The lack of new housing starts mirrors a nationwide dip that was recorded at 24% for the month of June, according to the latest Dodge Construction Network report. Manhattan has seen ruinous housing cost increases since the pandemic abated, irking those in power who feel the need to end a citywide crisis is being blocked by a lack of tax incentive support and prohibitive zoning measures. By way of comparison,1,208 new units were approved in the Borough in July of 2013.

In May, the city's chief Housing Officer, Jessica Katz, resigned in frustration over the ineptitude. Some 560,000 units are needed to meet demands by the end of the decade, a scant 14% of which is currently under development according to statistics released by the city in December along with its "moonshot" plan for 500,000 new affordable units within the same timeframe. One now has to question what happened to the "quantum leap in the creation of new homes" called for at the time by Department of City Planning Director Dan Garodnick.