The halting effort to transform struggling New York City hotels into much-needed affordable housing appears to be moving forward, at long last: An airport hotel in Queens is set to be turned into a housing development with more than 300 units.

The project, made public by developers on Wednesday, is the first under a 2021 state program designed to capitalize on the dip in tourism during the pandemic by making hotel conversions easier and cheaper.

Other places, notably California, moved relatively quickly to turn thousands of hotel rooms into homes during the pandemic. But in New York, the program has been widely panned.

Developers claimed it would not do enough to help them overcome onerous regulations, and that the $200 million attached to the program was not enough to compensate for development costs on a large scale.

But supporters of the concept hope the announcement on Wednesday of the roughly $150 million conversion of the Hilton near Kennedy International Airport will show how such projects — quicker and cheaper than building new apartment buildings — can be an effective way of adding more affordable housing in New York.

About $48 million of the $150 million will come from the state program, initially created in 2021 by the Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity Act.

“We have to make the pie bigger,” said David Schwartz, a principal for Slate Property Group, one of the developers of the conversion. “We have to add more units than we’ve ever done.”

The apartments at the Hilton could be rented out within two years, the developers said, after renovations are complete on hotel rooms, heating systems and other parts of the building.

The announcement on Wednesday reflects how officials around the nation are scrambling to find new ways to add more affordable housing. The pandemic also provided a new opportunity to consider whether hotels or office buildings could be put to better use.

The issue is urgent in New York City, as housing construction has lagged behind job growth for years, rents continue to rise and homelessness remains at record levels.

City officials are looking at a number of ways to loosen restrictions on the “built environment,” said Jessica Katz, the city’s chief housing officer, including legalizing basement apartments and converting office buildings.

She said hotel conversions have been slow to take off because of the rebound in tourism and because hotels were needed to shelter an influx of migrants seeking asylum. But she added that lessons learned from the conversion effort could help the state create a better office conversion program.

“We want to make sure not to make the same mistake with office conversions,” Ms. Katz said.

Ms. Hochul said in a statement that the conversion of the Hilton was an “important step,” acknowledging that the state had so far “failed to produce the housing that New Yorkers need” through the program. She said residents were “counting on their elected officials to do something about the housing crisis.”

The Hilton is being sold by Sam Chang, a hotel mogul who earned a reputation for building and running hotels catering to budget travelers. Mr. Chang did not respond to requests for comment, but an article published by Crains New York in March about the Hilton’s impending closure suggested that a decline in foreign tourism played a role in its fate.

The developers behind the conversion are Slate and RiseBoro Community Partnership, a nonprofit group.

When the pandemic led to a decline in the value of hotels, both RiseBoro and Slate began surveying hotels they could buy and turn into affordable housing. Mr. Schwartz said Slate looked at hundreds of potential sites.

He said the Hilton was attractive because the room sizes and lobby area were relatively big. Developers would not have to go through a lengthy approval process, he said, because the hotel, unlike other sites, was already in an area that allowed for residential development.

And the purchase price of less than $70 million made the Hilton relatively affordable, Mr. Schwartz said.

Of the 318 total units, roughly 60 percent are slated for people struggling with homelessness. The remaining units would target lower-income households — those earning up to $107,000 for a family of four, for example — with rents of about $1,250 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,500 for a two bedroom.

The project is also receiving subsidies from the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the New York City Housing Development Corporation, a public benefit corporation that finances affordable housing.

RiseBoro would also provide mental health services, case managers to help with finances and several other services.

Scott Short, the chief executive of RiseBoro, conceded that hotel conversions had “not been a linear path” in New York. But he said the Hilton project shows how the “the city and the state can think outside the box with creative partners and come up with a new approach.”

Mr. Schwartz said he hoped the project would change the narrative around the potential for hotel conversions. “Hopefully by showing proof of concept we can attract more developers to it,” he said.

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