Mayor Adams and City Council Reach Deal on City of Yes

Mayor Eric Adams and the New York City Council have a deal on the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity.

The sides came to an agreement after last-minute negotiations on Thursday morning, Gothamist reported. Talks continued as two Council committees were scheduled to vote on the proposal later in the day.

The agreement includes funding for sewers, streets, open spaces and staffing at housing agencies. Money will also be earmarked for the subsidization of affordable housing construction and preservation.

These additional investments were included in a package brought forth by City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. The speaker was looking for more than the mayor’s zoning reforms, which would ease restrictions on development around transit stations and on commercial corridors, as well as simplify office-to-residential conversions.

Under the original proposal, the Department of City Planning estimated the City of Yes component could create more than 100,000 apartments in a 15-year period. Typically, between 20,000 and 29,000 units are built annually.

From the beginning, it was clear that the Council would push for significant carveouts because of opposition in the outer boroughs, especially Queens and Staten Island.

This month, City Council released a housing blueprint of its own, “City for All,” which called for affordability requirements in large transit-oriented and town center developments, without specifying what made a project large enough to qualify.

City of Yes has drawn ire from elected officials of the outer boroughs, who claim the proposal is a one-size-fits all approach that will disrupt their neighborhoods. City officials say it is carefully crafted to fit the character of individual neighborhoods.

More than half of the city’s 59 community boards voted against the text amendment. But the speaker had pledged that her Council would address the housing crisis, and the chamber faced a Thursday deadline to decide on City of Yes. If a vote is not held during the review period, the text amendment would go into effect as approved by the planning commission, which is controlled by the mayor.

— Holden Walter-Warner