City of Yes OK’d By Two City Council Committees, With Some Modifications

The “City of Yes” housing zoning package is one step closer to becoming reality, albeit with some pointed alterations, after surviving two crucial NYC Council committee votes on Nov. 21. A full Council vote on the measure comes on Dec. 5.

The intended goal of “City of Yes” is the creation of a “little bit of affordable housing” in every neighborhood of the city, specifically by around 20 percent more per building. It’s now projected to create 80,000 new units over 15 years, rather than 100,000.

Mayor Eric Adams and the City Planning Commission say that a remarkably low 1.4 apartment vacancy rate necessitates the zoning changes, as well as the fact that 93,000 people were considered homeless in New York last year. A total of 33,000 children were sleeping in the shelter system.

The zoning overhaul, which received votes of 4-3 in the Council’s Zoning committee and 8-3 in its Land Use subcommittee, earned the support of lawmakers after the City Council Speaker Adriene Adams secured $5 billion in new funding from Mayor Adams. This will partially go towards staffing up housing agencies and additional affordable housing construction and preservation. It will also reportedly be used by the City Council to bolster parks, streets, and the city’s sewer system.

“Today is an important step forward to address the city’s housing crisis that is making it unaffordable for working- and middle-class New Yorkers,” Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said. “Residents of our city need affordable and stable homes to rent and own and addressing that shortage, while supporting existing homeowners and tenants, deepening affordability, and strengthening the infrastructure of neighborhoods, are goals we must all share for a safer and stronger city.”

In a statement of his own, Mayor Adams expressed hope that the signature initiative would succeed come December: ”If passed, New York City will, once again, serve as a model to the nation on government’s infinite ability to take challenges head-on, set forth a bold agenda, and get the job done. To my partners in the City Council, let’s say ‘yes’ to City of Yes.”

The City Council committees notably voted to lower the income threshold for any new affordable units built under the plan, from 60 percent of a given neighborhood’s area median income to 40 percent.

Some large changes were made to appease certain outer borough lawmakers, where housing density is often lowest. Parking mandates, which currently force developers to include a certain amount of parking spaces in every new residential building, were originally going to be universally abolished under the plan. Now, they’ll be kept as they are in some lower-density neighborhoods, while being reduced by around 50 percent in others.

Manhattan, a mostly high-density borough, currently has no parking mandates below 96th St. They would reportedly only remain (in the reduced category) in Community District 12, which encompasses Inwood and Washington Heights in northern Manhattan.

Some prominent Manhattan politicians hailed the Nov. 21 votes, and encouraged its full passage next month. “This isn’t just big. It’s historic. It will lead to creation of homes for 80k NYers,” Borough President Mark Levine wrote on social media. “There’s never been anything like this in the history of NYC or any city in America.”

City Council Member Keith Powers, who represents Stuyvesant Town the Upper East Side–and is vying to succeed Levine as Manhattan BP–was similarly pleased with the Council votes. “I am deeply grateful to everyone that worked overtime in the last few weeks to make this happen. We must pass the City of Yes–or become a city of yesterday,” he said.