Housing plan addresses lack of commitments for affordability, infrastructure and housing protections in mayoral administration’s proposed zoning reform
New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Council Members announced City for All, the Council’s inclusive housing plan to holistically address New Yorkers’ wide range of housing challenges with policy actions and investments. The Council’s housing plan is focused on advancing a more affordable, livable, and sustainable city for all New Yorkers, calling for deeper affordability in housing, increased affordable homeownership and housing preservation efforts, investments in community infrastructure, stronger tenant protections, better use of housing vouchers, and increased capacity for housing agencies. The City for All housing plan is the Council’s response to Mayor Adams’ citywide zoning reform proposal, currently under review by the Council, lacking complementary housing investments and policies that confront the housing issues facing New Yorkers and their neighborhoods.
“New Yorkers need more housing, but affordability, homeownership opportunities, housing security and stability, and neighborhood investments are equally important to help working- and middle-class residents in our city,” said Speaker Adrienne Adams. “In order to ensure everyone in our city has safe and stable housing to continue contributing to the strength of our city and its economy, we must go beyond zoning reforms to address all the unrelenting housing pressures that leave New Yorkers struggling to afford finding or staying in homes. Without holistic solutions, our city’s severe housing and affordability crisis will only worsen. I am proud to join with my colleagues and advocates to announce City for All, the Council’s housing plan to meet the full range of housing needs of New Yorkers. Taken together, these actions and investments can help ease the challenges facing New Yorkers, allowing our city to become more affordable, livable, and sustainable. The Council intends to advance City for All to secure the housing justice all New Yorkers deserve.”
Further details on the plan can be found here.
City for All calls for:
Deepen Affordability of Housing Production
- Significantly Increase Funding in HPD Five-Year Capital Plan for Affordable Housing Programs and Deeper Affordability
- Deepen Affordability Targets
- Make Deep Affordability Option 3 of MIH Stand-Alone
- Require Affordability in Large Transit Oriented Developments and Town Center Developments
- Strengthen Support for Faith- and Community-Based Organizations Affordable Housing Development
- Increase Funding and Support to Strengthen Community Land Trusts
Support Affordable Homeownership
- Double funding for HPD HomeFirst Down Payment Assistance Program
- Expand Funding for HPD HomeFix to provide financing to working- and middle-class homeowners for maintenance and repairs to preserve homeownership
- Increase Affordable Homeownership Production through increased funding
- Increase Funding of Legal Services for Homeowners
Invest in Infrastructure to Support Growth
- Commit Significant Capital Funding for DEP Infrastructure, Open Space and Street Upgrades
- Make increased investments in public transit, including infrastructure, access to reduced fare programs, bus service, etc.
Strengthen Affordable Housing Preservation
- Significantly Increase Capital Funding for NYCHA Section 9 Units
- Increase Funding for HPD Preservation
- Incentivize Return of Vacant Units
- Significantly Increase Funding for Mitchell-Lamas Preservation
Bolster Utilization of Housing Vouchers
- Use Vouchers to Help New Yorkers at Greatest Risk and Fix Bureaucratic Issues
- Establish Voucher Incentives and Set-Asides
- Significantly Increase Funding to Combat Housing Discrimination
Protect Tenants
- Significantly Enhance Right to Counsel Funding
- Restore and Strengthen Anti-Harassment Tenant Protection (AHTP) Program
- Increase Funding for Non-profit Tenant Organizing
Fund Housing Agency Capacity
- Enhance HPD Development Capacity
- Strengthen DOB & HPD Housing Inspections
- Increase Funding for Neighborhood Plans
New York City is currently facing a severe housing crisis, with a citywide housing vacancy rate of 1.4 percent– the lowest percentage since 1968. The lack of housing is greatest for the most affordable homes, and most New York City renters are rent-burdened (paying 30 percent or more of their income on rent). Record homelessness, rising evictions, and widespread housing insecurity are impacting New Yorkers across the city, resulting in less safety and stability for communities.
The Council, under Speaker Adams, has prioritized the advancement of housing solutions, including the approval of major land use projects – Innovation QNS and Hallets North in Queens, Innovative Urban Village in Brooklyn, and the Bronx Metro-North Stations and Bruckner Boulevard rezonings in the Bronx. Speaker Adams has led by example within her own district by approving projects to create affordable housing, including the South Jamaica Gateway Rezoning, 141-05 109th Avenue Rezoning, and the 97-04 Sutphin Boulevard Rezoning, among others.
In December 2022, Speaker Adams released her Housing Agenda to Confront the City’s Crisis, outlining comprehensive actions for the City to tackle the housing shortage, deepen affordability, preserve housing, and restore support for City agencies, and in November 2023, the Council enacted Speaker Adams’ Fair Housing Framework Act, which will require the City to establish targeted housing production goals for each community district. Through City for All, the Council is putting forward a holistic housing plan to support working- and middle-class families by investing in solutions that meet their needs.
“It is no secret that New York City is in the midst of one of the most pressing housing crisis ever experienced in our great city,” said Council Member Rafael Salamanca, Chair of the Committee on Land Use. “On a daily basis, constituents seek my office’s help in obtaining safer and more affordable housing. While City of Yes is a long overdue start in unlocking new housing opportunities, my community will continue to be severely rent-burdened if any new housing created doesn’t truly reflect the neighborhoods in which they are built in. I am proud to join Speaker Adrienne Adams and my colleagues in rolling out City for All, a plan that comprehensively highlights actions that will generate the change so many New Yorkers need and demand. As Chair of the Committee on Land Use, I look forward to working with Speaker Adams and my colleagues in negotiating a plan that will create a more equitable city.”
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