Governor Hochul, Borough Presidents, & Coalition of Social Services Providers, Affordable Housing Champions, and Civic Leaders Call for the Passage of Affordable Housing Proposals 2 -5

Props 2-5 will finally fix NYC’s broken housing system by fast-tracking affordable housing - not luxury condos - for working New Yorkers

Measures would equip City government with necessary and long-overdue tools to urgently tackle housing affordability crisis — top issue facing New York City

New York, NY – Ahead of today’s City Council rally against commonsense measures that would make it faster and easier to build smaller and more affordable housing projects across the city, members of the 50+ organization coalition YES on Affordable Housing released the following statements to educate New Yorkers about Proposals 2 through 5. These four historic pro-housing ballot measures would equip City government with new, necessary, and long-overdue tools to address the city’s long-running, acute, and worsening housing affordability crisis.

Governor Kathy Hochul said, ​“Affordability is my number one priority, and that starts with housing. The cost of living is too damn high – especially when it comes to the sky-high rents and mortgages families pay every month. The only solution to New York’s housing crisis is to build more housing, and we must use every tool in the toolbox to get it done. Props 2-5 will help ensure New Yorkers can live, thrive, and raise their families in the city they call home. It’s time to say yes to more homes, lower costs, and a stronger future for New York families.”

“Building new and affordable housing in this city is simply too slow, too arduous, and too complicated to meet the needs of our neighbors. Something has got to give, and it’s time for our city to get used to the idea of doing things differently,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. ​“Ballot proposals 2-5 offer practical steps toward speeding up the delivery of housing for New Yorkers and ensuring that every neighborhood contributes their fair share to the greater good. I am proud to support these measures and the steps they take toward solving citywide problems with citywide solutions.”

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said, ​“Our housing crisis isn’t a new problem. Both as a City Councilmember and as Manhattan Borough President, I’ve been on the frontlines of this fight, where I’ve helped reform outdated zoning laws, create thousands of new units of affordable housing, and identify sites for tens of thousands of additional units. But, it’s clear that more needs to be done to address the root causes of this crisis. That’s why I’ll be voting Yes on Proposals 2 through 5 in November.”

New York Housing Conference Executive Director Rachel Fee said, ​“New York City’s affordable housing crisis is of generational proportions, and the Council is fighting to maintain the status quo. It’s time to fix our broken land use approval process to fast-track affordable housing and ensure every neighborhood is adding more housing options. This November, vote yes on Questions 2 through 5 to make it quicker and easier to create the affordable homes New Yorkers need and deserve.”

“For far too long, we’ve been stuck in a housing system that makes it harder — not easier — to build the affordable housing our city desperately needs. It’s time to break through the red tape and end a broken system that keeps driving rents up and pushing families out. Props 2 through 5 will give New Yorkers a chance to live and raise their families in the communities they love — instead of turning our city into a metropolis that only the wealthiest can afford,” said Aaron Carr, Founder and Executive Director, Housing Rights Initiative.

“Amid a historic affordability crisis, we need to examine new opportunities that can unlock our ability to increase the supply of housing in every borough across the city,” said Rafael E. Cestero, CEO, The Community Preservation Corporation. ​“CPC supports common sense measures that work to break down barriers, cut through red tape, and expedite the creation and preservation of housing that is critical to the wellbeing of the City’s residents and neighborhoods. Props 2 through 5 provide New Yorkers with the opportunity to have their voices heard and to decide how the city will move forward in making their communities more affordable and livable.”

“Families across the five boroughs are struggling under the weight of rising rents and too few affordable housing options,” said Moses Gates, Vice President of Housing and Neighborhood Planning at Regional Plan Association. ​“We can’t keep doing things the old way and expect different results. Ballot Proposals 2 through 4 give us the chance to speed up housing production, lower the cost of living, and give families opportunities to keep living in the neighborhoods they love. It’s time to vote YES on affordable housing, YES on proposals 2 – 4 to help streamline the process of building affordable housing and end a status quo that has pushed too many New Yorkers out of our city.”

Marc L. Greenberg, Executive Director of Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing, said: ​“New York City is facing the worst housing crisis in over 4 decades with an estimated shortage of between 400,000 and 900,000 units. Although recent advances such as the City of Yes have begun to move us in the right direction, with a 1.3 percent vacancy rate, over 100,00o in our shelters and 50% of New Yorkers paying over 30% of their income towards rent, we cannot allow fear of constructive change prevent us from responding the housing needs of those in need of affordable housing, These ballot initiatives balance local community input and concerns with the needs of NYC as a whole and should be supported - quoting the Jewish sage - Hillel the elder ​“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But when I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”

Pascale Leone, Executive Director of the Supportive Housing Network of New York said: ​“We can’t solve homelessness or the affordability crisis without actually building more homes. Leaders talk about ending street homelessness, but right now are threatening to block what thousands of New Yorkers desperately need. If we want a future where everyone has access to housing and services, we need a system that makes building possible.”

Tori Lyon, CEO of Jericho Project said: ​“Our city’s leaders often talk about ending homelessness for good, but right now a small few can block what millions of New Yorkers desperately need. If we want a city where everyone has access to stable, supportive housing, we need a system that allows for real progress. That’s why New Yorkers should vote YES on Propositions 2 through 5 — to make it possible to create the supportive and affordable homes our city needs.”

“The lack of affordable housing threatens the housing stability of New Yorkers and forces tens of thousands of children into homelessness instead of into safe and stable homes each year. We can’t continue defending the status quo when it’s clearly failing families across the five boroughs. Proposals 2 through 5 give us a chance to make real progress by cutting through red tape, quickly delivering the housing our communities desperately need, and tackling our city’s homelessness crisis. We can’t afford to wait: it’s time to vote YES on Affordable Housing,” said Homeless Services United Executive Director Kristin Miller.

“For decades, our land use process has failed to balance local and citywide priorities. This has stifled housing construction, driven up rents, and undermined fair housing,” said Howard Slatkin, Executive Director of Citizens Housing and Planning Council. ​“Some officials, thankfully, have taken heroic steps to approve housing and the zoning to enable it. But if it takes heroes to get housing built, we’ll never build enough housing. We need a process that prioritizes collaboration over conflict, and action over inaction. Defense of the status quo is not a way forward.”

“New York City’s decades-long housing crisis calls for new tools to accelerate affordable housing and ensure that every community does its fair share, November’s ballot proposals do just that,” said Michelle de la Uz, Executive Director of Fifth Avenue Committee.

YES on Affordable Housing spokesperson Olivia Lapeyrolerie said: ​“The real threat to public power is our broken housing system that has forced hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers out of our city. An unprecedented number of New Yorkers were propelled to the polls this June because the rent is too damn high. People are running scared and spreading misinformation because they know the truth: these measures are widely popular, will pass overwhelmingly, and help keep New York the most diverse and dynamic city in the world. We cannot afford to protect the status quo any longer.”

YES on Affordable Housing is a coalition of advocates and community leaders, including:

The goal of YES on Affordable Housing is to pass a slate of four pro-housing ballot measures that will deliver more affordable housing for working New Yorkers:

• Prop 2 - Fast Tracks Affordable Housing: Creates a simpler and faster approval process for publicly funded affordable housing. It also speeds up affordable housing approvals in neighborhoods that haven’t built enough affordable homes, in line with the Speaker’s Fair Housing Framework.
  

• Prop 3 - Simplifies Review of Modest Housing and Infrastructure Projects: Exempts modest housing and climate resiliency projects — solar arrays, backyard accessory dwelling units (ADUs), and new buildings under 45 feet in height — from the ULURP gauntlet that today takes years and millions of dollars to complete.

• Prop 4 - Establishes a Land Use Appeals Board consisting of the Mayor, the Council Speaker, and the relevant Borough President: Preserves local community voices and City Council authority in land use decisions while ensuring that broader housing needs can also be considered by a new appeals board that has the power to review Council decisions.
  

• Prop 5 - Modernizes the City Map: Replaces the 8,000 outdated paper maps with a unified digital system, reducing the long reviews for housing and infrastructure projects.

For more information, check out RPA’s Guide to the Charter Revision Proposals.

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