Statement attributable to Tom Wright, President and CEO of Regional Plan Association.

Regional Plan Association (RPA) strongly supports City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, a pragmatic and innovative text amendment which closely aligns with housing solutions that RPA has long championed to equitably expand New York’s housing stock.

The depths of the housing affordability crisis are well-documented. A recent analysis conducted by McKinsey & Company for RPA concluded that if the New York metropolitan region continues to add housing at its current rate, residents could see housing costs rise by another 25% by 2035, resulting in over a quarter of a million new households facing severe housing cost burdens. Yet, passing the full City of Yes would improve the region’s economic strength considerably.

RPA’s research has concluded that the full City of Yes package would deliver between 15,000 and 30,000 new jobs generating between $1.1 and $2.1 billion in earnings each year, and an overall economic impact of between $41 and $83 billion over the next 15 years. More than half the jobs would result from building accessory dwelling units and smaller multi-family buildings throughout the city, which would be a huge benefit for smaller firms, especially MWBEs and nonprofits who cannot easily participate in a market that has been so focused on large buildings in just a few neighborhoods. For these reasons and more, RPA strongly supports City of Yes and encourages the City Council to do the same.