De Blasio offers compromises on housing policy

Mayor’s team offered City Council concessions on micro-units, parking rules

BIll de Blasio, Jumaane Williams and Maritza Silva-Farrell
BIll de Blasio, Jumaane Williams and Maritza Silva-Farrell

Signs of progress are emerging from negotiations between the de Blasio administration and the City Council over the future of the city’s housing policy.

The mayor’s office offered concessions on its proposed requirements on the minimum size of micro-units, as well as around parking requirements for affordable or senior housing, Politico reported, citing sources with knowledge of the talks.

That prompted leaders of the Real Affordability for All coalition to delay a planned protest march on City Hall.

“We are postponing this action, not canceling it, based on productive movement in current negotiations,” the group’s campaign director Maritza Silva-Farrell told Politico. “In the days ahead, we hope to reach an agreement with city officials on how to achieve deeper real affordability and job standards in Mayor de Blasio’s housing plan.”

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The administration reportedly agreed to increase its proposed minimum size for micro-units to 400 square feet, up from its original suggestion of 275 square feet.

The Mayor’s office is also set to limit the scope of its plan to convert parking lots at senior and affordable housing developments into new residential space. The proposal would also have eliminated requirements to build parking lots at developments within a half-mile of public transit.

It’s considering changes that would shrink the required distance to public transit in some areas.

Councilmember Jumaane Williams told DNAinfo that he believed the threat of the march helped spur the concessions. [Politico]Ariel Stulberg