As the mayor’s housing plan comes to a vote this week, it is not clear the policy will survive without significant carveouts.
The City Council’s zoning subcommittee and land use committee are expected to vote on City of Yes for Housing Opportunity on Thursday. The Council will likely seek changes to the text amendment, meaning it would return to the City Planning Commission before going to a full City Council vote in December.
Council Speaker Adrienne Adams is just about out of time to make as many of the 51 members — but at least 26 — happy with City of Yes. If a vote is not held within the review period, which ends Thursday, the text amendment will go into effect as approved by the planning commission, which is controlled by the mayor.
City of Yes includes zoning reforms and programs aimed at creating “a little more housing in every neighborhood.”
It would eliminate minimum parking mandates for new housing construction, create higher-density residential districts, allow accessory dwelling units, allow more housing in commercial districts and replace the city’s voluntary inclusionary housing program, among other changes.
As proposed, City of Yes is projected to add 4,000 to 7,000 new housing units annually through 2039 beyond what would otherwise be built. Between 20,000 and 29,000 units were completed each year from 2016 through 2023, but in the previous five years, the city averaged just 14,000 new homes.
Mayor Eric Adams has said the city needs to add 50,000 homes a year over the next decade. The metro area is projected to add 6.7 million jobs from 2023 to 2033.
The Council’s tweaks could include adding affordability requirements to some transit-oriented and “town center” developments. This month, the City Council released its own housing blueprint, “City for All,” which called for affordability requirements in “large” transit-oriented and town center developments.
Some groups have called for affordability requirements in projects with 10 or more units, but the Council’s plan did not specify what constitutes a “large” project. The exact number figures to be part of the negotiations. The lower the threshold, the fewer small projects would pencil out.
Council members have also suggested requiring deeper affordability as part of the Universal Affordability Preference program, which provides a 20 percent density bonus equal to the extra affordable housing added to a project. The catch is that mandating low rents would discourage developers from using the bonus.
Proposals to eliminate minimum parking mandates and legalize accessory dwelling units have proven especially contentious. Council members have also raised concerns that additional housing would overburden sewer systems and other infrastructure. City officials say the impact would be negligible, but the Council’s City for All plan called for “significant capital funding” to address flooding and sewer issues.
Elected officials, unions and other groups held a rally Monday at City Hall to urge the Council to approve the text amendment.
“We must not allow the well-housed few drown out the voices of the 80 percent of New Yorkers who support this proposal,” First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer said in a statement, referring to polling on the plan.
The Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, 32BJ, laborers union local 79, the New York Housing Conference, the Real Estate Board of New York and the New York Building Congress were among the groups at Monday’s rally. The New York Housing Conference launched its first-ever ad campaign to promote City of Yes and has spent $50,000 so far, according to Rachel Fee, the nonprofit’s executive director.
Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council, has voiced support for the text amendment, but his group was not listed among the rally attendees.
A representative of the New York District Council of Carpenters, a member of LaBarbera’s umbrella group, said the union will not weigh in because the text amendment does not guarantee the use of union construction workers.
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Politics
New York
City Council members push back on City of Yes pro-housing policy
Politics
New York
What’s on table in City of Yes debate
City of Yes has drawn the ire of elected officials in the outer boroughs, many of whom claim it is a one-size-fits all approach that will disrupt their quiet, tree-lined streets. City officials say it is carefully crafted to fit the character of each neighborhood.
More than half of the city’s 59 community boards voted against the text amendment. Preservation groups oppose the proposal, as does the Black Institute, which says City of Yes is a “gift to developers” because it doesn’t include affordability requirements or tenant protections.