NYC Council Approves Massive $2 Billion Queens Housing Plan Amid Crisis

The New York City Council on Tuesday approved a plan to build the largest private housing development in Queens that could cost up to $2 billion amid an affordable housing crisis.

The project, known as "Innovation QNS," would transform a five-block area of Astoria in Queens, including the Museum of the Moving Image, with 3,200 apartments. Around 1,400 of which would be designated as affordable housing, the City Council said.

Queens' $2 Billion Housing Development

The council voted in a unanimous decision, 46-1, on the plan after a review and approval by the Department of City Planning on Tuesday morning. The council's land use committee greenlit the project on Monday.

The plan seemingly aims to create a new neighborhood in what many supporters are saying is an underutilized industrial section of Queens. On top of the housing, the developers, which is a partnership between Silverstein Properties, BedRock Real Estate Partners, and Kaufman Astoria Studios, proposed two acres of open space as well as retail and restaurants, as per the Gothamist.

The initial plans of the project called for roughly 700 below-market-rate units, but Councilmember Julie Won, who represents the district and held the key vote in the City Council, pushed for more affordability. The developers ultimately increased both the total number of units as well as those considered affordable.

During the City Council meeting, Won said that she always knew that the project would result in a compromise. Won also acknowledged the desire of some in the community to see more affordable units by saying that she and other city officials were doing all that they could to address the affordable housing crisis.

According to the New York Times, the proposal, prior to its approval, had been enmeshed in weeks of contentious negotiations. It came as New York City found itself, once again, grappling with compelling, but competing interests, balancing the critical need for housing and addressing neighborhood concerns of affordability and gentrification.

Affordable Housing Crisis

In recent years, major proposals, such as the rezoning of Industry City in Brooklyn and a proposed new headquarters for Amazon in Queens, were rejected. Earlier this year, a project in Harlem that sought to build 900 apartments faded after the local council member opposed it.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams also expressed his support of the project and other recent housing plans. He noted that these types of projects were exactly the kind of historic work that they must do to tackle the housing shortage at the root of the affordable housing crisis.

However, even as elected officials celebrated the approval of the project, there were growing concerns among the public that the city was being too hasty in addressing the housing crisis. They also argued that Adams was not creating affordable housing quickly enough to solve the problem at its roots.

Prior to the approval of the project, Adams also announced a 25,000-seat soccer stadium/affordable housing development in Queens' Willets Point. The soccer arena for the New York City Football Club, which costs $780 million, will be privately financed and includes a hotel along with 2,500 affordable apartments, the New York Post reported.