Review Predictions: Mayor Adams's Housing Plan

How did our previous predictions fare with what the Mayor put out into writing

Mayor Adams & housing

In the last newsletter, we took some of the policy priorities Adams brough to light in his “City of Yes” plan and predicted what specific changes may come forward to solve these issues. Now that more details have been released, let’s see how plugged into the NYC real estate market we really are.

1-     Expand housing supply “Zoning for economic opportunity”

We predicted we would receive an upgraded hotel-to-multifamily conversion program and that’s exactly what we received! Two days after this newsletter was released on June 5th, Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams signed a bill loosening the compliance rules required to perform conversions, such as eliminating the need for a new certificate of occupancy.

2-     Loosen zoning constraints on small business owners “Zoning for housing opportunity”

I predicted this effort would materialize through an up-zoning in a specific area, like Bushwick. Instead, the Mayor wants to be more strategic and tactical. Lump sum re-zonings lead to public outcry and frustration, as was largely the case in the Bushwick rezone, which was ultimately scrapped because the community was not on board. Instead, Adams wants to lobby for boosted FAR everywhere, but only for those projects that include affordable housing. This is exciting, but it kicks the can down the road. It’s the problem that always haunts these proposals– what area median income (AMI) % level is defined as affordable and what portion of the units in the developments need to be at that level? Adams went more bold and more nuanced, but he may find that grappling with legislators over what level of AMI works when incomes in NY are increasingly dwarfed by climbing apartment rent prices may be tricky.

We also predicted that Adams would vote to overhaul the ULURP process to make it easier to pass zoning amendments like this. Ironically, his plans are now being codified into zoning texts and guess where they are headed for approval? ULURP public review. Maybe he should have listened to us and just wished for unlimited wishes in the genie bottle.

3-     “Zoning for zero carbon”

I was hoping for a basket of incentives that would motivate corporates and individuals to install solar roofs and ev recharging stations. Instead, we got something else. I’m not sure exactly what we got, and it doesn’t appear that Adams knows exactly he wants to commit to either. The mayor’s office vowed to “facilitate + eliminate barriers + remove obstacles” to all things clean energy development. A bit disappointing. Perhaps a savvy Adams is waiting until after the Democratic primaries conclude in July before setting in stone any initiatives that would require significant state backing.

We are 2 for 3 on Mayor Adams’ real estate moves. Read more of these articles and see what else we are getting right!!! The actual changes can be found on the NYC.gov website here.

Originally published on June 19th, 2022