New Issue Brief: NYC’s Far-Reaching Housing Proposals Still Not Ambitious Enough

New York, NY – Mayor Adams has signaled his willingness for bold action to alleviate the city’s long-standing housing shortage, most recently unveiling a plan in December 2022 to “Get Stuff Built.” The “moonshot” initiative to build 500,000 new homes over the next decade includes Department of City Planning (DCP)’s “Zoning for Housing Opportunity” proposals. But will it work? 

In a issue brief for the Manhattan Institute, senior fellow Eric Kober, a former DCP director, evaluates the “Zoning for Housing Opportunity” proposals, concluding that while they represent positive steps towards more housing, they do not go far enough. Without additional changes, both to zoning and other applicable laws that constrain supply, the crisis will persist. Additionally, speed of change is crucial, and Kober warns the city and state must remove procedural impediments to solving the crisis quickly. 

Some of Kober’s specific recommendations for the city and state include the following:

• Set a housing target: Mayor Adams’ December announcement of his “moonshot” goal of 500,000 new homes over the next decade is laudable, but he must provide specific detail soon about how he plans to accomplish this.
• Change the zoning map: the city should identify and rezone the large number of commercial and manufacturing zoning districts where housing is unreasonably prohibited, and work to make the mapping of residential zoning districts throughout the city more accommodating for new apartment buildings.
• Get real about housing affordability mandates: imposing stringent affordability requirements on rezonings scores political points but hinders development; the city should at least waive affordability mandates where infeasible. An ideal outcome would be to fold zoning-based inclusionary efforts into a voluntary program coordinated with tax incentives.
• Replace Section 421-a: the state should enact a new Section 421-a tax exemption program for new housing similar to the old version but with a few key changes designed to promote flexibility and responsiveness to housing-market fluctuation.
• Reform environmental review: Rather than requiring time-consuming, costly and dubious reviews, the state should amend the Environmental Conservation Law to exempt New York City from environmental review of residential projects.
• Reform multiple dwelling law (MDW): liberalizing MDW, including easing conversions of nonresidential buildings to residences and a handful of other changes, would mitigate the housing crunch.
• Grant amnesty for dwelling units constructed without a permit: the state should revisit Governor Hochul’s proposal to legalize dwelling units created without permits on the same lots as small homes.
• Reform vacancy policies: the state legislature should allow vacancy rent increases that provide landlords with an economic return on vacant apartment renovations. 

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