It’s rare that I find myself agreeing with Mayor Adams. As a co-chair of the City Council’s Progressive Caucus, I’ve been a vocal critic of his education cuts, his anti-immigrant rhetoric, and his frequent mismanagement of city agencies. I’ve also stood with more than 40 elected officials in calling for his resignation following his indictment on bribery, campaign finance violations, and corruption charges.
But good policy deserves recognition. The City of Yes for Housing Opportunity zoning reforms passed last week, alongside the Council’s City For All plan negotiated by our fearless Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, are exactly the kind of bold measures we need to tackle New York City’s affordability crisis.
Last week, the City Council approved a historic housing package that will create 82,000 new units, which is more housing than the city has built in the last 20 years combined. This is absolutely critical to addressing our housing shortage. The meager 1.4% housing vacancy rate has caused rents to skyrocket and resulted in the displacement of far too many New Yorkers.
For more than half a century, efforts to update our outdated zoning codes have failed. The 1961 regulations have remained the stubborn status quo and stymied equitable growth across the five boroughs. But last week, a coalition of Democrats from across the ideological spectrum came together to break the deadlock and ensure that all corners of our city will contribute to housing production. Despite our many differences, we share one critical goal: ensuring that New Yorkers can afford to stay in the city they call home.
Importantly, the Council didn’t just focus on increasing housing stock, we also ensured these new units are genuinely affordable. From the onset, I joined Speaker Adams and Housing and Buildings Chair Pierina Sanchez in demanding deeper affordability and comprehensive solutions.
We worked tirelessly to ensure that 20% of new units in developments with at least 10,000 square feet of Universal Affordability Preference floor area will be priced at 40% of the Area Median Income. This will make these units accessible to low- and middle-income New Yorkers.
In addition, the $5 billion investment secured through our City for All housing plan addresses the most pressing needs of homeowners, renters, and those experiencing homelessness. This includes massive capital improvements for NYCHA developments and Mitchell-Lama buildings.
There will also be long overdue upgrades in our aging infrastructure, including the sewers, streets, and open spaces; and the allocation of resources for CityFHEPS rental assistance, which will help homeless New Yorkers move into permanent housing. Simply adding new units isn’t enough to restore the strength of our neighborhoods or help those who need it most.
These victories have united the Progressive Caucus, with 17 out of 18 members voting in favor of the package — a near unthinkable when the mayor first announced his proposal in 2022.
I am particularly proud of how this effort reflects lessons from my own district. Brooklyn’s District 39, which once struggled to add affordable housing, now ranks 10th out of 51 Council Districts in affordable housing production. Much of this progress stems from the Gowanus Rezoning, which will bring 8,500 new units — 3,000 of them affordable — alongside $450 million in infrastructure investments, including $200 million in NYCHA capital improvements and funds to address chronic sewage and flooding issues.
By bringing together local stakeholders, we ensured that the rezoning fostered a more economically diverse neighborhood and addressed years of infrastructure neglect. The success of this project serves as a blueprint for the broader zoning overhaul approved last week.
While I don’t expect to regularly align with the mayor — especially as he cozies up to Donald Trump and flirts with returning to the Republican Party — good policy is good policy. It’s a reminder that the City Council’s role in providing oversight and delivering for our constituents is essential.
New Yorkers are most concerned with the pocketbook issues that determine whether they can afford to stay in this city. With the passage of this housing package, we are rising to the occasion, providing a much-needed, timely solution to the affordability crisis.
There’s still much more work to do. We must enforce strict affordability standards on developers, collaborate with our state partners to advance a social housing development authority, preserve our existing affordable housing stock, and ensure that the Rent Guidelines Board doesn’t raise rents for rent-stabilized tenants.
As someone who ran for City Council as a pro-housing candidate, I am committed to continuing the fight to ensure that New York City remains affordable for working-class residents.
Hanif is a Council member from Brooklyn.
