Some City Council members are losing an informal veto power over new projects in their districts after voters approved a measure aimed at eliminating roadblocks to development. Manhattan’s Upper East Side added 150 affordable homes in the past five years, but because the neighborhood is already dense, that rate of development is relatively low.
On the South Shore of Staten Island, single-family homes are interspersed with woods and wetlands. In Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, small apartment buildings and houses line streets near the Verrazano Bridge. On Manhattan’s Upper East Side, majestic prewar co-op buildings rise alongside Central Park. Geographically and culturally distant, these New York City neighborhoods have something in common: They are among the 12 community districts that have allowed the least affordable housing to be built over the past five years, according to an analysis released on Thursday by the Department of City Planning.
Starting Jan. 1, the City Council will lose its authority to reject many types of new housing in those places. “For far too long, our city has lagged in terms of housing production relative to our growth,” said Sideya Sherman, the director of the department, “but particularly the area of affordable housing production, where we see some communities that are creating a lot of housing and some communities that are creating little to none.”
The districts identified are clustered in parts of eastern Queens, southern Brooklyn, Staten Island and Manhattan’s Upper West and Upper East Sides. In November, voters approved several ballot measures that would threaten the veto and make it easier to build homes. One measure gave the City Planning Commission authority to approve or reject housing projects with affordable housing in those districts. The City Council had opposed the measures, supported by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Council member Phil Wong said the city was moving in the “wrong direction.”
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing