In a bid to tackle the city's housing crisis, Mayor Eric Adams set his sights on transforming a vacant parking lot in Inwood into much-needed affordable housing. The initiative marks one of several projects aimed at developing affordable housing on public land across New York City.

"It doesn’t look like much, but all of the lots around here could be housing in the future," said Michael Sandler, associate commissioner of the Office of Neighborhood Strategies at the Housing Preservation and Development Department.

The city-owned parking lot in Inwood is among the 24 sites selected by the Adams administration.

“We’re planning to turn this into over 500 new affordable homes for families in need as well as a new STEM center,” said Sandler.

In January, Mayor Adams outlined the broader objective during his recent State of the City address, aiming to create or preserve over 12,000 units of affordable housing citywide.

Sandler emphasized the importance of community involvement in the project, noting that Inwood residents had a say in shaping the future development.

"We had a large public workshop and online surveys to hear from Inwood residents about what they want to see here on this site," he explained.

Identified as part of the Inwood Action Plan, which rezoned the neighborhood a few years ago, the site offers proximity to the Harlem River and public transit, positioning it as a promising location for residential development.

While the project is set to take several years to complete, Sandler assured that Inwood residents would receive priority for a percentage of the housing units.

"The housing will be available on the housing lottery for all to apply, with a preference for Inwood residents for a portion of the building," he stated.

Looking ahead, the city plans to issue a request for proposals later this year to onboard a developer for the project.