New Yorkers Approve Ballot Measures To Fast-Track Affordable Housing

New Yorkers voted in favor of three ballot measures Tuesday that were designed to accelerate the process for approving housing development in a city battling a dire shortage.

With 90% of the votes counted Tuesday night, four ballot measures were overwhelmingly approved, three of which were championed by Mayor Eric Adams as a way to reach his goal of building 500,000 new homes over the next decade.

The New York City Council vociferously opposed the measures targeting development, declaring them a power grab. They effectively weaken the longstanding practice of member deference, in which the entire council votes in lockstep with a local member over projects in their district.

“This election, New Yorkers had the chance to choose more housing at the ballot box — and they chose it overwhelmingly,” Andrew Fine, chief of staff and policy director at Open New York, a nonprofit that backed the ballot measures, said in a statement.

“For too long, our public conversation on housing has been dominated by a few loud and well-housed voices yelling no. Our ability to build enough housing has been kneecapped by outdated processes that produce only delays and scarcity.”

Ballot Measure 2 creates two new approval processes for affordable housing projects, targeting those that are publicly financed as well as any in the 12 community districts with the lowest share of development. The fast tracks would replace the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, which can take at least six months.

The proposal is expected to more evenly distribute housing production across the five boroughs.

A study by the New York Housing Conference, published in the weeks leading up to the election, found that two Bronx city council districts, covering Fordham, Bedford Park and Morrisania, have contributed 16,500 new units to the city’s housing stock since 2014, more than 28 other districts combined. Some districts have produced fewer than 80 apartments in that time.

The third measure similarly expedites the review process for what are defined as modest affordable housing developments. In districts zoned for medium and high density, the new process applies to projects looking to increase their floor area ratio by an amount less than or equal to 30%. In low-density districts, the changes apply to those raising their height up to 45 feet. 

“Getting bogged down to the Board of Standards and Appeals and City Planning is twofold,” Charney Cos. CEO Justin Pelsinger told Bisnow last month. “One, it is a deterrent for people to even go seek anything, but it also is just an elongated process that takes even longer for housing to, generally speaking, get built.”

The fourth, and most controversial, ballot measure creates an appeals board for affordable housing developments. Made up of the mayor, the city council speaker and the local borough president, the group will review rezoning applications rejected by the city council and can, with at least a two-person majority, reverse the council’s decision. 

“Those ballot initiatives, if they work as designed, should be helpful,” Bruce Teitelbaum, who is developing a 1,000-unit apartment project in Harlem, said Tuesday night.

The city council originally attempted to remove Proposals 2, 3 and 4 from the ballot. When that was unsuccessful, they waged a $1.5M mailer campaign, encouraging residents to vote against the proposals.

“These misleading ballot proposals permanently change the City’s constitution to weaken democracy, lasting beyond the next mayor when we inevitably have a mayor who is bad on housing, equity, and justice for communities,” city council spokesperson Benjamin Fang-Estrada said in a statement Tuesday. “This would leave our city without the checks and balances of democracy to protect New Yorkers and ensure outcomes that prioritize them, not simply profits.”

Two other measures were less contentious but had the potential to impact the real estate industry nonetheless. 

Ballot Measure 5 will digitize maps that provide an official record of streets and open spaces. Currently, each borough president is responsible for maintaining a paper map. New Yorkers overwhelmingly voted in favor of the proposal.

Measure 1 would retroactively authorize the Mount Van Hoevenberg Olympic Sports Complex in Essex County, which extends into more than 300 acres of protected forest lands. It wouldn't legalize additional development on the site. As of late Tuesday night, it was unclear whether the measure would be approved. 

Mayoral candidates Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo refused to take positions on the ballot questions until the last possible moment. While walking out of his polling place Tuesday morning, Mamdani, who won the mayor's race by roughly 9 percentage points over Cuomo, revealed that he voted yes on Measures 1 through 5. 

“I also understand that there are council members in opposition to these measures, and their opposition is driven by commitment to their communities and a deep concern about investment in those communities, and I share the commitment to that investment,” Mamdani told reporters. “I look forward to working with them and delivering.”

He did vote against the last ballot measure, which proposed moving local elections to presidential election years. Roughly 53% of voters cast “no” ballots on that race as of 10:40 p.m., but it hadn’t yet been called.

Ciara Long contributed to this story.