A number of big U.S. cities such as Minneapolis and Portland, Oregon, have changed their zoning rules in recent years to allow a wider variety of housing types in certain areas as officials seek to increase the supply of homes and help moderate surging prices. Now, New York City is considering these ideas as part of what it calls the “City of Yes” program.
Manhattan’s crowded skyline is the first scene to pop into many people’s minds when they think about New York. But a substantial part of the city’s population lives in neighborhoods in the outer boroughs of Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island that are restricted to single-family homes, or to a smattering of duplexes and small apartment buildings. New York's more than 8 million residents make it the largest U.S. city; just under 1.6 million people live in Manhattan.
Mayor Eric Adams introduced City of Yes in the fall of 2023, saying he wanted to build “a little more housing” across all of the city’s neighborhoods, including the outer boroughs as well as high-density Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn. The city council is expected to vote on a version of his proposal by the end of this year. It's the first time the city has tried to overhaul its zoning code for the purpose of affecting the housing supply.
The proposal could add between 58,000 and 109,000 homes of all types in the next 15 years beyond what would otherwise be developed, according to city officials. A key aspect of the plan is to loosen zoning rules about how far a house or small apartment building in low-density areas must be set back from the street or height limits. The city would also allow residential buildings up to five stories tall near bus or subway stops and above stores in commercial areas.
“Even where zoning nominally allows them, it’s often impossible to create multifamily or two-family homes,” according to testimony at the New York City Council's October meeting in favor of City of Yes by the advocacy group Citizens Housing and Planning Council. “Reasonable modifications are costly and difficult, if not unachievable. An existing two-family home can be converted to single-family, but can’t be converted back.”
Earlier this month, about half of the 51-member city council responded to Adams’ proposal with a three-page paper that was labeled “City for All.” The councilors didn’t reject the mayor’s ideas, but said more of the proposed housing needs to be affordable. In particular, they want affordable units included in housing built above stores. Adams’ staff has said requiring affordability in those types of small residential developments could discourage builders from doing anything.
“We must go beyond zoning reforms to address all the unrelenting housing pressures that leave New Yorkers struggling to afford finding or staying in homes,” council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who is not related to the mayor, said in a statement.
City of Yes has drawn significant opposition in some of the low-density neighborhoods, something the council may have to address in order to get a version of the plan passed. As of July, only 15 of the 59 community boards had voiced public support for Adams’ plan. The boards’ votes are non-binding but can have a significant influence on city councilors and borough leaders.
Character loss
Residents are concerned about the loss of their neighborhoods’ low-density character and the perceived negative effects of more development on stormwater runoff, water and sewer service and other infrastructure.
“Replacing a single-family house with a 10- to 20-unit apartment building will devastate a block and neighborhood immediately,” Paul Graziano, a resident of the Flushing neighborhood in Queens, told city councilors during a public hearing on City of Yes in October.
The concerns about infrastructure are “sort of a red herring,” Anita Laremont, who was the city’s planning director during previous Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s administration, said in an interview, though certain neighborhoods may have these challenges. Laremont is now an attorney with the New York law firm Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson.
She agreed with city officials’ stance that the new housing won’t be concentrated enough to put additional pressure on water and other resources. However, a legitimate concern among residents, she added, is that they or their children may not be able to keep living in their neighborhoods because of escalating home values and taxes.
“Some of the proposed changes would address those issues, by allowing people in a single-family home to build an accessory dwelling unit on their property or a basement apartment,” Laremont said.
Accessory homes of up to 800 square feet could be used to house family members, but they might also be a source of rental income for homeowners. Another tool the city is proposing through City of Yes are what it calls “district fixes,” ways for owners to add on to their homes without violating zoning rules. A number of older houses are out of compliance with zoning as it is, so making improvements is impossible.
Most recent housing development in New York has been in large apartment or condo buildings in high-density areas such as Manhattan, downtown Brooklyn or Long Island City in Queens. That will also be true of most of the new development City of Yes would make possible, said Laremont, because of the greater potential return for investors. City officials haven’t offered an estimate of how many new homes the zoning changes might yield in outlying, lower-density areas.