PHOTO: Mayor de Blasio and Council Speaker Mark-Viverito once again find themselves on the same page. Photo Courtesy of Demetrius Freeman/Mayoral Photography Office
By Michael V. Cusenza
Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council this week reached an agreement regarding hizzoner’s affordable housing plan.
And according to published reports, the accord arrived only after myriad changes were made to Housing New York, a five-borough, 10-year plan with a $41 billion price tag that is considered one of the pillars of de Blasio’s progressive vision for the city.
The mayor unveiled the 200,000-unit plan—the most expansive in the nation’s history—barely four months into his first term. It outlines more than 50 initiatives that that the administration has said will accelerate affordable construction, protect tenants and deliver more value from affordable housing investments, including: Implementing mandatory inclusionary zoning; increasing the number of homes for the lowest income New Yorkers; launching a new affordable housing program for middle-income New Yorkers; doubling the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s capital funding for affordable housing; spurring development of small, vacant sites; stemming the tide of rent deregulation and protecting tenants; and expanding affordable and supportive housing for seniors.
However, the ambitious plan has had its share of doubters. Two crucial zoning text amendments—Zoning for Quality and Affordability and Mandatory Inclusionary Housing—were widely rejected late last year, leaving de Blasio’s baby in limbo.
But this week’s deal on the two amenndments, and the compromising that brought it all to fruition, put the plan front and center once again.
“When there’s major new redevelopment through rezoning, there will be a requirement that developers have to create affordable housing, and a higher percentage than ever before – 25 percent to 30 percent, depending on the specific development. This means that we’re going to have the ability to create much more affordable housing. And the City Council wanted to make sure it would be for every kind of New Yorker, as did we. Not just working New Yorkers, and civil servants, and nurses, and custodians, but also folks of lower incomes,” de Blasio said in a radio interview this week. “So, we’ve come up with a plan that we think will create much more affordable housing than in the past, and it will now be a key part of what I’m working on overall, which will create half a million – enough affordable housing for half a million New Yorkers over the next eight years.”
De Blasio on Monday commended the Council, and said he was “immensely proud” of the partnership he has with its members.
“New York City is now on the verge of implementing the strongest, most progressive affordable housing policies in the nation,” he added. “Years from now, we will look back on this as a watershed moment when we turned the tide to keep our city a place for everyone.”
The Council will take the formal tally on the two zoning text amendments next week.
michael@theforumnewsgroup.com