Brian there on WNYC.

So New York City has long been a magnet for young professionals.

We all know that.

But keeping them here once they start families has become a growing challenge.

Between 2020 and 2023, and I realize those were pandemic years,

the number of children under five in New York City dropped by over 18 percent,

a much deeper decline than the national average.

Families cite high housing costs, limited child care options,

and concerns about education as top reasons for leaving. And it is a longer-term trend, too. This predates the

pandemic. To address this, the Center for an Urban Future, a New York-based think tank focused on

economic mobility and reducing

inequality, has released a new report. It's called Five Ideas for Retaining New York City's Young

Families. And it lays out five actionable proposals aimed at making the city more livable

for families, including expanding access to child care, creating more affordable family-sized housing, and improving

middle schools.

We'll go down the whole list of five.

And I'll bring up some others that came up in another segment later in earlier this week

that are actually kind of different from theirs.

Joining us to discuss is Eli DeVorkin, the Center for Urban Futures Editorial and Policy Director and co-author of the report. Eli, welcome to WNYC. Thanks for coming on. Thank you so much, Brian. It's such a pleasure to be with you. And happy spring. Happy spring to you. Yeah, was it 5 o'clock this morning or is it five o'clock this

evening? Do you know? Yeah, I think your colleague Michael Hill told me I think it was 501 this morning.

How about that? So this is the day when the amount of sunlight hours and the amount of darkness

are as equal as they're going to get, at least in our area. So let's start with the basics. Who's

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