A lot of new affordable housing has gone up in the Central and South Bronx over the past 11 years.
Elsewhere in the city? Not so much.
Two City Council districts covering Bronx neighborhoods like Fordham, Bedford Park and Morrisania have accounted for more than 16,500 new units of affordable housing since the start of 2014 — more than 28 other districts combined, according to an analysis of city data by the policy group New York Housing Conference.
Over the same span, four districts located in Northeast Queens and Staten Island have each produced fewer than 80 apartments with rents capped for middle and low-income renters — fewer than renters might find in a single building in those Bronx neighborhoods.
The deep disparities across the city’s 51 council districts are due in large part to population density, zoning rules and access to subway lines, said New York Housing Conference Executive Director Rachel Fee. But she said there’s another key reason: Local opposition to new housing from individual councilmembers can turn whole neighborhoods into “no-go zones” for development.
“There are some Council districts that are producing a lot of affordable housing,” Fee said. “They are producing great deals for their communities. But some councilmembers are not even in those conversations.”
The new analysis comes as voters head to the polls to vote on four housing-related ballot questions that would upend that status quo.
One proposal is intended to speed up the city’s land use review process for 100% affordable apartment buildings anywhere in the five boroughs, and other housing projects in sections of the city that have produced the fewest new units over the past five years. Fee said the tracker helps shed more light on development in those locations.
Another would streamline review for relatively small developments with mostly market-rate housing. Both would cut councilmembers out of the approval process.
A third would give developers and city officials a way to appeal if the full City Council rejects their land use applications. And a fourth, less contentious proposal, would allow the city to digitize its official paper maps.
The questions were drafted by a commission appointed last year by Mayor Eric Adams and have earned support from many policymakers, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, the Democratic nominee for city comptroller.
Pro-development, “Abdundance”-style advocates are also cheering the measures, arguing they will help the city build more homes to address its housing shortage and slow the pace of rent increases via simple supply-and-demand economics.
If this question is approved, the City Council will no longer be a voice at the table.
Polls show the proposals are generally popular, but the outcome of the election is still far from certain. They’ve also faced vocal opposition from councilmembers, labor unions, civic associations and some tenant groups, who all say they threaten community influence on projects proposed in their neighborhoods.
Council spokesperson Rendy Desamours called the timing of the New York Housing Conference report “disappointing” and said the organization “wants to tilt power to the mayor by supporting abuse of the charter revision process.”
Individual councilmembers currently hold tremendous influence over proposed land use changes because the full body typically votes in line with local members on projects in their districts — a custom known as "member deference" that the ballot measures would circumvent.
During an appearance on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show Monday, Councilmember Lincoln Restler, a Brooklyn Democrat, said the questions were created with “the sole purpose of removing power from our communities … giving more power to developers and the mayor's office.”
Restler’s Brooklyn district includes Greenpoint and Williamsburg, two neighborhoods that have accounted for more new homes, mainly at market rates, than anywhere else in the city since 2010. It has also produced more new affordable units than all but four others, including the two Bronx districts, since 2014, according to the New York Housing Conference analysis.
He said he supports more development throughout the city and is even backing the ballot proposal that would speed up the process for approving 100% affordable apartment buildings.
But Restler said he opposed a proposal that would create an appeals board for developers to challenge Council decisions. He said councilmembers often use the power they wield through member deference as leverage to win concessions from developers and city officials, like more units priced for low-income renters or bigger infrastructure investments in a neighborhood.
“We have a housing crisis and every neighborhood, every community has to do more,” Restler said. “But if this question is approved, the City Council will no longer be a voice at the table for their communities.”
Some tenant organizations have denounced the proposals. The group TenantsPAC, whose longtime leader Michael McKee died earlier this month, has urged its members to vote no.
The proposals will “accelerate displacement, particularly in already-gentrifying neighborhoods,” the organization’s leaders wrote in an email to members Monday.
Candidates for mayor have staked out different positions on the questions.
Andrew Cuomo, a former governor running as an independent, said he supports the measures. Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa is opposed.
And Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, a state assemblymember from Astoria, has so far refused to take a position — even when pressed by debate moderators and the other two candidates.
“I'm appreciative that those measures will be on the ballot and that New Yorkers will be able to cast their votes for them,” Mamdani said on the debate stage last week.
Sliwa challenged the meek response by taunting Mamdani: “Don’t be a politician here.”
