Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office; Datawrapper/Chris Janaro
Left: Mayor Eric Adams kicking off public review for the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity in April. Right: A map indicating how each community board has voted on the plan so far.
Mayor Eric Adams’ ambitious citywide zoning reform is facing its greatest trial yet: the opinions of all 59 community boards, five borough presidents, and the general public.
“La realidad es que tenemos una crisis de vivienda, pero el sur del Bronx no puede soportar la carga de la vivienda asequible por sí solo”, dijo el Concejal Rafael Salamanca, cuyo distrito produjo el mayor número de unidades asequibles el año pasado y en la última década. “Necesitamos que todos los 51 distritos del concejo de la ciudad hagan su justa parte”.
Housing advocates in the City Council scored wins—including an additional $2 billion in capital funds for the Department of Housing, Preservation and Development (HPD) and the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)—but more is needed, they say.
“The reality is that we have a housing crisis, but the South Bronx cannot bear the burden of affordable housing on its own,” said Councilmember Rafael Salamanca, whose district produced the greatest number of affordable units last year and over the past decade. “We need all 51 council districts to do their fair share.”
The city’s lawmakers and housing agency seem poised to reintroduce and pass a more affordability-focused J-51 tax program to help fix up apartments—but some housing stakeholders are lukewarm on the prospect.
“If it were up to me, all of New York City would be included,” said State Sen. Julia Salazar, who is looking to expand the state’s recently passed basement legalization pathway to more neighborhoods.
The City Council is pushing for an additional $3.66 billion for affordable housing over the next five years, building on the $10.5 billion the mayor earmarked in his executive budget in April.
Councilmember Crystal Hudson’s development framework details criteria that projects in her district should meet if they need city approval for zoning changes. “We can all contribute to the housing crisis that we’re in and build more housing, but do so in a way that’s really responsive to the needs of our local communities,” the lawmaker said.
“I’m surprised, I’m baffled, I’m angry,” said City Councilmember Sandy Nurse, who represents East New York, where the city ran an earlier basement conversion pilot in 2019. The area is excluded from the new program, which will only apply to 15 of the city’s 59 community districts.
Introduced in September as the third column in Adams’ City of Yes initiative—following separate proposals related to climate and commercial businesses—the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity is a broad plan that seeks to tackle the housing crisis with various zoning changes.
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