The Zen Affordable Housing Playbook
The Zen Affordable Housing Playbook lays out a realistic, design-build pathway to deliver 200,000 truly affordable homes in New York City over the next decade.
Developed by Zen Space Makers in collaboration with housing strategist Erin Barbee, it combines hands-on construction expertise, 3D design, and political organizing to move projects from concept to keys. The playbook centers social housing with soul—permanently affordable homes paired with ground-floor culture, cooperative businesses, and neighborhood commons. Built around a curated Top 20 / Top 50 site strategy, cooperative ownership models, and a 10-year roadmap, it is designed to be immediately actionable in a Mamdani administration: bold in scale, grounded in policy reality, and focused on long-term public stewardship rather than short-term speculation.
Affordable Housing Playbook!
The Zen Affordable Housing Playbook proposes a city-scale, cooperative design-build engine to rapidly turn underused land into permanently affordable housing. Built for a Mamdani administration, it aligns policy, sites, labor, and culture to move New York from housing promises to housing delivered.
We Found the Top 20 Sites NYC Could Build Housing on Now!
Did you know NYC owns the old Flushing Airport site? And that housing on Governor’s Island is definitely a longshot - but not impossible. Learn about all those sites, and more with the Zen Top 20 Sites Doc - free download, here.
This document identifies 20 high-impact, publicly influenced sites across New York City that could deliver tens of thousands of truly affordable homes if unlocked with the right policy, design, and political will. Spanning underused city facilities, waterfront parcels, libraries, transit-adjacent land, and large redevelopment opportunities, the list translates abstract housing goals into specific addresses, unit scenarios, and near-term action, creating a ready pipeline for a new era of social housing at scale.
Let’s Meet About This!
Sander Hicks and 15th Street Quakers are hosting a “MicroConference” on Affordable Housing policy and practicalities:
NYC Micro-Conference on Affordable Housing
Sunday, May 3, 2026 · 1–4 PM · Free
This is a working gathering—not a policy panel. Housing justice organizers and actual housing builders come together to map real pathways to delivering 200,000 new affordable homes in New York City over the next decade. Mayor Mamdani has set the goal—this micro-conference is about how we make it real, through concrete projects, shared strategy, and grounded collaboration. Expect speakers, Q&A, small-group discussions, and activist knowledge-sharing, all convened in the spirit of Friends (Quakers)—practical, values-driven, and action-oriented.
Complimentary Middle Eastern lunch at 12:30 PM
📍 15 Rutherford Place, NYC 10003
15th Street Monthly Meeting · Society of Friends
Sponsored by the Speaker Events Committee
Actual projects. Actual affordable housing. Real solutions.
RSVP here
