New York City: where the high cost of housing is perhaps as famous as the dollar-slice pizza.
And that housing-cost burden is getting heavier. Median rent reached record highs in the city this year as it faces its worst housing market in 50 years.
Four of the six measures on the Nov. 4 ballot for city residents aim to ease the soaring cost of housing for New Yorkers by increasing affordable housing development opportunities and reducing red tape.
Here are the housing measures that voters in the nation’s largest city are considering tomorrow:
Proposal 1: Fast-track the construction of affordable housing
Regulatory barriers such as zoning restrictions are often cited as roadblocks that can stifle affordable housing development. This ballot proposal would establish a new action at the Board of Standards and Appeals that could grant “zoning relief” for publicly financed housing projects, according to the New York City Charter Revision Commission.
The second part of the measure would establish a streamlined public review procedure for applications that deliver affordable housing to community districts “that have permitted the least affordable housing.” A New York University Furman Center analysis found that among the city’s 59 community districts, only 10, representing just 13% of the city’s population, were responsible for 47% of the city’s housing stock growth from 2010 to 2024.
Proposal 2: Simplify review of modest housing and infrastructure projects
This proposal would establish an expedited land use review procedure for land use changes, including those that would make modest increases in the amount of housing allowed, as well as those for the acquisition and disposition of land to facilitate affordable housing.
The measure could trim as many as 125 days off the review process for qualifying projects, according to a Furman Center analysis.
Proposal 3: Establish an affordable housing appeals board with council, borough and citywide representation
A new Affordable Housing Appeals Board, which would consist of the relevant borough president, speaker of the city council and the mayor, would have the ability to reverse City Council decisions on certain land use matters to prioritize projects that would create affordable housing, providing that two out of three officials on the new board agree.
This new process would replace the existing mayoral veto and Council override available for such decisions and give more power to the president of the borough an application impacts.
Proposal 4: Create a digital city map to modernize city operations
The official city map, which plays a “little-known but critical role” in approving housing and infrastructure projects in New York City, currently consists of over 8,000 paper maps, according to the city. The proposal would replace those with a single, digitized map.
