We face a national housing shortage, while commercial property owners and investors contend with an oversupply of empty office space, as well as underutilized — and closed — hotels throughout the United States. As a result, owners and developers are increasingly considering commercial-to-residential conversions as a way to solve both problems.

U.S. cities that lead in converting office space to residential are metro Washington, D.C., with plans under way to convert office space into 5,820 apartment units, followed closely by the New York City metro area, with 5,215 new apartments planned from former office spaces.

Nearly four dozen commercial buildings are enrolled in NYC’s  Office Conversion Accelerator and are expected to comprise more than 2,100 housing units.

New York State enacted the  Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity Act to encourage the conversion of hotels and other commercial buildings into affordable housing. Throughout New York State the