New York City

New York Voters Say Yes to Faster Housing Approvals

Does that mean they want more housing generally?

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A picture of the New York City skyline tinted in vibrant colors | Brett Critchley/Dreamstime.com
(Brett Critchley/Dreamstime.com)

Making it over the finish line in last night's New York City election were three proposed charter amendments that would collectively limit the power of the New York City Council to review and reject individual housing projects and smaller-scale zoning changes.

According to the preliminary results, all three charter amendments passed with nearly 60 percent of the vote. That's a commanding victory and a notably higher margin than Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani won in his own race.

Mamdani did eventually endorse a 'yes' vote on all three charter amendments on Election Day. Andrew Cuomo, his main rival, also supported them. Republican Curtis Sliwa was opposed.

Supporters of the amendments, plus a fourth that simplifies city zoning maps, are naturally celebrating.

Victory is victory, and it makes sense that New York's YIMBYs would be pleased with amendment votes. And yet, for housing advocates there's also a pessimistic takeaway from last night.

Together, Mamdani and Cuomo, the two pro-amendment candidates, earned some 90 percent of the vote. In other words, a larger percentage of the electorate was willing to support candidates who supported the charter amendments than support the charter amendments themselves.

Surveys of voters typically find that they're skeptical of policies that aim to improve housing affordability through lifting regulatory limits on new supply.

On surveys, rent control, property tax cuts, and cracking down on institutional investors almost always get a warmer reception than zoning reform and eliminating parking minimums.

The one exception is policies that promise to speed up permitting and approval times. In a recent survey conducted by the Searchlight Institute, streamlining housing approvals was the only pro-supply policy that polled well.

That's what New York's charter amendments propose to do.

The city's current Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP) gives the city council power to review and veto both rezoning proposals and zoning relief requested by individual projects.

Questions two and three on last night's ballot would end the City Council's review and veto powers over publicly subsidized affordable housing projects, certain private projects that contain affordable housing units, and zoning changes that allow for mid-rise apartments and certain types of infrastructure. Question four creates an appeal board that can override City Council vetoes of affordable housing projects.

The simplified ballot language more bluntly describes the charter amendments as a way to "fast track" and "simplify" affordable housing reviews.

That sounded appealing enough to some 60 percent of New York voters, who were also not swayed by City Council ads decrying the charter amendments as a threat to "democratic" votes.

As always, though, it's wise not to overinterpret election results. New York's top mayoral candidates were more supportive of the housing questions than their voters. Voters opted for faster housing production. But that might not translate so readily into support for more housing construction.