Adams Administration Announces $4 Million Grant to Support Accessory Dwelling Unit Pilot and One-Stop Shop Online Portal for Interested Homeowners
Announcement Comes as Adams Administration Addresses Housing Crisis with “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” Proposal to Produce as Many as 108,850 New Homes Over 15 Years, Including by Legalizing Accessory Dwelling Units
New York City Mayor Eric Adams today announced multiple new tools to help New York City homeowners create accessory dwelling units (ADUs) that will not only help them to afford to remain in the communities they call home, but also to build generational wealth for families. ADUs are defined as any secondary independent unit on the same property as a primary home, including backyard cottages and basement apartments with separate entrances. The new tools include a one-stop shop portal to remove bureaucratic red tape and new a $4 million grant funding to support an ADU pilot program. ADUs are a proven solution to create critically-needed housing as the city faces a historic housing affordability and shortage crisis. Today’s announcement comes as the Adams administration aims to address the housing crisis with the “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” proposal, which aims to produce as many as 108,850 new homes over 15 years, including by legalizing ADUs.
“For our seniors fighting to stay in the neighborhoods they call home or young people struggling to find a living space, accessory dwelling units can be a lifeline to stable, affordable housing,” said Mayor Adams. “For too long, our policies have lived in the past and ignored the present: We are facing a generational housing crisis. The only solution is to build more and make it easier, not harder, for homeowners to join government in addressing this crisis head on. Together, we can build our way towards a better future, but that must include saying ‘yes’ to ‘City of Yes for Housing Opportunity’ and legalizing accessory dwelling units.”
“From seniors struggling to age in place, to young families stretching to pay the mortgage, adding a small backyard cottage or basement apartment can be life changing,” said Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer. “Through ‘City of Yes for Housing Opportunity,’ we're making is easier for homeowners to earn extra income or provide space for multi-generational families. And by giving homeowners who add a new unit the full support of government, we are going to give New York families even more opportunity for homeownership and to build intergenerational wealth.”
“As we continue to push for more innovative, safe, and smart solutions to confront the housing crisis head-on, our work on ADUs stands out as a good tool for creating more housing in every neighborhood,” said New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Adolfo Carrión Jr. “The HPD pilot loan program provides support for homeowners to build a little more housing in their household. Paired with new flexible zoning, pre-approved plans, and a one-stop shop resource center, these tools will help all New Yorkers — from older adults aging in place to young adults to families looking to stay in the city.”
“New Yorkers feel the impact of our housing crisis every day, from seniors who are unable to stay in the communities they helped build to young families looking to purchase their first home,” said New York City Department of City Planning (DCP) Director Dan Garodnick. “Accessory homes are a proven solution to help provide space for a loved one or caretaker, or to bring in extra income — all without significant change to a neighborhood’s character. That’s why legalizing ADUs is a component of our proposal to enable a little more housing in every neighborhood.”
“The Adams administration is committed to creating safe, affordable housing in our city,” said New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) Commissioner Jimmy Oddo. “DOB is working closely with our partner agencies, so that when changes are made to city regulations, we can continue to maintain a streamlined and consistent construction application process for new projects. New Yorkers have come to expect high levels of efficiency from their government and pairing new policy proposals with holistic toolkits for property owners helps deliver on those expectations."
“To build our way out of a generational affordable housing crisis, our city needs to explore every option, every space, and every neighborhood to deliver the relief New Yorkers need,” said New York City Executive Director of Housing Leila Bozorg. “Whether you are first-time homeowner searching for extra income or an older adult who has called New York City home for generations, accessory dwelling units are a proven solution to create affordable housing. Today, our administration proudly says ‘yes’ to accessory dwelling units and we urge all of our partners to join us as we build a better, more affordable city for all.”
“We applaud Mayor Adams’ deep commitment and ongoing efforts to make New York City more affordable and livable for New Yorkers of all ages,” said New York City Department for the Aging Commissioner Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez. “‘City of Yes for Housing Opportunity’ advances commonsense zoning reforms —including the modernization of antiquated rules around accessory dwelling units — that will allow older adults to age in-place and enable them to create living arrangements to remain close to extended family and friends.”
ADUs have been shown to help homeowners provide a living space for loved ones or caretakers, bring in extra income, or provide extra space for families to grow, without significantly changing the look and feel of the neighborhood they are built in. In an AARP survey of people age 50 and older, seven in 10 respondents said they would consider building an ADU for a loved one who needs care.
The Plus One ADU pilot program provides up to $395,000 in funding to qualified homeowners through HPD and grant funding from New York State Homes and Community Renewal to build or convert an ADU on their property. Additionally, the program provides homeowners with financial and technical support, including predevelopment and construction resources. First launched in 2023, in its first two months, the pilot heard from more than 2,800 homeowners with nearly 80 percent of applicants reporting they were interested in improving their family’s finances or housing a family member with an ADU. The additional funding will allow up to 35 homeowners to add or convert a secondary home, as permitted under current zoning and building codes. To allow even more homeowners to benefit from an ADU, City of Yes for Housing Opportunity would permit one- or two-family homes in New York City to add an accessory dwelling unit of up to 800 square feet, while adhering to building code and other city and state regulations.
The administration also announced plans to create a “one-stop shop” of resources to help New Yorkers add an ADU to their properties, including step-by-step guides to help homeowners navigate the ADU process. This resource will include, for the first time in New York City’s history, a library of pre-approved designs, which will streamline permit approvals for safe accessory homes and lower costs for homeowners. New York’s pre-approved ADU design library will follow proven models in cities like Los Angeles and Eugene.
The Adams administration is in the middle of public review for City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, the most pro-housing zoning proposal in New York City’s history. DCP estimates that the Adams administration’s City of Yes plan could produce as many as 108,850 new homes over the next 15 years. In addition to the City of Yes plan, DCP is advancing several robust plans that, if adopted, would deliver more than 50,000 units over the next 15 years in the Metro North station area in the Bronx, Central Brooklyn, Midtown South in Manhattan, and Long Island City and Jamaica in Queens.
Since the start of his administration, Mayor Adams has made record investments towards creating and preserving affordable housing. Last week, Mayor Adams announced back-to-back record breaking years in both creating and connecting New Yorkers to affordable housing. In June, the Adams administration delivered an on-time, balanced, and fiscally-responsible $112.4 billion Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Adopted Budget that invests $2 billion in capital funds across FY25 and FY26 to HPD and NYCHA’s capital budgets. In total, the Adams administration has committed a record $26 billion in housing capital in the current 10-year plan as the city faces a general housing crisis. Last month, Mayor Adams and others announced a landmark $500 million investment from the Battery Park City Authority’s Joint Purpose Fund to build and maintain affordable housing. This spring, thanks to Mayor Adams’ vision and leadership, the city celebrated the largest 100 percent affordable housing project in 40 years with the Willets Point Transformation.
Further, the Adams administration is using every tool available to address the city’s housing crisis. Earlier this year, Mayor Adams and members of the administration successfully advocated for new tools in the 2024 New York state budget that will spur the creation of urgently needed housing. These tools include a new tax incentive for multifamily rental construction, a tax incentive program to encourage office conversions to create more affordable units, lifting the arbitrary “floor-to-area ratio” cap that held back affordable housing production in certain high-demand areas of the city, and the ability to create a pilot program to legalize and make safe basement apartments.
Under Mayor Adams’ leadership, the city is fulfilling its 2024 State of the City commitment to build more affordable housing, including being ahead of schedule on advancing two dozen affordable housing projects on city-owned land this year through the “24 in ‘24” initiative, reopening the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program waitlist after being closed to general applications for nearly 15 years, and creating the Tenant Protection Cabinet to coordinate across agencies to better serve tenants. The city has also taken several steps to cut red tape and speed up the delivery of much-needed housing, including through the “Green Fast Track for Housing,” a streamlined environmental review process for qualifying small- and medium-sized housing projects; the “Office Conversion Accelerator,” an interagency effort to guide buildings that wish to convert through city bureaucracy; and other initiatives of the
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