In the end, the City Council said “Yes” to Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to permit tens of thousands of new homes across the five boroughs.
Councilmembers voted Thursday to approve changes to a thicket of zoning restrictions that limit the size of new development in every neighborhood in the city. Adams dubbed the proposal “City of Yes” — as in “Yes In My Backyard” — and said the changes will allow for the construction of more than 80,000 new homes over the next 15 years.
The revisions will affect every section of the city, from suburban-style swaths of Staten Island to the office canyons of Midtown Manhattan. The plan will allow some property owners to add an extra apartment or small home on their lots, ease the conversion of empty offices into condos and permit developers to construct bigger buildings near subway stations.
The plan could put a dent in New York City’s deep housing shortage. A survey conducted last year by the city’s housing agency found just 1.4% of the city’s roughly 2.3 million apartments were vacant and available to rent. For apartments priced under $2,400, the rate was less than 1%.
Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said allowing more housing will help the city address a major shortage that contributes to historically high rents and sale prices, fuels record homelessness and drives many New Yorkers out of the city altogether.
“We recognize the severity of the decades-in-the-making housing crisis, the impact it is having on working- and middle-class New Yorkers, and the urgency that is required of us,” Speaker Adams said Thursday. “This is a major step forward.”
At the end of 2022, Mayor Adams announced a “moonshot” goal of creating 500,000 new homes over the next decade. His original “City of Yes” plan aimed to build up to 109,000 over 15 years, and though the modified zoning plan came in lower, he hailed it as a signature policy achievement to move the city toward his more ambitious goal.
This is a developing story.
Leave a Reply