The Housing Problem

with Rafael Cestero & Kirk Goodrich

From the days of the Koch administration to Mayor Adams stepping into City Hall, New York City has spent hundreds of billions of dollars trying to solve the city’s housing problem. Yet from sky-high rents to crumbling public housing to rising rates of homelessness, the problem persists.

Join housing experts Rafael Cestero and Kirk Goodrich, as they look at how New York City’s housing problem has evolved during their combined 60 years in the industry and wrangle with the most daunting challenges still ahead.

Season Four

Season Three

other seasons

SEASON 2 SEASON 1

Your Hosts

Rafael Cestero

He served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). He chaired the board for the New York City Housing Development Corporation. He now leads The Community Preservation Corporation, one of the country’s most respected, renowned, and impactful nonprofit multifamily finance companies. He’s Rafael Cestero and he’s been on the front lines addressing The Housing Problem for the past 30 years.

Talk housing with Rafael as much as you’d like, but please don’t remind him that New York’s only football team – his Buffalo Bills – have yet to bring a Super Bowl ring to the Empire State.

Kirk Goodrich

First cutting his teeth in the affordable housing sector as an intern at the New York City Housing Authority to leading one of the city’s most prolific and trusted affordable housing development firms, Kirk has lived and breathed affordable housing his entire career.

His passion? Elevating Black developers. Kirk recently launched Black Developers Network Triboro (BDN Triboro), a 100-percent Black-owned entity aimed at helping Black developers succeed, and he also serves as chairman of New York State Association for Affordable Housing.

We’re all better off that Kirk has spent the last three decades developing affordable housing. Mostly because it kept him too busy to launch his comedy career.

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