The City Council on Thursday approved Mayor Eric Adams' controversial and ambitious plan to build 80,000 new housing units throughout the Big Apple over the next 15 years.
The initiative — known as Yes City — was approved by a vote of 31 to 20 after months of tense negotiations in the City Council as Hizzoner seeks to address the city's housing and affordability crisis.
“Today is a historic day in New York City, but more importantly for working-class New Yorkers. We have shown the nation that government can still be bold and courageous by passing the most pro-housing legislation in the city’s history,” Adams said after the vote. .
“Our administration has proposed and fought hard for this proposal for over a year, and now New Yorkers are the ones who will benefit from lower rent.”
The new legislation — which includes a $5 billion investment to build tens of thousands of new housing — aims in part to add more homes in basements and above stores by amending a massive list of zoning rules for the first time in decades.
The plan is also designed to change off-street parking requirements for new construction and allow homeowners to build apartments on single-family lots in an effort to stimulate more housing production.
Developers can now also build 20% more housing as part of their construction projects – as long as it is affordable.
“Our only chance to solve New York's affordability crisis is to build more housing — which is why I'm committing $1 billion to projects that will make Yes City a reality,” said Governor Kathy Hochul.
“I signed the strongest pro-housing legislation in three generations earlier this year, but the work is far from over. That's why it's critical that New York City moves forward with zoning reforms that will create more of the homes New Yorkers so desperately need.” .
However, more than a dozen councilors tried to object to the plan, arguing that their areas did not have the infrastructure to support such population growth and local residents' concerns that the “character of their neighbourhoods” would change.
“My constituents fear the proposal will irreparably change the character of their neighborhoods, opening the door for developers to build without their best interests at heart and destroying generations of families who will be uprooted,” said Chris Banks, a Democratic member of the Brooklyn Council.
Queens Councilman Bob Holden, also a Democrat, added that the plan is “a developer’s dream and a neighborhood nightmare.”
“It's really scandalous that we turn so many decisions over to the developers,” Holden said.
“The $5 billion guarantee is not worth the paper it is printed on.”
