Beginning June 1, 2022, certain public and private applications before the NYC Department of City Planning (DCP) must include a Racial Equity Report intended to assess how a proposed project relates to the city’s goals of promoting fair and equitable housing and access to economic opportunities.

Local Law 78 of 2021, enacted by the New York City Council, requires that a Racial Equity Report be provided as part of applications that would, for example, increase residential floor area by 50,000 or more square feet, increase non-residential floor area by 200,000 or more square feet, change use or floor area regulations in a manufacturing district where a building within the project area contains at least 100,000 square feet, and other specifically enumerated zoning actions.

These reports will need to detail the affordability of rents or prices for residential units, who has access to jobs, how the project promotes goals laid out in the city’s Where We Live NYC report, and provide information and graphics accessible from the newly created Equitable Development Data Explorer (EDDE), an interactive online tool developed by DCP and the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).

In response to the charge of providing guidance on the substance of these reports, as well as developing EDDE itself, DCP and HPD have held a public hearing and information sessions, and have provided a draft of the report guidance, as well as a draft form of the report. DCP staff has advised that questions related to the Racial Equity Report will appear early in the application process as part of the Pre-Application Statement.

An applicant forum to solicit additional feedback on the report guidance and EDDE will be held May 17. The agencies have stated that they will continue to provide additional guidance and update the EDDE ahead of the implementation of the Racial Equity Report requirement on June 1.

We will continue to keep a close watch as DCP and HPD finalize the requirements for the Racial Equity Reports.