New York City’s racial equity reports (RERs) are the product of the landmark Local Law 78, which took effect in June 2022. This law mandates an RER on housing and opportunity to go along with certain land use actions, as well as the creation of the Equitable Development Data Explorer (EDDE), which is meant to inform these RERs.
This report seeks to examine the quality and influence of New York’s RERs so far through three contrasting case studies. The first focuses on a large, city-sponsored neighborhood rezoning. The second focuses on a cluster of three smaller, developer-sponsored rezonings. The third focuses on a Historic District designation; while this action would require an RER if done today, this district was designated in 2018, four years before the law took effect. This third case study allows us to examine how race and racial equity discussions were approached before the legislation was enacted and in the context of proposed preservation rather than proposed growth.