Zoning change clears way for New York City plan for more rental housing

A broad change to New York City's zoning code cleared key legislative hurdles on Thursday evening, bringing with it the promise of an estimated 80,000 new homes over the next 15 years.

Supporters hope the plan — City of Yes, one of Mayor Eric Adams' signature policy initiatives — will make a dent in the city's historic record-low, rental housing vacancy rate: 1.4%.

Adams has set a “moonshot goal” of 500,000 new homes over the next decade. Among the provisions of the plan approved Thursday are a reduction in how much parking must be set aside when new apartments are constructed and changes to accessory dwelling units. Adams’ initial plan had promised more than 105,000 new homes, but that number was pared back as City Council negotiators demanded less ambitious changes, such as maintaining more of the parking spot requirements when housing is constructed.

The concessions made by Adams to get the proposal through mean less housing in more suburban areas such as eastern Queens, by the Nassau border.

Early Thursday evening, the change passed the City Council's Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises by a vote of 4 to 3, and then 8 to 2, with one abstention, in the Land Use Committee.

Although the plan must still be approved by the full 51-member Council at a meeting next month, it's virtually assured passage.

Soon after the successful votes, Adams appeared in the City Hall Rotunda wearing a baseball cap with the embroidered message: “yes to housing opportunity.”

“We can’t exist as a city with a 1.4% vacancy rate,” he said.

The administration committed to spend $5 billion, with a billion coming from the state.

The parking compromise creates a three-zone system, ranging from where no parking is mandated, in the city’s most populous areas, to a middle tier where some parking must be set aside, to a third zone where mandates will essentially remain.

The plan’s other provisions include the conversion of current office buildings into homes, particularly those that are underused in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

New York City is behind Seattle, Boston, Washington, D.C., and other large cities by permitting just a fraction of the housing that those cities do, despite surging demand, according to a report by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Long Island is doing even worse when building housing to meet demand: Among America’s 100 largest counties, Nassau and Suffolk permitted less housing per capita from 2013 through 2022 than all but a single county, in Ohio, according to Bloomberg News.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.