Citing a changing housing landscape, with rents rising and availability plummeting, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards is hoping to bring more affordable housing to his borough.
"We can't talk our way out of this crisis. We have to build our way out of it," Richards told Rocco Vertuccio and Shannan Ferry Saturday morning on NY1. "Last year, I am proud to say that Queens had over half of the housing production in the city of New York."
After opposing it at first, Richards eventually gave his support the for the Innovation QNS project, a $2 billion development that will bring around 3,200 apartments to Astoria.
"We are in an affordable housing crisis," Richards said. "We are not going to allow developers to come in and just simply build market-rate housing here."
Other projects coming to Queens include a soccer stadium for the New York City Football Club in Willets Point.
"This is exciting, especially with the World Cup coming into the city," Richards said. "Queens [is] the most diverse county in the country. It is certainly welcome here. We have no shortage of soccer fans."
The owner of the New York Mets, Steve Cohen, is interested in opening a casino in the same neighborhood — near Citi Field. Richards supports the idea.
"C'mon, let's get it. I want everything in Queens," Richards said. "We want live, work and play space."