New York City is rolling out a plan to convert vacant offices into as many as 20,000 new housing units by creating a multi-agency group to help developers cut through red tape and rezoning a section of Manhattan known as Midtown South.

The moves come after Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul’s quest for an ambitious program to address the state’s housing shortage was rebuffed by fellow Democratic lawmakers in Albany earlier this year. Much of Adams’s plan will still need state approval.