New York City Officials Launch Pro-Housing Group

Two New York City officials are launching a pro-housing group, but only time will tell if it helps alleviate the crisis in the city.

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Manhattan Council member Erik Bottcher are spearheading the group of politicians, the New York Times reported. They’ve invited any state and city official with a presence in New York City to join.

The group is expected to hold its inaugural meeting next month. More of the structure will be figured out then as officials with a wide variety of stances on housing issues are welcomed to the conversation, though with one key exception.

“We do not want you if you’re just a straight NIMBY,” Reynoso told the Times. But he added that development skeptics are welcome.

The group plans to issue statements countering anti-development politicians, converse with officials concerned about gentrification, and support politicians who back contentious projects.

“It’s a testament to the growing power of NY’s pro-housing movement, led by @OpenNYForAll, that 2 pols who had been skittish about supporting new homes just a few years ago as council members are now competing w each other as Borough Presidents to see who can be more pro-housing,” tweeted Ben Carlos Thypin, a real estate professional, referring to the nonprofit group Open New York.

Bottcher, who represents areas of Manhattan including Greenwich Village, Times Square and the Garment District, is a convert to the YIMBY movement. He’s acknowledged in hindsight that he would’ve supported certain projects he used to oppose, coming around to see the importance of housing supply in a new light.

Reynoso, meanwhile, has been relatively pro-housing since taking office as the Brooklyn borough president. His power to enact change is hamstrung by the limitations of borough presidents’ offices, but his comprehensive plan for the borough encouraged more housing.

As a Council member, however, Reynoso’s YIMBYism was more selective. He stopped an effort to rezone a 300-block stretch of Bushwick, insisting on many fewer new units and for all of them to be affordable. Reynoso is open to market-rate development with his new group.

Fostering a pro-housing environment within the City Council could prevent incidents like Kristin Richardson-Jordan’s killing of a project in Harlem, which was promptly turned into a truck depot instead.

— Holden Walter-Warner