Walk through neighborhoods across New York City and you’ll find them: narrow, barren, underutilized lots interrupting otherwise complete blocks. Sometimes it’s a patch of cracked pavement used for parking. Sometimes it’s fenced off, collecting trash or attracting rodents. Sometimes it’s occupied by a building that uses only a fraction of what the site could hold.
If you think of a New York City block like a set of teeth, these lots stand out like a missing one. They break the rhythm of the streetscape and leave a visible gap in an otherwise vibrant block.
For years, we’ve accepted these gaps as just another part of the urban landscape. But in a city facing a severe housing shortage, we can’t afford to overlook them any longer.
Because these small lots have big potential. They are hidden-in-plain-sight
Right now, New York City is in the grip of a generational housing crisis. Our vacancy rate sits at just 1.4%, the lowest in more than five decades. Rents remain at record highs. And too many New Yorkers are struggling to find a home they can afford in the city they love.
For decades, New York City has just not built enough housing to keep pace with demand. Our population has grown, our economy has expanded, and more people want to live here but the number of available homes hasn’t kept up.
That has real consequences. It means families and working people are being forced to choose between paying for groceries and paying their rents. It makes it harder for businesses to attract and retain a workforce. And it puts strain on the vibrancy and stability of our neighborhoods.
We need to build more housing. And we need to be smarter about how we do it.
That’s why the New York City Council has put forward a proposal to unlock the potential of small lots across the five boroughs. Today, outdated building rules often make it financially or physically infeasible to build housing on these narrow sites—even when zoning already allows it.
Our proposal is straightforward: reform outdated red tape through a legislative process while maintaining strong safety standards, making it possible to build modest, mid-rise housing on these lots.
The Council conducted a detailed, block-by-block analysis of thousands of lots across every borough and identified 2,850 small lots that could be suitable for new housing. With our proposed reforms, these lots could unlock up to 35,000 new homes—including thousands of affordable units—without the need for lengthy and costly rezonings.
That’s not a silver bullet. But it is a meaningful step. Expanding housing supply at this scale can help ease pressure on rents and create more options for New Yorkers at a range of income levels.
This approach is also about fairness and flexibility. Small-lot development can open the door for a wider range of builders, including
These lots also contribute to unnecessary blight and quality-of-life concerns. By bringing them back into productive use, we can improve neighborhood conditions, enhance the streetscape, and eliminate spaces that too often attract trash, illegal activity, or neglect.
And we can do all of this while creating good-paying jobs and supporting our local economy.
Of course, any lasting solution to our housing crisis requires collaboration. That’s why the Council has also convened a new Advisory Group on Housing Affordability, bringing together experts, labor leaders, advocates, and community stakeholders to help shape and refine these ideas.
This is what a proactive housing agenda looks like: identifying real opportunities, bringing people to the table, and advancing solutions that can actually be built.
New York has always been a city that reinvents itself—block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood. By rethinking how we use the space we already have, we can take a meaningful step toward building a city that remains vibrant, livable, and within reach for the people who make it what it is.
Julie Menin is the Speaker of the New York City Council.
