Opinion: Toward a City for All

“While I supported the majority of the zoning reforms originally proposed, the modifications maintain its key components while accommodating specific neighborhood concerns and, most importantly, the essential principle that housing should be built in every district.”

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Our city faces a dire housing shortage and affordability crisis felt by New Yorkers in every neighborhood. The citywide vacancy rate is 1.4 percent, and low and middle-income New Yorkers being priced out of the city they call home.

In addition to making our city increasingly unaffordable, this housing crisis is responsible for the many health and safety challenges undermining quality of life across the five boroughs. To prevent worsening outcomes for our city, we must take urgent action to address New Yorkers’ fundamental need for access to safe and affordable housing.

Fortunately, the City Council has moved forward to do just that. Our housing package—zoning reforms through a modified City of Yes, paired with $5 billion in commitments secured through City for All—can mark a fundamental turning point. Together, they move our city toward comprehensive solutions that ensure all neighborhoods contribute to the creation of housing, and that New Yorkers’ diverse housing needs receive the major investments they deserve.

For years, New York City has simply built too few new homes for our growing population. Housing production has been overwhelmingly concentrated in a handful of communities, like those I represent in the Bronx, while many areas have opted out of our collective responsibility to house our neighbors. But we can no longer accept a paradigm where just a handful of neighborhoods are asked to meet the needs of an entire city.

For too long, exclusionary zoning and a vocal minority have blocked new housing, driving housing prices in every part of the city to levels that are unaffordable for most New Yorkers. We cannot afford inaction, which would only leave New Yorkers increasingly vulnerable to displacement, homelessness, and housing instability, all of which threaten our collective well-being.

While I supported the majority of the zoning reforms originally proposed, the modifications maintain its key components while accommodating specific neighborhood concerns and, most importantly, the essential principle that housing should be built in every district. This is a historic step forward for fair housing in our city, advancing Speaker Adams’ Fair Housing Framework Act that the Council passed into law last year.

Onerous parking mandates, which require off-street spaces for the vast majority of new development—even in areas where a fraction of residents own cars—have been significantly reduced or eliminated in large swaths of the five boroughs. In neighborhoods with the best access to transit, these arbitrary requirements have been eliminated entirely. That’s an area nearly triple the size of Austin, the largest U.S. city to lift parking mandates, and will unlock more opportunities for New Yorkers to live within walking distance of the subway.

For the first time in our city’s zoning history, affordability requirements in low-density zoning districts will be established to make inclusionary zoning citywide. Affordable housing incentives are now being extended beyond just high-density areas that have historically shouldered their development, expanding opportunities for more New Yorkers to access affordable homes in every part of the city.

Larger housing development projects that utilize the new Universal Affordability Preference zoning program will be required to designate 20 percent of their affordable units for New Yorkers earning up to 40 percent of the area median income, due to the Council’s modification. This will help ensure the creation of more affordable homes for New Yorkers with incomes less than $44,000 for an individual and $62,000 for a family of four. Our changes will make the program responsive to the fact that the vacancy rate for the lowest-cost homes is virtually non-existent, at under one percent.

In addition to these critical zoning reforms, the City Council’s comprehensive City for All housing plan will ensure investments make housing more affordable, home-ownership opportunities increasingly attainable, and pathways to housing stability available for all. NYCHA is a priority in City for All, along with support for Mitchell-Lamas, housing vouchers, and tenant protections. Record amounts of funding will be invested in the infrastructure of our neighborhoods, and future neighborhood plans will create additional affordable housing options in partnership with local communities.

The Council, with the support of the administration and our partners in state government, is advancing one of the most comprehensive, pro-housing plans in the city’s history.

Yet, we must realize that this can only be a strong start to the housing solutions needed for New Yorkers. Without more consistent actions to deliver stability and opportunity for New Yorkers, like those being advanced by the City of Yes and City for All, we will continue to lose the working families that have built our city and its economy. The future well-being of our communities and the potential of our city depends on ensuring that housing is not a privilege for the few, but a right for every New Yorker.

Councilmember Sanchez represents the 14th Council District, which includes the neighborhoods of Kingsbridge, Fordham, University Heights and Mount Hope.

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