“Not in My New York: Exclusionary Thinking and the Housing Crisis” (2023-2024)

When tasked with writing about a widespread and relevant controversy, I wanted to turn my attention to issues that help me familiarize myself with the city of New York. Coming to school across the country from where I grew up, I knew the political landscape would be completely different. In high school, I participated heavily in constitutional and governmental studies, so when Gov. Kathy Hochul’s radical housing proposal made headline news, I dove into investigating. In starting my research I found myself getting caught up in narrowing down a core issue of the housing crisis. Our outrageously exacerbated problem finds its roots in many other problems (wealth disparities, urban planning, racism, etc., to name a few). Conducting my own interview with a professional actively involved in city planning and housing was extremely helpful for grounding my ideas in solutions being implemented in the city today. Investigating root causes and why solutions are so difficult for us to obtain today, I understood the biggest opposition to the housing crisis as an ideologically exclusive one. Though extremely interested and thoroughly researched in my subject of choice, I often questioned myself and my writing due to a lack of experience in the field. Feedback and support from my professor were instrumental in building the confidence necessary to dig deeper. Not only was I able to gain local knowledge on current political conflicts and players, but also I generated new ideas on how to influence an issue our generation will have to confront.

Lark Zabel, ’26,  is a studio art major at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development with an interdisciplinary approach to making. Hailing from the beautiful Pacific Northwest, she grew up in Portland, Oregon, and finds inspiration in expressive abstraction. Though primarily taking fundamental art courses in her first year, she loves working in design and sculpture with an emphasis on the human touch. In addition to art, Lark intends to pursue her interests in ethnic studies, specifically Asian American studies and urban development. Her essay explores the current housing crisis to understand and expose the core cultural anxieties that bar the progress necessary to deconstruct the social problems that plague us all.