Spencer Pratt and Zohran Mamdani should follow the lead of the houses in this city

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt and New York City’s Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani don’t have much in common.

Pratt promises to force homeless drug addicts into treatment; Mamdani aims to increase the “homeless services” budget to $4.2 billion.

Pratt proposes major increase in LAPD ranks; Mamdani halted plans to hire thousands of new NYPD officers.

But the Republican Angeleno and the Gracie Mansion DSA member agree on one thing: Their cities are taking too long to issue developers with the necessary legal permits they need to start building new homes — and both have promised to speed up the process.

Pratt promises “faster permits, lower costs, measurable results” and says he will completely waive single-family home rebuilding permit fees if elected – a response to the permitting freeze that has hindered the recovery of fire-ravaged LA neighborhoods.

Mamdani aims to make the permit “quick and fair.”

Both might be surprised to learn that a small town in Westchester County has already found a way to start building housing — and has managed to lower rents in the process.

As of 2015 the City of New Rochelle, pop. 85,000, they found a way to allow the construction of 5,130 new apartments and approved another 2,746, with another 3,100 possibly on the way.

In total, it will mean a 37% increase in its housing stock – a benefit for the region and the entire region.

Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert says her city does not need rent control; the flood of new construction held rent increases to 1.6% above 2020 levels.

Indeed, between 2020 and 2023, New Rochelle’s average rent went up down by 2% — much better than Mamdani’s offer to freeze rent.

Director of Development Adam Salgado calls the “New Rochelle Model” a “property-side solution” to the housing crisis.

The key change is simple and it’s an ambitious challenge for any official: The city’s three agencies – the Bureau of Buildings, the Department of Development and the Planning Board – must give developers the thumbs up or thumbs down within 90 days.

New Rochelle changed its zoning and conducted a routine environmental review covering much of its city, allowing developers to avoid the time sink that meant projects needed two years or more to get approval.

So far, Salgado told me, not a single project review has gone past 90 days. Most only take 60.

It may seem like common sense, but New Rochelle’s approach is actually so strong that the city last month won the University of Utah’s annual Ivory Award for housing affordability.

The city “sets out the playbook, and then private developers come in and play,” Scott Rechler, chief executive of development company RXR, said of the plan.

His company has invested more than $1 billion in New Rochelle. Total planned private investment: $2.5 billion.

Can New Rochelle provide a model for LA and Gotham?

Both still have a long way to go.

In New York, a new city report focused on speeding up the permitting process revealed that “before construction can begin, approval must be obtained from 15 City agencies.”

No wonder the approval process alone “takes 16 months on average.”

Add in the construction time itself, and “it takes an average of more than four years from the initial filing of a new construction permit to the official completion of construction and all inspections.”

In Los Angeles, the Journal of Urban Economics recently found, it takes an average of four years to build a new multifamily building — a year and a half of that devoted to obtaining permits.

The researchers concluded that shortening that process to one year — longer than New Rochelle’s 90 days — would increase available housing in LA by 23.7%.

The authors’ conclusion applies as much to NYC as to LA: “Long bureaucratic times” lead to “costly delays and disrespect for new investments.”

If Mamdani is willing to study at Democratic New Rochelle, he should be aware that its fast approval rule applies everything new housing being proposed, not just in so-called affordable (ie, income-rated) buildings.

New Rochelle recognizes that more supply brings competition, and competition helps keep housing prices down overall.

It’s a lesson Mamdani should take to heart: His recently announced Program to Accelerate Equitable Development (or SPEED) focuses solely on reducing the holding of permits for “affordable housing .

In other words, it’s OK for market-rate houses to be stuck in the foreclosure mud.

That limited mindset will keep New York City focused on its chronic housing crisis.

You would do better to listen to your New Rochelle counterpart, Mayor Ramos-Herbert.

“You can say rent control or rent freeze and I understand,” he said. “But the success of our model has allowed us to invest and explore other opportunities in terms of accessibility.”

Howard Husock is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of “The Projects: A New History of Public Housing.”