As New York City tackles a pervasive affordability crisis, New York City voters passed three reforms to fast-track affordable housing development, despite pushback from the City Council over concerns it would blunt power to stop projects in their districts.
The questions, Nos. 2, 3 and 4 on the ballot, were put forward by a commission convened by Mayor Adams to revise the city’s charter, as part of a bid to cut through bureaucratic red tape that is often blamed for slowing construction.
The city has not built enough homes in recent decades to keep pace with demand, nor has every neighborhood done its fair share to increase housing supply, proponents of the measure say.
“Tonight, New Yorkers sent a message: We must address the housing crisis, and we need new tools to do so,” said Richard Buery, chairman of the Charter Revision Commission.
With about 95% of the votes in, all three measures were headed for approval by a 3-2 margin.
Ballot proposals Nos. 2 and 3 will create new fast-tracked processes to build affordable housing that is either city-funded or in districts that haven’t built enough homes, and speed up approval for smaller or green projects.
Proposal No. 4, the most controversial, will create an appeals board focused on affordable housing that could overrule the Council. The panel is expected to include the mayor, Council speaker and local borough president, and require at least a 2-1 to reverse the legislative body’s decision by considering broader housing needs.
After the mayor’s race, perhaps no referendum on this year’s ballot has gotten as much attention as the housing proposals.
At issue is a controversial practice known as “member deference,” an informal veto that Council members have over local proposals. When an individual member comes out against a project in their district, the remainder of the body typically falls in line behind their position.
The Council, including the speaker, had slammed the ballot measures as misleading, arguing the Council’s power is to negotiate for better housing proposals — larger family homes, parks and more — for their constituents, not to block development. In the leadup to Election Day, Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Queens) framed the issue as taking away power from communities and their elected leaders and shifting it to developers and the mayor.
Local lawmakers even faced allegations of “electioneering” over spending more than $1.5 million in taxpayer dollars on mailers against the proposals, according to multiple reports. In one image, officials ran an ad of a man with “Ballot Proposals 2, 3, and 4” duct tape across his mouth, presumably silenced by the possibility of their passage. The Council has denied allegations of unlawful activity.
On Tuesday morning, Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect, who received endorsements from about half of the Council, broke his silence on the three measures and said he supports them. The proposals also had the backing of Gov. Hochul, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Comptroller Brad Lander, and a majority of the borough presidents.
Housing affordability advocates celebrated their passage.
“New Yorkers have determined our own destinies by passing first-in-the-nation local reforms that will finally allow us to treat affordable housing as it should be in our nation: a basic right to which we must all have access,” said Amit Singh Bagga, campaign director for YES on Affordable Housing.”