Council secures $5 billion for housing solutions and neighborhood investments, while advancing reforms to produce over 80,000 new homes

City Hall, NY – Today, the New York City Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises and Committee on Land Use voted to modify the Department of City Planning’s Zoning for Housing Opportunity (ZHO) citywide text amendment with $5 billion in commitments to the Council’s City for All housing plan and investments into neighborhoods. The plan and modified zoning changes are estimated to create more than 80,000 new homes over 15 years, while helping to make housing more affordable and to strengthen neighborhoods. It shows the City can create a meaningful amount of new housing while respecting neighborhood character and delivering necessary investments in infrastructure, affordable housing, and homeownership.

This is the most pro-housing plan in New York City history, including the first citywide zoning text amendment designed to create new homes and major City for All investments to deepen the affordability of housing, support affordable homeownership, invest in neighborhood infrastructure, strengthen affordable housing preservation, protect tenants and bolster housing vouchers, and fund housing agency capacity. It is estimated that this plan will surpass the production of new housing from city-initiated planning actions during eight years of the de Blasio administration and 12 years of the Bloomberg administration, respectively. For comparison, in 2016, Zoning for Quality and Affordability did not have a unit estimate of new housing created and the de Blasio Administration-era neighborhood rezonings resulted in approximately 32,000 units of housing. The neighborhood rezonings during 12 years of the Bloomberg administration produced approximately 68,000 housing units.

“The committees’ approval of the Council’s comprehensive housing plan to modify the Zoning for Housing Opportunity text amendment with major investments in City for All demonstrates that it is possible to create a significant amount of new housing in every neighborhood, while respecting neighborhood character and investing in more affordable housing, communities, and homeownership,” said Speaker Adrienne Adams. “Today is an important step forward to address the city’s housing crisis that is making it unaffordable for working- and middle-class New Yorkers. Residents of our city need affordable and stable homes to rent and own and addressing that shortage, while supporting existing homeowners and tenants, deepening affordability, and strengthening the infrastructure of neighborhoods, are goals we must all share for a safer and stronger city.”

“Today’s committee approval of modifications to the citywide text amendment with the Council’s City for All housing plan represents a major step forward in addressing some of New York City’s most pressing housing challenges,” said Council Member Kevin C. Riley, Chair of the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises. “It is essential that New York City’s housing policies meet the diverse needs of all our residents, and focusing on true opportunities for affordable homeownership, investing in critical infrastructure to support sustainable growth, and ensuring deep affordability are crucial steps. This agreement embodies our commitment to supporting New Yorkers at every stage—whether that’s preserving existing homes, protecting tenants, or making vouchers more accessible and effective.”

“Today’s historic agreement on City of Yes is a culmination of extensive conversations between the Council, the administration, and the communities we serve,’ said Council Member Rafael Salamanca, Chair of the Committee on Land Use. “Taking into account the apprehensions of our constituents, the City Council balanced these concerns against the very real need to respond to the housing crisis this City is indisputably facing. In the process, we secured $5 billion in investments ($2b for housing, $2b in capital, $1b for agency operations) that will create more deeply affordable housing, expand affordable homeownership opportunities and strengthen affordable housing preservation, while also adding billions in capital funding for critical infrastructure enhancement projects throughout the Council’s 51 districts. None of this could have been possible without the exemplary leadership of Speaker Adrienne Adams and her team, and the City Council’s extraordinary Land Use Division who worked tirelessly to create a plan that makes New York City more affordable and sustainable.”

“It takes an incredible amount of courage to do what is right, even in the face of vocal opposition. Saying ‘no’ may seem like the easier position to take – but we have a duty to take a broader, long-term perspective on our city’s housing crisis. We must do everything in our power to house our fellow New Yorkers, and today, we are one step closer to doing just that,” said Council Member Pierina Sanchez, Chair of the Committee on Housing Buildings. 

“As Housing Chair, I hear from New Yorkers everywhere on the ways the housing crisis touches their lives. In my district – and in all five boroughs – that crisis means tenants on the brink of eviction, New Yorkers unable to stay in the neighborhoods they call home, and low-income and middle-class residents leaving the city we love. While adding supply is a critical piece to addressing the housing crisis, the Council recognized that we must do more to turn the tide. I am incredibly proud to have partnered with Speaker Adams and my colleagues to put forward the Council’s City for All plan, which has secured $5 billion in critical additional investments that are rooted in principles of housing justice and comprehensive planning.  Although these commitments hinge on the December 5^th final vote, I am hopeful the Council will seize this opportunity and take a bold, collective step toward a city that we can all call home.”

The Council’s modifications address concerns raised by communities, balancing the distinctions of neighborhoods with the citywide need to address a shortage of affordable housing. This balance allowed for a plan that both respects neighborhood character and is still applicable across the entire city, ensuring every neighborhood contributes to producing housing that can address the city’s affordability and housing crisis.

The zoning modifications include:

• Parking mandates will strike a balance between housing development and the need for parking in some parts of the city by creating a three-zone system (map of the zones).
  • Zone 1: No parking mandated, creating the most populous parking mandate-free area in the U.S. – nearly triple the size of Austin, the largest U.S. city to lift parking mandates. (~2.8 million to ~980k).
  • Zone 2: Some amount of parking – significantly reduced from today’s requirements – mandated for the limited number of cases where it is necessary.
  • Zone 3: Parking mandates will remain; in these areas, it would likely be produced to meet market demand regardless.
  • The forms of development that parking would most interfere with will be largely exempt from these mandates, regardless of zone: ADUs, conversions, affordable housing, transit-oriented development, and Town Center development. In Zone 3, affordable housing would have a reduced parking requirement and Town Center developments over 75 units would have a standard requirement.
• For buildings over a certain size (approximately 50 units) in low-density areas, developers can only “max out” the allowable zoning if they include permanently income-restricted affordable housing. This is the first time zoning has incentivized income-restricted affordable housing in low-density areas – a historic step that that takes inclusionary zoning citywide and will ensure that every neighborhood is open to affordable housing. This affordability will mesh with state tax policy to ensure construction is still viable.
• The low-density proposals (ADUs, transit-oriented development, Town Center) have been modified to apply in more limited geographies, while ensuring that every part of the city still has a mechanism for new housing. These new geographies are responsive to concerns about flooding and ensure that new development fits into the intent of the existing zoning.
• Zoning reforms on “campuses” will ensure that new development is contextual with existing building heights and protects playgrounds and other recreation spaces.

A full summary of the zoning modifications can be found here.

Accompanying City for All commitments include:

• $2B in additional housing capital investments to finance affordable housing preservation, including Mitchell-Lama projects, NYCHA investments, and HDFCs
• $2B in infrastructure investments including stormwater and drainage systems, street improvements, open space, and sewer upgrades.
• $200M to NYCHA to promote vacant unit readiness and Section 9 repairs
• $215M in additional funding for CityFHEPS across FY25 and FY26
• $187 million in increased CityFHEPS rental assistance for rehabilitation and conversion of homeless housing over ten years
• Commitment to work on issues related to Justice Involved Supportive Housing and the 15/15 Supportive Housing program with $137 million in capital funding
• An additional $41 million to double HomeFirst downpayment assistance and expand eligibility to more moderate income homebuyers
• Expand HomeFix 2.0 commitment totaling $27.7M to support homeowners’ repairs
• Restoring $7.6 million in baselined funding to sustain Anti-Harassment Tenant Protection (AHTP) program in FY2025 and the outeryears.
• Additional investment of $1.41 million per year in Partners in Preservation for tenant organizing
• 200 new staff lines for the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to support a range of development, planning, and enforcement functions across the agency, and the Department of Buildings.
• An additional $5.9 million in FY2025 to support the Department of City Planning’s capacity for neighborhood planning efforts.
• Joint City-State Mitchell-Lama Task Force to improve and stabilize Mitchell-Lama projects citywide
• Initiate neighborhood planning studies in Brooklyn Community Boards 12, 14, and 17 and Bronx Community Boards 7 and 12 beginning in 2025.

The Council has approved over 27,500 units of housing, more than 50% of which is affordable, since 2022 through the land use process.

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