Mayor Eric Adams’s plan to ease New York City’s housing shortage by making way for more than 100,000 new homes is poised to clear the City Planning Commission on Wednesday, setting up a much tougher fight between the administration and the City Council.
The planning vote is not expected to be contentious: The head of the commission, Dan Garodnick, was appointed by Mr. Adams and is one of the proposal’s main champions. But the Council must also vote on it later this year, and some members are already resisting major proposed changes for their districts.
The fate of the plan, known as City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, may also be seen as a test of Mr. Adams’s power and political will as his administration faces corruption investigations, though the mayor has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
“This City of Yes is so important for the future of the city,” Mr. Adams said on Tuesday at an event in the Bronx. He added: “When you have a house, it’s a luxury to talk about not building more housing. We need to build more housing for New Yorkers.”
The plan, if it is not rejected or watered down by opponents emboldened by the upheaval in City Hall, is designed to make it easier to build more and different types of housing through changes to the zoning code. These include:
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Lifting restrictions on building apartments above laundromats, shops and other businesses along certain commercial strips.
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Eliminating costly requirements for new apartment buildings to include parking.
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Allowing modest apartment buildings to be built near subway, bus and other transit stations in places where they are not allowed today.
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Making it easier for people who live in one- or two-family homes to build and rent out basement units, garages and backyard cottages.
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Letting developers build smaller apartments, like those with single-room occupancy, that could be relatively cheap to rent.
All together, the city estimates the plan would allow nearly 109,000 additional homes to be added across New York City over the next 15 years.
The housing shortage has been decades in the making, as new construction has not keep up with job growth and the strong demand to live in New York City. According to a city survey, the vacancy rate in apartments in 2023 was 1.4 percent — a 50-year low — and prices for homes remain high because of intense competition.
Mr. Adams is one of several politicians who increasingly believe that loosening zoning restrictions will jump-start construction, give people more housing options and eventually make things more affordable.
But that push has also drawn resistance, especially from neighborhoods that are not accustomed to density. Several community boards have opposed the plan, as have both Democratic and Republican politicians.
State Assemblyman Edward Braunstein, a Democrat representing northeast Queens, held a rally last week to oppose the proposal. He said it “would significantly increase density, straining our infrastructure and exacerbating traffic and parking challenges.”
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