In this report, Pratt Center and Chhaya CDC call for the legalization of basement units and other illegal accessory dwelling units to create more affordable housing opportunities. Pratt Center and Chhaya make the case that legalizing and regulating these housing units would make them safer to...

This report documents the housing affordability crisis under Governor George Pataki’s administration and suggests policies for the next Governor to strengthen the New York housing market. While the need for affordable housing grew, the Pataki administration cut spending on housing low-...

Pratt Center and PolicyLink make the case for inclusionary zoning- setting aside low- and moderate-income units in new housing developments under designated areas in a rezoning- as a tool to ensure that the benefits of change in NYC neighborhoods will be fairly shared in the years to come. This...

This document presents ways to protect the city's manufacturing space. New York City is known for its world service of financial and media organizations. However, the city also depends on its own manufacturers to produce goods. And though demand for NYC goods are still high, manufacturing...

This issue brief details measures the Mayor’s Office can and must take to keep independent stores thriving. Retailers are plagued by high rents, competition from chain stores, the internet, limited access to credit, and other stresses, but their decline is far from inevitable. This issue...

This Pratt Center issue brief focuses on a critical ingredient in building the infrastructure for an energy efficiency revolution: financing mechanisms that help...

This issue brief was released in response to the 2010 announcement that Mayor Bloomberg appointed a City Charter revision commission to look at, amongst other matters, the land use review process. The Pratt Center brief outlines the major land use challenges the new commission must confront and...

This issue brief explains what's at stake as the NYC Department of Transportation and the NYS Metropolitan Transportation Authority work to roll out bus rapid transit (BRT)  citywide, and outlines what community groups can do to make sure that BRT fulfills its potential to liberate New...

In this report, Habitat for Humanity-New York City and Pratt Center for Community Development review the 421-a property tax exemption program and present findings that the program is being used to subsidize market rate and luxury housing rather than the affordable housing it was designed...

This report identifies the challenges faced by immigrant renters in finding safe, decent, and affordable housing. The report finds that by almost every measure, immigrant tenants face housing problems to a degree much greater than native-born New Yorkers. It also proposes measures New York City...