Saturday, March 29, 2025
9:00 a.m.
New York Law School
185 W Broadway, New York, NY 10013
3 AIA LU Credits
General $35 / AIA Credit $50 / Friends and Seniors tickets $25 / Students Free
New York’s affordable housing is also its historic housing. The median age of New York’s residential buildings is now 90 years old; at the same time, nearly a million units of housing, almost half of New York’s rental units across all five boroughs, are rent stabilized. Hardly surprising then, that a disproportionate number of those stabilized units are within historic buildings, whether those structures are officially recognized as such or not.
Considering these facts, and taking to heart City Planning Commission Chair Dan Garodnick’s point that “ninety percent of the buildings that will exist in 2050 have already been built,” HDC sees stewardship of New York’s historic affordable housing stock as essential to its mission, and to the city’s future. HDC’s 2025 Conference will focus on New York’s historic rent-stabilized apartment buildings, which together constitute the city’s most abundant form of affordable housing.
This vital work comes with challenges as well as opportunities. Housing violations have climbed 54% citywide since 2022, endangering tenants first and foremost, as well as the viability of their homes; at the same time, new tax incentives and public-private partnerships are being used to preserve and improve existing properties while making room for new affordable apartments. Techniques used by restoration architects are becoming faster and cheaper, making it possible to do more with less, and attempts to curb carbon emissions have given rise to a constellation of financing options for the renovation of older buildings, especially lower-income ones. In short: there is much work to do, and much work being done right now in the arena of historic affordable housing that points the way toward a more equitable, more sustainable New York City.
Popular discourse often drives a wedge between housing and preservation, but the nature of New York’s historic affordable housing belies that separation. The HDC Conference will offer a meaningful nexus for housing and preservation, bringing together preservationists, community organizations, housing activists, architects and policy makers to share experiences, techniques, ideas and best practices for stewarding New York’s historic affordable housing. HDC hopes this conference will offer a variety of perspectives for an often-siloed field, encouraging participants and attendees to work together in a common effort. For us, the event will be an engine for ideas and potential policy changes which will continue to inform our ongoing work. We hope you will join us!
Panel 1: The Present Problem: Where are we now?
1LU
Panelists:
Ronda Wist, President of Wist Preservation Associates
Hon. Cordell Cleare, New York State Senator, 30th Senate District
Caitlin Waickman, Director of Research and Evaluation, NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD)
Moderated by Diana Budds
What is the current environment for rent stabilized housing, and what is the preservation movement’s role in sustaining this housing for the future?
In New York City, certain neighborhoods continue to lose rent stabilized housing at an increasing rate, especially through the demolition of smaller, older buildings for larger market rate and luxury developments. Tenants and landlords are also facing the burden of maintaining historic buildings, both landmark-designated and non-designated, as renovation costs increase and deferred maintenance mounts.
The speakers for our opening panel will discuss some of the problems that rent stabilized housing is facing today, especially in older, historic buildings. They will also explore the intersection with historic preservation and debate the question of what is the preservation movement’s role in preserving and updating this housing for the future.
Panel 2: Solutions: What’s working and what’s not?
1LU
Panelists:
Jay DiLorenzo, President of the Preservation League of New York State
Mark Ginsberg, Founding Partner of Curtis + Ginsberg Architects
Jenna Breines, Director of Real Estate Development, West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing, Inc (WSFSSH)
Moderated by Mariana Mogilevich
There are organizations and professionals both within preservation and outside who are already doing the work to maintain and restore rent stabilized housing. On this panel, we will focus on people who are doing the work with a focus on historic and landmark-designated buildings.
What are some of the ways organizations have successfully been able to renovate these properties for the future? How can policy be used to increase renovations through using both low-income tax credits and historic tax credits? What are the barriers to being able to maintain these places, such as city backlogs, high construction costs, or community pushback?
Panel 3: The Future: How can preservation and affordable housing work better together?
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Panelists:
Leila Borzog, Executive Director for Housing, NYC Mayor’s Office
Sara C. Bronin, Professor, Cornell University
Vishaan Chakrabarti, FAIA, FRAIC
Moderated by Ian Volner
In an ideal future, New York would have a robust amount of rent stabilized housing for the population who needs it, reusing existing buildings for this need rather than simply demolishing them and constructing new ones. What can this future look like? Panelists will discuss some of their ideas for long term solutions, policy change, and what preservation’s role can be looking forward.
General $35 / AIA Credit $50 / Friends and Seniors tickets $25 / Students Free
For more information, contact Frampton Tolbert, Executive Director, framptont@hdc.org.
HDC is seeking Conference Sponsors!
Community, preservation, and housing-related organizations can sponsor the event for free! Benefits include listing on the HDC website and a table to share your organization and its work with attendees at the 2025 Preservation Fair. To Co-sponsor email hdc@hdc.org with your organization’s name and contact information.
Housing Developers and Preservation Professionals can also Co-Sponsor the Conference! Sponsorships start at $500 and include free tickets to the event, listing on the HDC website and all digital-related advertising materials, acknowledgment at the event, and a table to feature your company’s work to attendees at the 2025 Preservation Fair. For more information email kmendez-bryan@hdc.org.
Benefit Levels
Non-profit and community organizations $0
Includes co-sponsor listing on the HDC website and a complimentary table to share your organization and its work with attendees at the 2025 Preservation Fair.
Professional Partner $500
Includes 4 tickets to the event, co-sponsor listing on all digital and printed advertising materials, the opportunity to feature your company’s materials at the preservation fair, and invitations to future HDC events.
Preservation Leader $1000
Includes 8 tickets to the event, co-sponsor banner listing on all digital and printed advertising materials, the opportunity to feature your company’s materials at the preservation fair, invitations to future HDC events, and a special tour and reception held by HDC for up to 5 guests.
Panelists Bios
Leila Bozorg serves as the Executive Director of Housing in the Mayor’s Office, where she oversees the City’s housing agencies and strategies. Leila has extensive experience with affordable housing and land use policies, having served as a Commissioner on the New York City Planning Commission from 2021-2023, and as a Deputy Commissioner for Neighborhood Strategies at the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) from 2016-2020. In her role at HPD she co-led the creation of the City’s first comprehensive fair housing plan, Where We Live NYC. She was also a Chief of Staff at HPD from 2014-2016, and previous to that worked at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development from 2010-2014, helping develop and launch the Rental Assistance Demonstration. From 2020-2023 she worked as the chief of strategy and policy at NYC Kids RISE, where she helped facilitate the citywide expansion of the Save for College program to every New York City school district and public elementary school. She holds a B.A. in Government Studies from Wesleyan University and a Master of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
New York State Senator Cordell Cleare was raised in Harlem and her family has lived there for four generations. Cleare is a product of the New York City public schools, including Brooklyn Technical High School. Today, she is best known for her fight for Reparations, Truly Affordable Housing, Quality Schools & Equitable Education, Access to Healthy Foods as well as Economic, Environmental, Restorative and Racial Justice. She entered the New York State Senate on an express train from Upper Manhattan, bringing fresh ideas and legislative proposals to make New York, the state of the whole people.
Senator Cleare will continue to use her position to demand fairness in housing, education, healthcare, equitable distribution of business opportunities, address income equality and the creation of wealth for black families. Cleare is dedicated to preserving families by focusing on workforce development, job creation, ending gun violence in our streets and domestic violence. She is proud to serve and is strongly committed to fighting for social equity.
Sara C. Bronin is a Mexican-American architect, attorney, Cornell University professor, and policymaker whose interdisciplinary work focuses on how law and policy can foster more equitable, sustainable, well-designed, and connected places. She wrote Key to the City: How Zoning Shapes Our World, and she founded and leads the National Zoning Atlas, which is digitizing, demystifying, and democratizing information about zoning in the United States. She also served in a Presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed role chairing the federal historic preservation agency.
Diana Budds is a writer and editor based in Brooklyn, New York. Her stories on design, architecture, and culture have appeared in The New York Times, Fast Company, Curbed, Dwell, The Architect’s Newspaper, and Urban Omnibus, among other publications.
Vishaan Chakrabarti is an architect, author, and public thought leader. He is the founder of PAU | Practice for Architecture and Urbanism, a Manhattan-based architecture firm dedicated to building ecological, equitable and joyous communities. As a licensed practitioner across several states, Chakrabarti leads the studio’s cultural, institutional, commercial, and infrastructure work including Brooklyn’s Domino Sugar Refinery, Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Princeton’s Hobson College, Philadelphia’s Schuylkill Yards, and New York’s Pennsylvania Station. His past positions include working as a principal in other global architecture firms, teaching at Columbia University, and serving as the William Wurster Dean at UC Berkeley’s college of architecture. As Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s director of planning for Manhattan in the aftermath of 9/11, Chakrabarti helped to reimagine the High Line, rebuild the World Trade Center, extend the #7 subway line, and revitalize the waterfront.
In addition to his role at PAU and serving on numerous non-profit boards, Chakrabarti currently teaches at Cornell University as the Thomas J. Baird Visiting Critic in Architecture, and is a regular contributor to the New York Times, Vital City, and other publications. He is the author of two books: A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for an Urban America (Metropolis Books, 2013), and most recently, The Architecture of Urbanity: Designing for Nature, Culture, and Joy (Princeton University Press, September 2024) in which he argues that designing connected physical communities that bridge our differences—as opposed to disconnected technologies that exacerbate them—is essential to addressing our greatest societal challenges from climate change to political division tour growing public health crises. In 2025 he was awarded the Edmund N. Bacon Urban Design Award in recognition of his visionary approach to urbanism, commitment to ecological and equitable design, and leadership in shaping the built environment.
Jay DiLorenzo has served as the President of the Preservation League of New York State since January 2005. Prior to serving as President, Jay served as the League’s Interim President, Vice President for Administration and Development, and beginning in 2000, as the League’s Director of Development. Before joining the League, Jay served as the Director of Development for the United Way of Schenectady County. He holds an appointed position on the New York State Board for Historic Preservation.
Mark Ginsberg, FAIA, LEED AP is a Founding Partner of Curtis + Ginsberg Architects. Mark leads firm efforts on developments comprising 25,000+ housing units, most of which are affordable and sustainable. A native New Yorker with 40+ years of professional experience, his leadership in sustainable, resilient design is widely recognized. Mark is a past President of the AIA New York Chapter, President of Citizen’s Housing and Planning Council, and New York City Landmarks Preservation Commissioner.
Mariana Mogilevich is editor in chief of Urban Omnibus, The Architectural League of New York’s publication dedicated to observing, understanding, and shaping the city. A historian of architecture and urbanism, she is the author of The Invention of Public Space: Designing for Inclusion in Lindsay’s New York (2020).
Caitlin Waickman is the Director of Research and Evaluation and works within the Center for Research on Housing Opportunity, Mobility, and Equity (HOME) at the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). Her research interests include rent stabilization, which extends to her work on the New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey (NYCHVS), the only survey with representative data on New York City’s rent regulated housing stock and tenant population. Caitlin has authored on a range of topics including rent stabilization and conducting multilingual research interviews in New York City. Caitlin has an MA in Urban Studies from Fordham University and is currently a PhD student in Sociology at CUNY, the Graduate Center in New York City.
Ronda Wist served as Executive Director of the NYC Landmarks Commission; Director of Land Use Review at the NYC Department of Planning; Senior VIce President at the Municipal Art Society and principal at HR&A Advisors. She is currently the president of Wist Preservation Associates. She is on the board of Friends of the Upper East Side. She lives in Yorkville and has been talking about the loss of apartments in the neighborhood for years.
The Conference is generously supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature. Additional FY23 support is provided by New York City Council Members Erik Bottcher, Gale Brewer, Christopher Marte, Keith Powers, and Lincoln Restler.