit Review\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Spencer Pratt and Zohran Mamdani should both follow this NY city's housing lead - Metro Transit Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1278","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Spencer Pratt and Zohran Mamdani should both follow this NY city's housing lead - Metro Transit Review","og_description":"A small city in Westchester County has already figured out how to jump-start housing construction \u2014 and has managed to lower rents in the process.\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1278","og_site_name":"Metro Transit Review","article_published_time":"2026-06-05T10:39:35+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1278#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1278"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14"},"headline":"Spencer Pratt and Zohran Mamdani should both follow this NY city’s housing lead","datePublished":"2026-06-05T10:39:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1278"},"wordCount":859,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1278#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/e8ec7cfbd3f8ff1901c4d7f73f9fc4c9.webp","articleSection":["Opinion"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1278#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1278","url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1278","name":"Spencer Pratt and Zohran Mamdani should both follow this NY city's housing lead - Metro Transit Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1278#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1278#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/e8ec7cfbd3f8ff1901c4d7f73f9fc4c9.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-05T10:39:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1278#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1278"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1278#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/e8ec7cfbd3f8ff1901c4d7f73f9fc4c9.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/e8ec7cfbd3f8ff1901c4d7f73f9fc4c9.webp","width":1200,"height":800},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1278#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Spencer Pratt and Zohran Mamdani should both follow this NY city’s housing lead"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/","name":"Metro Transit Review","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/metrotransitreview.com"],"url":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}