December 18, 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New York, NY – At today’s New York City Council Stated Meeting, Council Member Eric Dinowitz continued his successful crusade to support our city’s working families. Council Member Dinowitz’s legislation, Intro. 1433-2025, which requires all new developments that receive city subsidies to increase the number of 2- and 3- bedroom apartments across NYC, overwhelmingly passed. The bill strengthens family-sized affordable housing requirements by requiring all new residential developments receiving city subsidies include a greater number of two- and three-bedroom apartments.

Families with young children are more than twice as likely to leave NYC than other demographic groups, and families with children make up the vast majority of shelter residents. This is due in large part to the lack of affordable housing options for families. Under current Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) policy, typically only 30 percent of new as-of-right subsidized units are two-bedroom apartments, with the rest being studios and one-bedroom apartments, and zero percent being three-bedroom apartments.

Under Council Member Dinowitz’s legislation, all newly financed affordable housing developments supported by HPD must dedicate at least 25 percent of units as two-bedroom apartments and 15 percent as three-bedroom apartments, promoting equitable distribution across the city.

This legislation aligns New York City’s housing production with the real needs of families – designed to house people, not simply to build units. The bill will now be sent to the Mayor for signature. If signed into law, its requirements will take effect beginning July 1, 2027.

“Families across NYC raise their children with the promise that if they work hard and play by the rules, there will be a place in our city for them,” said Council Member Eric Dinowitz. “Today, we uphold that promise with the passage of my legislation that will result in more affordable housing for our families. For too long, working families have been priced out of homes that actually meet their needs – and as a result, families with children are leaving our city at higher rates than any other group or entering our shelter system. Today we take a meaningful step forward to ensure families can afford to live here and raise their children in the communities they call home.”

“Affordable housing should reflect the real needs of our neighborhoods, including the many working families who need two- and three-bedroom homes to live with stability and dignity,” said Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition Executive Director Sandra Lobo. “When the City invests public dollars through subsidies, those resources should be used to meet actual community needs, not what is easiest to finance or fastest to build. Intro. 1433-A is an important step toward aligning housing production with the affordability crisis facing working people and keeping families rooted in New York City.”

“New York must be a city where families can afford homes in desirable neighborhoods that truly meet their needs. When housing is too small or unstable, children’s education, safety, and well-being suffer,” said Jeremy Kohomban, President and CEO of The Children’s Village. “Int. 1433 is an important and meaningful step toward delivering more family-sized housing in our city, and the Council should pass it. And to fully realize its promise, we must also strengthen the incentive structures and subsidies that make it possible to build two- and three-bedroom homes at scale, helping to ensure greater stability for the children and families of New York City.”

“Service providers like West Bronx Housing experience in person their clients’ frustration when they are finally able to access an affordable apartment, but instead of finding one that meets their family’s actual needs, they only find one that a developer wants to squeeze their family into,” said West Bronx Housing Executive Director Joshua Stephenson. “Thanks to Council Member Dinowitz and his colleagues’ advocacy, clients of organizations like West Bronx Housing who have families who need two- or three-bedroom apartments will have a chance to secure an affordable home that they deserve, instead of feeling like they were sent on a wild goose chase.”

“Families are leaving New York City at alarming rates, often because they cannot find housing that meets their needs,” said Bronx Community Board 8 District Manager Farrah Kule Rubin. “This legislation directly addresses that challenge by ensuring publicly subsidized housing includes more two- and three-bedroom units. We applaud Council Member Dinowitz for advancing a policy that helps families remain in our communities and gives children the space they need to thrive.”

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