Activist Group Urges Mamdani to Build Affordable Housing on CUNY Properties

Report claims underutilized CUNY land could generate $30M-$55M annually for city and university programs

Published on Feb. 16, 2026

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An activist think tank is pushing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to build thousands of affordable housing units on vacant or underutilized properties owned by the City University of New York (CUNY) system across the five boroughs. The Center for an Urban Future claims this strategy could generate between $30 million and $55 million in annual lease payments for the city and CUNY programs, while also addressing the city's housing crisis.

Why it matters

With a growing housing shortage and aging CUNY infrastructure, converting underutilized CUNY land into affordable housing could provide a stable revenue stream to support the university system and its academic programs, while also increasing the city's housing stock. However, this plan would require coordination between City Hall, CUNY, and state officials who oversee the university system's capital projects.

The details

The Center for an Urban Future report identified several CUNY campuses with significant amounts of underutilized land, such as parking lots, that could be redeveloped into affordable housing. For example, at Queens College in Flushing, 12% of the campus is used for parking lots that could support over 200 new homes. Similar development opportunities exist at other large CUNY campuses like Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn and the College of Staten Island. Even under conservative assumptions, the report claims these projects could generate up to $5.4 billion in revenue for the city and CUNY over a 99-year lease period.

  • The Center for an Urban Future released its report on February 15, 2026.

The players

Zohran Mamdani

The current mayor of New York City who created the Land Inventory Fast Track Task Force to identify city-owned properties suitable for housing development.

Eli Dvorkin

The editorial & policy director for the Center for an Urban Future, the activist think tank that made the recommendation to build affordable housing on CUNY properties.

City University of New York (CUNY)

The public university system in New York City that controls over 80 acres of parking lots and 300 buildings across its campuses.

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What they’re saying

“This is an idea the mayor could run with. There's a lot of opportunity on CUNY campuses. We're talking about vacant land.”

— Eli Dvorkin, Editorial & Policy Director, Center for an Urban Future (nypost.com)

What’s next

The mayor's Land Inventory Fast Track Task Force will need to work with CUNY and state officials to further explore the feasibility and details of redeveloping underutilized CUNY properties into affordable housing.

The takeaway

Leveraging underutilized land owned by CUNY could provide a creative solution to address New York City's housing shortage and generate much-needed revenue for the public university system, but will require coordination between city, state, and university stakeholders.