City of Yes

In recent decades, high-demand neighborhoods have lost affordable housing and become increasingly out of reach to working families.

The Universal Affordability Preference is a new tool that would allow buildings to add at least 20% more housing, but only if the additional units are affordable. As a result, it will deliver new affordable housing in high-cost neighborhoods across New York City to working families.

Today, outdated rules prevent underused offices and other non-residential space from converting to housing. For example, many buildings constructed after 1961, or outside the city's largest office centers, cannot be converted to housing.

City of Yes will make it easier for vacant offices and other non-residential buildings to become homes, a win-win policy to create housing, boost property values, and create more active, vibrant neighborhoods in areas that have been hard-hit by the effects of the pandemic.

New York is a city of neighborhoods, and each neighborhood is anchored by commercial corridors with shops and vibrant street life – a little town center for every community.

Modest apartment buildings with stores on the street and apartments above exist in low-density areas across the five boroughs – most of them from the 1920s to 1950s. Today, zoning prohibits that classic form even in areas where it’s very common.

By relegalizing housing above businesses on commercial streets in low-density areas, City of Yes will create new housing, help neighbors reach small businesses, and build vibrant mixed-use neighborhoods.

New York City currently mandates off-street parking along with new housing even where it's not needed, driving down housing production and driving up rents.

City of Yes would end parking mandates for new housing, as many cities across the country have successfully done. The proposal will preserve the option to add parking, but no one will be forced to build unnecessary parking.

Across the city, small homeowners face challenges with rising costs and aging in place. Regulations limit what New Yorkers can do with their own property, which means families have to move farther away from their grandparents or grandchildren, or are forced into uncomfortably cramped houses.

Meanwhile, spaces like garages go unused when improvements could make them comfortable homes.

For seniors fighting to stay in the neighborhood on a fixed income, or young people stretching to afford a first home, adding a small rental unit can be life changing. But under current rules, New York City homeowners can't choose to use their property in this way.

City of Yes would allow "accessory dwelling units," or ADUs — which include backyard cottages, garage conversions, and basement apartments. Cities across the country have already legalized accessory dwelling units because they support homeowners and provide more space for multi-generational families without significantly changing the look and feel of a neighborhood.

Accessory dwelling units also make it easier for younger generations or caregivers to live nearby. And they can deliver big benefits while fitting in with existing buildings.

Adding housing near public transit is a commonsense approach to support convenient lifestyles, limit the need for car ownership, lower congestion, and reduce carbon emissions. Many modest apartment buildings exist in lower-density areas, most of them built between the 1920s and 1950s.

However, current  zoning bans apartment buildings like these, forcing New Yorkers into long commutes, increasing traffic congestion and worsening climate change.

City of Yes would relegalize modest, 3- to 5-story apartment buildings where they fit best: large lots on wide streets or corners within a half-mile of public transit.

Across the city, many residential, faith-based, or other campuses have underused space that they could turn into housing. That new construction can pay for repairs to existing buildings, breathe new life into community institutions, and help address our housing crisis.

Today, arbitrary rules get in the way. For example, if existing buildings are too tall or too far back from the street, zoning prohibits new development on the property – even if the new developments would comply with current regulations. City of Yes would make it easier for campuses to add new buildings if they wish to by removing obstacles and streamlining outdated rules. The new buildings could bring money for repairs, new facilities, and housing.

City of Yes advances key recommendations from the Where We Live NYC Plan. Where We Live NYC is the outcome of an in-depth two-year process with over 150 community partners that identified strategies for fair housing and equity.

• 9/21/2023 - New York Times: In Yards, Offices and Basements, New York Hopes to Build 100,000 Homes
• 9/21/2023 - City Limits: Mayor Adams Pitches Zoning For Less Parking, More Housing
• 9/21/2023 - StreetsBlog NYC: City of Yes Yes Yes! Adams Calls for Elimination of Parking Mandates on ALL New Housing

• 9/21/2023 - NY1: Adams announces bold proposal to tackle housing crisis
• 9/22/2023 - Fox 5 New York: 100,000 new homes in NYC?
• 9/21/2023 - NY1: Adams announces bold proposal to tackle housing crisis

• 11/22/2023 - Daily News: Build for the future: N.Y. needs lots more housing
• 11/6/2023 - Crain’s NY: The city has a chance to correct a mindset from the 1960s to create more housing
• 10/26/2023 - Bloomberg: How to Solve New York City’s Housing Crisis
• 9/24/2023 - Daily News: Eric Adams’ housing plan is what NYC needs

• 3/6/2024 – Municipal Art Society of New York in Crain’s: City of Yes housing plan is refreshingly holistic
• 2/15/2024 - Mayor Adams and Speaker Adams: fixes for NYC housing shortage
• 1/5/2024 - Slate Property Group and Open Plans in Crain’s: To build more housing, build less parking
• 10/2/2023 - Mayor Eric Adams in amNY: The future of housing in NYC