“City of Yes for Housing Opportunity”: Mayor Eric Adams’ Dubious Plan to Combat New York City’s Housing Crisis
by Francesca Eisenberg
On September 21, 2023, Mayor Eric Adams announced his plan, “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity,” to combat New York City’s housing crisis (Zaveri 2023c). As of 2023, New York City has one of the worst housing shortages in the nation with high demand and low supply causing record levels of homelessness and exorbitant rent costs (Horowitz, et al. 2023). This crisis is attributed to NYC’s slow housing development compared to its population growth, pressure on landlords to make up for lost rent over the pandemic, and an increase in the desire for urban living (Chadha 2022). Mayor Adams’ new plan, “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity,” proposes the creation of 100,000 new housing units through zoning regulation changes, conversions of offices to residential dwellings, removal of parking mandates, authorization of accessory dwelling units, and promotion of transit-oriented development (NYC Department of City Planning 2023). While Adams’ new plan seems encouraging in finding a solution to the New York City housing Crisis, the plan begs the questions: is the proposal effective in addressing the housing crisis in New York City? If it is, will it equitably provide housing to marginalized populations in the City? There are questions about whether “City of Yes” will work in mitigating the crisis, and if it does, whether it will provide housing to marginalized populations including immigrants, people of color and low income individuals.
Adams’ plan is targeted at reducing the number of “rent burdened” residents—those who pay over one-third of their income to rent—by “making it possible to build a little more housing in every neighborhood” (NYC Department of City Planning 2023). The first step of his plan entails the Universal Affordability Preference (UAP) which stipulates that developers can add 20% more housing as long as the additional units are all affordable (NYC Department of City Planning 2023). While Adams does not define affordable in his housing plan, in New York City it is defined as costing “about one-third or less of household income, and is regulated so the rent can’t go up dramatically over time” (NYC Housing Preservation and Development n.d.). The next step in Adams’ City of Yes is the conversion of office spaces into residential dwellings (NYC Department of City Planning 2023). Current regulations prevent office buildings constructed after 1961, or any offices outside of central business areas, from being converted to residential housing (NYC Department of City Planning 2023). Since the COVID-19 pandemic allowed many people to work from home—and in some cases, made offices obsolete—Adams’ proposal would convert unused office space into much-needed housing. Additionally, the zoning regulations would be changed to allow many different types of housing, such as dorm-style housing: private units with a shared hallway and kitchen (NYC Department of City Planning 2023). Adams also proposes what he calls “Town Center Zoning,” which is the allowance of mixed-use zoning in traditionally commercial areas (NYC Department of City Planning 2023). This would allow developers to build housing above businesses on historically traditional streets.
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Amongst the “City of Yes” plan, one of the largest proposals that Adams mentions is the removal of parking mandates. New York City regulations currently require that all new housing have off-street parking built alongside it (NYC Planning 2009). Adams claims that the requirement to build parking hinders development because of its expenses, takes up space for additional units, and increases rent (NYC Department of City Planning 2023). By removing this mandate, Adams hopes to make housing construction more appealing to developers. Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) also play a large role in the “City of Yes.” ADUs are “smaller, independent residential dwelling units located on the same lot as a stand-alone (i.e., detached) single-family home” (American Planning Association n.d.). Adams’ plan would get rid of regulations that make the construction of ADUs difficult to increase the availability of housing (NYC Department of City Planning 2023). The last step in the “City of Yes” is transit-oriented development, which emphasizes the creation of apartment buildings near public transit to limit the need for cars to cut down air pollution in the City (NYC Department of City Planning 2023). One of the strongest reasons why people oppose the creation of additional housing is concerns over increased traffic. While the creation of housing near public transportation wouldn’t entirely eliminate that possibility, it would reduce the likelihood of a substantial increase in traffic.
The increase of housing through UAP, changing of zoning regulations and transit oriented development would only increase the housing supply at most by 100,000 units (Zaveri 2023b). While this number may seem substantial, it is far less than the 339,267 units needed as of 2021 (Up For Growth 2023, 64). The addition of these housing units is significant, but there are serious concerns over who these dwellings will go to. Historically, New York City housing has been costly, with median rent in Manhattan an astounding $5,588 as of last July (Frank 2023). With 2.7 million New Yorkers living below the poverty line as of 2021, it seems unlikely that an addition of less than one-third of the needed housing would go to low-income residents who need it the most (Office of Budget and Policy Analysis 2022). Although “City of Yes” proposes UAP to address the high demand for housing in New York City, even if all the housing was UAP-developed and the goal of 100,000 units were achieved, only 20,000 units would actually be affordable. Critics warn that the slow development of this proposed housing could have little or even a detrimental effect on rent prices if the demand for housing continues to outpace the supply (Zaveri 2023b). While Adams’ plan is a step in the right direction, it fails to provide a large enough impact to actually counteract the housing crisis.
Furthermore, Adams’ plan, while potentially effective in increasing the housing stock, does not address issues surrounding Section 8. Section 8, the Housing Choice Voucher Program, was created in 1978 in an effort to make housing more accessible to low-income families by subsidizing their rent so they will generally pay no more than 40% of their income towards rent (NYC Housing Authority n.d.). Unfortunately, housing vouchers for Section 8 can be difficult to get due to complicated paperwork, shortages of city employees to approve vouchers, and technical issues within the system; even when vouchers are given, finding a compatible apartment is an arduous task (Zaveri, 2023a). With such a high demand for housing, landlords are less likely to accept someone using a voucher because of existing prejudices or higher offers from other renters. Additionally, the acceptance of housing vouchers comes with a large amount of paperwork, inspections, and overall efficient bureaucracy (Turner 2003, 2). Even if Adams’ goal of 100,000 units is reached, it will not provide a substantial impact on low-income families unless the Section 8 process is improved alongside it.
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Another obstacle that Adams’ housing plan faces is the expiration of 421a, a tax break law created in 1971 that provides significant tax incentives to development corporations in exchange for the creation of affordable housing (Raetz, et al. 2022, 2). There are conflicting opinions on the efficacy of 421a, with some critics expressing that the high tax breaks given to corporations are not worth the little affordable housing that gets built (Zaveri 2023c). However, developers argue that residential construction will continue to decline more than its already-slow pace, essentially causing complete stagnation of housing development (Zaveri 2023c). Even if Adams’ housing plan passes the City Council in 2024, it may not be able to reach its goal of 100,000 units of housing due lack of interest from developers.
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Mayor Adams' housing plan, “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity,” is a step towards solving the housing crisis in New York City—but it does not do enough. In order to effectively combat housing shortages, NYC needs to increase its efforts to promote development by providing additional incentives, expand affordable housing, and fix Section 8 to better serve its intended community. How the “City of Yes” will play out, or if it will even pass the City Council in 2024 is still unclear; however, without additional support to combat the lack of housing, New York City will continue to face one of the worst housing crisis ever seen and will remain one of the most expensive cities to live in.
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Fig. 1: The New York Times
Fig. 2: City of Yes
Fig. 3: City of Yes for Housing Opportunity