Problema 4 · Inglés PAU Castilla y León Extraordinaria 2026

READ THE TEXT CAREFULLY, THEN ANSWER THE FOUR QUESTIONS BELOW

HOW TO MAKE ROOM FOR ONE MILLION NEW YORKERS

New York City doesn’t have enough homes. The average New Yorker now spends 34 percent of

pre-tax income on rent. There are many reasons why homes in the city are so expensive, but at the root of

it all is supply and demand: Insufficient housing in our city means more competition — and therefore sky-

high prices.

5 Some New Yorkers say that instead of building more, we can meet our housing needs through more

rent control, or by converting all vacant office towers into residential buildings. Such measures would all

be insufficient.

This resistance to change has become a significant obstacle. As Binyamin Appelbaum argues: “New

York is not a great city because of its buildings, but because it provides people with the opportunity to build

10 better lives.” My architecture team took a fresh look at housing. We found a way to add more than 500,000

homes enough to house more than 1.3 million New Yorkers— without changing the character of the city’s

neighborhoods.

Adding apartment buildings would place more demand on our subways and schools in some

neighborhoods. But the construction of over 520,000 homes would stimulate our economy; add people to

15 our streets, making them safer; and make the city more accessible to middle-class families.

Several political, legal and economic impediments stand in the way of addressing New York City’s

housing crisis. Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul have proposed ambitious plans to build hundreds

of thousands of new housing units, but they have faced hard opposition. Our City Council and State

Legislature need to support a significant expansion of housing supply for the city.

20 There are many reasons why it is so difficult to build new housing in New York City — including

dividing into zones, the under-taxation of unfilled and underutilized land, the continuing rise of construction

costs, and intense and often wrong anti-development sentiments. These challenges can and should be

addressed. But please, don’t let people tell you we can’t build the homes New Yorkers need because we’ve

run out of room or because it would ruin the city’s character. New York is, in fact, a very big apple.

25 (Fragment adapted from The New York Times.)

4) MULTIPLE CHOICE OPTION EXERCISE. CHOOSE THE MOST APPROPRIATE ANSWER FOR EACH QUESTION (A, B, C, or D) ACCORDING TO THE INFORMATION GIVEN IN THE TEXT (1.5 POINT; 0.5 POINTS EACH).

1. What percentage of pre-tax income does the average New Yorker spend on rent?

2. What is the main reason for expensive housing in New York City?

3. What is one benefit of constructing over 520,000 homes?