However, he did provide detail on the housing front. The 200,000 affordable housing units he has set out have built or preserved “will be built at double the average annual rate of the last 25 years.”

And de Blasio indicated he knows that other types of housing are needed too. “We're catalyzing 160,000 new market rate units to help the housing supply keep up with a growing population.”

He also laid the groundwork for support of the administration's investment in infrastructure. “As we re-zone to add more housing capacity, we are committed to investing in infrastructure. We are making a $29 million investment to expand academic intervention and STEM at CUNY community colleges.

In addition, de Blasio said, “Less than 10% of our workforce development investment has gone into skills training. Now, we are tripling that investment. The city also will do its part by making significant investments in the so-called 'built environment' so that businesses have the physical prerequisites for growth.”

The Mayor also worked to remind real estate professionals in the room that he's fighting for—not against—them when he works to address the needs of the less fortunate in the midst of a generally thriving economy.

“We cannot resign ourselves to the mindset that says rising inequality is a necessary byproduct of urban success,” de Blasio declared. “We refuse to accept the false choices that for too long have defined the way that some have viewed our city: that more development inevitably means that everyday New Yorkers will be priced out and that New York cannot be both a growing city for all. That sort of myopic thinking should not, and will not, define our future.”

He continued, “If New York cannot be a city of genuine opportunity for all—regardless of the circumstances of their birth—then we not only lose a part of who we are, we risk losing our place as a global center of innovation, diversity, and progress.”