Mayor Eric Adams’ Zoning for Housing Opportunity plan would partly reverse effects of restrictive policies that limited development in the name of preserving neighborhood character.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams wants to upend some of the comfy arrangements that have evolved over the years that block new housing from being built in most of the city and produce a never-ending housing shortage. Instead, he wants to build “a little more housing in every neighborhood.” The city’s proposals are a belated but welcome endorsement of zoning reforms that have taken hold across the nation, in politically diverse states from Montana to Vermont. A review of the proposal suggests New Yorkers should support Adams’ efforts and try to make them even more effective.
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For those who live in all but a handful of neighborhoods in New York City, little has likely changed over the past few years, at least in the physical sense. Sure, houses have become more expensive, and the people moving in recently probably have higher incomes than the people who moved in decades ago. But not much new housing has been built.
Perhaps, a homeowner might remember the neighborhood being “downzoned” to limit new construction. The idea was pushed by neighborhood associations circulating flyers asserting that without it, the beloved local “character” would be ruined by ugly new buildings. Residents probably didn’t think about it much, but homeowners might have realized that downzoning—making it harder to build more housing—was probably going to make homes worth more.
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Eric Kober is an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He retired in 2017 as director of housing, economic and infrastructure planning at the New York City Department of City Planning. Follow him on Twitter here.
Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
