Adams’ ‘City of Yes’ Spurs Clash on How to Get Needed Affordable Housing

This article was originally published on October 22 at 5 a.m. EDT by THE CITY

In recent months, during 175 community board meetings, countless civic association gatherings and over 15 hours before the City Planning Commission, New Yorkers weighed in on proposed land use changes that aim to ease housing construction across the five boroughs.

And on Tuesday, over 600 of them signed up to say their piece, once again, in front of the Council Committee on Zoning and Franchises during a second day of hearings on City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, a package of proposals that the administration of Mayor Eric Adams expects to result in the production of 58,000 to 109,000 new units of housing over 15 years.

Some who testified read off sheets of paper with the speed and fervor of voiceover actors reciting the side effects of a prescription drug in a commercial. Some expressed wholesale rejection of the plan, others wholesale support. Some pointed to a specific provision in the 1,386-page text amendment they took issue with. Some spoke of closing the jails on Rikers Island and the popularity of Grubhub.

Observers at the Council’s City Hall chambers learned to applaud silently, by wiggling their hands above their heads, as Council Member Kevin Riley (D-The Bronx), the committee chair, repeatedly reminded them to do. Some got in their shouts before the hearing even started.

Squinting against the morning sun in front of City Hall — encircled by a throng of over 100 people who chanted, “City of Yes, yes, yes,” — Queens Borough President Donovan Richards urged supporting Adams’ measures to unleash new development, as a way to get lower rents.

 “It’s called supply and demand,” Richards said. 

Around the same time, beneath the trees at City Hall Park, about 30 neighborhood housing advocates and tenant union representatives criticized the City of Yes as the “City of Mess,” saying it would only create “unaffordable” housing.

“The only tool they have for affordability is MIH, which has proven to be a failure,” said Jenny Dubnou, a leader of the Western Queens Community Land Trust, referring to mandatory inclusionary housing, an existing policy that requires developers to include a certain percentage of affordable housing in rezoned areas. “Even the affordable units are not affordable to most New Yorkers.”

The Council passed mandatory inclusionary housing in 2016. And on Tuesday, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso looked back on that fight to approve the program when he was a City Council member — and compared City of Yes, which he supported, to that.

“It was wholly, wholly unpopular amongst most of the community boards,” Reynoso said. “Now almost every single person on this stage would say that the work we did on MIH is insufficient, it’s not enough, we should’ve done more.”

He urged the Council, “Do not back down, do not scale back… We know this is our shot to make changes that our city needs to move forward.”

The Council is expected to amend and vote on Adams’ proposal before the year’s end. It’s unclear how many cuts and changes to the plan the administration will tolerate in order to claim a victory.

“We hope the Council keeps the proposal fundamentally intact,” Department of City Planning Commissioner Dan Garodnick said in an interview, without specifying whether the administration had garnered the support of a majority of Council members yet. 

“We have been very clear that zoning is a piece of the puzzle and an important one, and not the entire puzzle. We have to address issues like housing subsidies and tenant protections and other potential solutions that are complementary.”

Additional reporting by Greg David and Alex Krales.

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