On Monday, Mayor Eric Adams released a video kicking off the final push to enact his City of Yes housing plan, arguing the ambitious proposal — maybe the most important of his administration — is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to undo decades of racist, discriminatory zoning laws.
“In the 1950s and 60s, as the Civil Rights Movement was bringing down racist Jim Crow laws, New York City took a major step backwards. New zoning rules reduced how much housing could be built, especially in white, higher-income neighborhoods,” he said. “But the good news is, we can fix this. The ‘City of Yes for Housing Opportunity’ is our plan to update zoning to create housing for New Yorkers of all races and incomes in every neighborhood.”
The video got almost no attention — overshadowed by the scandals rocking his administration. With the City Planning Commission expected to approve the zoning plan on Wednesday and send it to the City Council, the mayor will have only two months to convince Council members, most of whom are at odds with him, to approve it.
It won’t be easy.
“The administration has gone from offense to defense. Does this proposal have a chance with a mayor on his heels?” worried one advocate for the plan, who like most of those contacted for this story asked not to be identified on the politics involved fearing they might alienate the mayor.
The stakes are high for Adams and New York City. The administration claims City of Yes will create as many as 109,000 new homes by giving developers flexibility and especially by forcing low-density neighborhoods to accept more housing. The question is whether the weakened mayor can push his proposal through the Council or whether he will be forced to accept a watered down version that won’t do enough to make a dent in the city’s housing crisis.
The proposal, a text amendment to the city’s zoning laws, contains far-reaching changes to accelerate conversion of office buildings to residential use and creating a 20% density bonus for projects that add lower-cost apartments.
Three key provisions have drawn the most opposition — 35 community boards voted to oppose the proposal — because they represent a radical change in city policy that for years has largely let more suburban-like and disproportionately white neighborhoods resist new housing.
In April, the Department of City Planning released a report showing that last year, 10 community districts in New York City produced as much housing as the other 49 combined.
Opponents want to protect the status quo.
“We all agree that this City of Yes proposal is going to decimate our area,” Council Member Vickie Paladino (R-Queens) said at a rally Monday In Queens.
Opposition centers on changes that would allow more housing to be built in low-density neighborhoods, including allowing five-story apartments building above retail stores and an increase in allowed density around transit stops.
Eliminating requirements for a specified number of parking spots for new construction is also drawing lots of flak, even though developers could still choose to set aside space for parking. Each parking space costs a developer as much as $150,000, according to a study by the housing group Open Plans, an urban and transit advocacy group, in addition to the cost of subsidizing any affordable units in a project.
Also in the crosshairs of opponents is a provision that would allow homeowners to add a small apartment in the rear of their lot, or in a garage or basement. Such accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, now account for 20% of all new construction in California. Yet proponents of the provision were unable to find a single homeowner willing to come to a City Planning hearing to say they wanted to put an ADU on their property.
Even small zoning changes often get whittled down in compromises with the Council before the final votes, and it’s likely that Adams and City Planning chief Daniel Garodnick will face intense pressure to water down controversial City of Yes proposals in order to win Council support. What’s unknown still is how far the Adams administration is willing to bend.
Such changes reduce the impact of rezonings. When Bronx Council members earlier this year insisted that parking requirements remain in a rezoning around planned Metro-North stations, the number of housing units likely to be built was reduced by 600.
The effect with City of Yes could be greater.
“Any concessions would have to be minimal, otherwise the other provisions of City of Yes would be undermined and a significant amount of new housing construction would not be feasible,” said Sara Lind, co-executive director of Open Plans.
Supporters of the proposal are trying to separate the City of Yes from the mayor’s problems.
“This isn’t about the mayor anymore. It’s about what the city needs,” said Rachel Fee, executive director of the New York Housing Conference. “We have 51 members of the City Council that need to say where they stand on increasing the supply of housing.”
The conference has helped assemble a coalition called Yes to Housing with more than 140 members supporting the plan. The administration has also won backing from a wide range of groups including the seniors group AARP and the influential 32BJ building workers union.
Those involved in the effort say the administration doesn’t yet have the votes needed to pass the proposal. Getting those votes will depend on Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who has butted heads with the mayor on many issues. But she has also been vocal about the need to build more housing in the city and has pushed through the Council a fair housing framework that would require every neighborhood to accept more density.
Also crucial will be 18 members of the Council’s progressive caucus, who have generally supported efforts to build more housing but also are the harshest critics of the mayor. They will be under intense pressure to support it.
Housing advocates note that with Vice-President Kamala Harris’ plan to build 3 million new homes over four years and create a $40 billion fund to localities to help achieve that, the Democratic Party has embraced the idea that more construction is the answer to the housing crisis. Republicans have not.
“Anyone considering opposing City of Yes should look long and hard at who they are siding with,” said Annemarie Gray, executive director of Open New York, another pro-housing group. “Opponents of City of Yes are parroting Trump’s talking points, equating more affordable and accessible neighborhoods with ‘community destruction.’ “
The mayor’s video also cast the fight in racial terms.
Progressive caucus co-chair Shahana Hanif and Tiffany Caban, a prominent member of the group who called for the mayor to resign this week, declined to discuss the issue with THE CITY.
Whatever happens, housing is likely to remain a major issue. Mayoral candidates Brad Lander, Scott Stringer and Zellnor Myrie all told THE CITY that they supported the City of Yes but that it did not go far enough. Stringer called it a “drop in the bucket.”
Another candidate, Jessica Ramos, did not respond to a request for comment.
