Why the buckling NYC Pfizer building matters to new affordable housing law
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act officially became law on Saturday, July 11, passing with rare bipartisan support but not with a presidential signature. President Donald Trump abruptly canceled the signing ceremony, withholding his signature to tie the bill’s implementation to the passage of the contested SAVE America Act.
The law, which aims to expand housing availability and affordability, takes effect just days after a high-profile structural failure at a buckling building in Manhattan prompted evacuations, putting renewed focus on the challenges of office-to-residential conversions — a key housing strategy that the new law incentivizes.
The allure of an empty office
Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift toward remote work, vacant office buildings have been viewed as a potential solution to America’s affordable housing crisis for several years. According to the Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan think tank, the primary driver of this interest is “market demand for more housing.”
Office buildings became candidates for housing conversion after the pandemic significantly reduced foot traffic in metropolitan areas, as commutes shifted from driving to the office to walking to the laptop. In the post-pandemic period, office vacancy rates have remained high. According to Moody’s Analytics data shared with Axios, the office space vacancy rate across 79 U.S. markets rose to 21% in the first quarter of 2026, up from 17% in 2020.
Inside the Housing Act
The newly passed housing bill includes key provisions aimed at increasing housing availability by targeting regulatory and financial roadblocks that have previously stalled office-to-residential conversions. The section creates a pilot grant program to help local governments convert vacant commercial structures.
Another section of the bill fast-tracks environmental reviews and establishes a $200 million yearly grant program for municipalities to modernize their zoning, a bottleneck that prevents cities from adapting quickly to demand and easily re-zoning.
An additional provision instructs the Department of Housing and Urban Development to create guidelines allowing single-stairwell apartment layouts for buildings up to six stories, so developers can build apartments inside oddly shaped commercial buildings that aren’t suited to traditional apartment layouts.
A Lesson in Manhattan
Back in the Big Apple, a historic office-to-housing conversion prompted evacuations as two support columns began buckling and other floors sagged just days before the housing bill went into effect. The 37-floor building, previously a Pfizer headquarters, would be the largest project of its kind in New York City history and, in tandem with its neighboring building, would provide 1,600 apartments, according to the architectural firm behind the project, The New York Times reported.
The structural failure hints at a broader architectural reality: Unlike residential buildings, commercial buildings often feature large floor plates and windowless interiors. Carving concrete and steel to install individual residential plumbing and ventilation systems introduces new engineering challenges.
In the case of the Pfizer building, Nathan Berman, the firm’s founder, told The Wall Street Journal that the added load from widening the top floors likely caused the damage.
In 2023, a Moody’s analysis highlighted issues with conversions, noting that only 35 of the nearly 1,100 NYC office buildings tracked were suitable for conversion.
It’s still unclear whether converting empty offices into apartments will work everywhere, but the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is a big step toward trying new solutions to the housing shortage. The next few years will show if these changes can actually create safe and affordable homes. For now, the future of city living depends on how well these ideas are put into action by local leaders, builders and communities.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
