$5B City of Yes housing proposal passes NYC Council hurdles

NEW YORK (PIX11) -- A controversial plan that claims that it would create 80,000 new homes for New Yorkers has now passed some major milestones, including being funded to the tune of some $5 billion, and passing two key votes in the New York City Council. 

The City of Yes proposal needed the approval of the City Council Zoning Subcommittee as well as the council's Land Use Committee. The subcommittee approved the measure by a narrow 4-to-3 margin, and the committee approved it by a wider margin, 8 in favor and 2 against. 

The City of Yes proposal by Mayor Eric Adams would allow developers to expand some of their new building plans by up to 20%, provided the additional housing meets city and state requirements for being affordable. The mayor's plan would also make it easier for office buildings to be converted to housing stock. In addition, it would also let owners of single-family homes develop apartments in basement and outbuilding spaces on their properties.

The proposal has critics, including people skeptical about the fact that it would eliminate the city's requirement that all new developments have off-street parking. Also, even though the City of Yes plan is designed to increase affordable housing, critics question whether the new developments would be truly affordable for low-income New Yorkers.

Sherwyn James, a homeowner in Laurelton, Queens, attended the committee hearings and votes in order to let City Council members know his opposition. 

"It simply means that it will create an even greater problem in the long run," he said. He called the City of Yes a plan that's bigger than the city's roadways and sewer systems. "We don't have the infrastructure to accommodate all of these dwelling units," he said in an interview. 

Councilmember Shaun Abreu, who represents the Upper West Side, Hamilton Heights and Washington Heights, sits on both the subcommittee and the committee that voted Thursday evening. He said that the plan is not perfect, but that compromise between the City Council and the mayor will result in development proposals that will expand new developments on a human scale, and in the process create badly needed housing that residents can afford. 

"The [new] buildings won't be that much bigger, and if landlords want to go higher than what's currently allowed, it needs to be 100% affordable for that remaining amount," Abreu said. "That's a huge win for New Yorkers."  

The measure needed $5 billion to be implemented. A deal between Mayor Adams and the City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams procured $4 billion, and an effort led by Gov. Kathy Hochul provided the additional $1 billion.

The three issued a statement that said that the $5 billion includes measures to upgrade infrastructure in order to accommodate the new housing units. 

Initially, the City of Yes proposal had claimed that 100,000 new homes would be built. The compromised version was downgraded to 80,000.

It was clear throughout the day on Thursday that the measure was being hammered out slowly. The subcommittee and committee votes were originally scheduled to be done before 12:30 p.m. They ended up not being completed until after 6 p.m. Thursday.

The measure now goes before the entire City Council, which is required to vote on it before Dec. 5.