Transcript: Mayor Adams Holds Press Conference on the Passage of “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity”

December 5, 2024

Watch the video here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixVuP3fEuEI

First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer: Good evening, friends. My name is Maria Torres Springer. I'm the first deputy mayor for the City of New York. But today, I am just a very happy and grateful public servant and New Yorker. Because this day that we've all fought so hard and for so long to see happen is finally here. 

After 63 years since the 1961 Zoning Code, after 200 community board meetings, after 1064 pages of an environmental impact statement after more than 150 beautiful member organizations of the Yes to Housing Coalition came together. After 35 hours of testimony at the City Planning Commission and at the City Council, after 80 percent of New Yorkers made clear they wanted action, and of course today after 31 positive votes, we can finally say that our city, New York City, is a City of Yes. 

And let me be clear that this all started because we had a leader who made sure that in the face of a historic 1.4 percent vacancy rate and too many New Yorkers who were victims of our housing crisis, that we were focused not just on diagnosing the problem, but on developing and then executing rapidly on bold solutions. And so it is my honor to introduce the leader of the band, the 110th and most pro-housing mayor in the history of our city, Mayor Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you so much, First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, and I'm going to take an executive privilege and step aside for a moment and just turn it over to a real partner. And she's the chief executive of this state, and she could focus on one part of the state, but every time I picked up the phone and told her, governor, I need you, she was there. 

She was there during COVID. She was there during the subway safety plan. She was there when migrants came into our city. We reached out to her last week, a week and a half ago. You know, when you're the mayor, you have dog years, so all these years count up. 

And we told her we needed you. We needed her to get us over this hump. And I cannot thank her enough. And I just want to step aside for a moment and bring on our chief executive of the State of New York, Governor Kathy Hochul.

Governor Kathy Hochul: Yes, that is the word of the day, and I could not be prouder to be here with you, mayor, your entire team, your first deputy mayor, and everyone who put their heart and soul in this effort. 

And I want to thank the City Council and Speaker Adams for doing what the people of this city need and have long awaited for, and that's real leadership working together. It was two years ago this month, mayor, when we sat on a stage and unveiled our New New York initiative, where we said, even as we're coming out of the throes of COVID, and there was a lot of uncertainty, people were not coming back to the city, our subway ridership was down, crime was up, there was a sense of malaise, and we said, no, we can reimagine this city by building more housing, making New York City, and in certain areas like Midtown, 24-7 cities. 

But we need to have the courage to power forward and get the changes that have been talked about for decades, but nobody was able to get over the finish line. We had to go back to Albany. That was the year I first unveiled my housing initiative. This year we were able to get the most comprehensive statewide housing plan in over 50 years. And parts of that allowed the city to be unleashed and to have no barriers to make the changes that they needed to do to finally answer the call. Do we have the ambition, the desire to ensure that everyone who wants to live in this great city can find a home they can afford? 

And I'm talking about people who deserve this. Our young families, who know there's a great quality of life here, who may have gone to school here, who want to stay here, but have been blocked out of housing and high rents because of a lack of supply. Or the first responders and the teachers and the city workers who want to be here, but are being priced out as well. Our senior citizens who want to grow old in the neighborhood they grew up in and no longer can afford to live here. 

They all deserve bold action and they waited far too long. But the day of waiting is over. We said in the State of New York, we will be your partner, mayor, because we care so deeply about every single part of our state. But this city is our economic engine. I want to make sure that it is more affordable. It's all about affordability. And the biggest expense anyone has is their rent or their mortgage payment if they're lucky enough to have a home. 

We have said it comes down to one simple thing. Building more housing will drive down the cost of housing and that's how you start saying the decades of people saying we cannot do this, it's too hard, and our people going to other cities and other states because they had the bold ambition to build, that era is over. 

And mayor, you said you needed a billion dollars to get it over the finish line, I will tell you this because I'm so committed to building housing in our city and our state, you actually had me at hello. So I will be the person who works with you, who works with anyone who believes in this city and is willing to break down and work past all the naysayers and those who say it it could not be done to all of our great housing advocates. You've been with me as well. 

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for having the courage to do what others have not dared to do before, and that is finally to once and for all say yes. And I thank everybody involved in this. I've got a couple of things I've got to get to, mayor, but thank you, everybody. Thank you, everybody, for all your work. It's incredible. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Thank you governor so much, out of the schedule, making her way here to really celebrate this historical opportunity. I want to thank deputy mayor, First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres Springer for a [inaudible.] And, you know, let's be clear, we are the 86 Mets, you know, we're going to argue in the locker room, we're going to get in debates, we're going to do all sorts of things, but you know what? We're going to bring home the championship ring. 

And that's what we did, comprehensive housing reform in the history of the city. And what makes us great, with all the distractions that we had to deal with, we were focused, distractions and we grind and we got it done. The vote today is more than a vote for housing, it's a vote to show how darn good this administration is in landing the planes over and over again, over and over again. 

And as part of our affordability week, we have advanced bold ideas to move the needle for working people. Just yesterday we did the Axe the Tax for Working Class that will eliminate income tax for broken class families who are at 150 percent or below of the poverty federal poverty line. This city income tax release is real. 63 million dollars is going to be put into 582,000 New Yorkers to get the support that they deserve in a real way. Add that to the earned income tax credit that we were able to get in year two. Add that to the medical debt relief that we were able to accomplish. Add it to the free high-speed broadband. Add it to the reduced fare MetroCard. Add it to the summer youth employment. You keep adding it up and you realize that we went after working class people and we're putting money back into their pockets to the tune of 30 billion dollars on what we are are doing for the people of this city. 

What I've always said was my North Star, helping working class people during these difficult times. So the greatest city in the world has just passed the greatest housing legislation in our history. Our administration's City of Yes for Housing Opportunity Proposal. People can call whatever they want. All I know is City of Yes. Whatever else they want to call it is fine with me. We pass City of Yes housing opportunity. should be happy. 

This milestone vote by the City Council would clear the way to build a new generation of affordable housing for our city. Can I thank the speaker, Speaker Adrienne Adams and the entire council and particularly the housing chair, Councilman Salamanca for understanding his vision. Right in his district in the Bronx he knows housing is a real issue and he has been steadfast on moving this issue forward. Every one of those members that voted yes, they did not just talk about the need of going after that 1.4 percent vacancy rate that impacted us. They heard in their communities on their block. We have not done one town hall that people did not stand up and say, we need more housing. We heard you, we responded, and we will continue to respond to the needs of the people of this city. 

This proposal alone, exceeds all of the housing created from rezoning during any mayoral administration of the last 50 years, including all of the 12 years of my good friend, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration, and all eight years of the de Blasio administration. You don't have to be good at math to realize we are only in two years and 12 months, and we have exceeded the numbers of others. 

Our City of Yes plan is more than just the most ambitious pro-housing plan in our city's history. It is the start of a new era of affordability and access for everyday New Yorkers that would deliver $5 billion in infrastructure and housing and infrastructure for our city. This is a plan that would allow us to build a little more housing in every neighborhood. 

When Dan briefed me the other day, he stated that every neighborhood is going to see a little more housing. We're no longer going to have the days when you have 59 community boards and 10 community boards are doing more for housing than 49 others combined. That is unacceptable. 

The housing crisis is a New York City crisis and we all must move from the position of no and say yes. will finally allow us to turn three generations of no into a City of Yes. I want to thank everyone who's part of this. As I indicated, I cannot say enough from Governor Hochul when Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer stated we were a billion dollars short. I reached out to the governor and she was there to make sure we could get it through. And Speaker Adams, we had a meeting several months ago. She says, Eric, I need you to be on the ground. I need you to go to the town halls. I need you to sell this to the people because there were so many naysayers that stated they had their home. So what was the urgency? 

And we knew that there were far too many of our brothers and sisters who were living in the city and did not have their homes. And we did just that. We did a great number of town halls, senior town halls, youth town halls. We communicated one-on-one with the people. We went out into the street and we sold this product. And when the polling came out, over 70 percent of New Yorkers were saying yes to a City of Yes. 

We want to thank our labor unions, our faith-based leaders, advocates, people who have real-life experience knowing how important this issue is to all of us. They stood out and rallied, and they reached out to their local electors to make this happen. And the City Hall and agency teams, oftentimes, these individuals lay labor in the fields don't and they go overlooked. We cannot do this without our team. My job is to build the right team, get out of their way, allow them to execute and operationalize the plan that's in place, and that is what we've done. And I want to thank all of your teams, Dan, your team, Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, your team, Councilman Salamanca, your team for coming together and understanding the urgency of the moment. And thanks to their vision, dedication, and hard work, more New Yorkers will have a chance to build lives, families, and future in the city they love, and not have to worry about affording to live in the city. 

Far too many New Yorkers must flee the city because it's not affordable, because the inventory is not there. For the past two years, some questioned what type of city we would be. Would we turn our back on working class New Yorkers in the midst of housing crisis, or would we have the courage to deliver generational change. Today, the greatest city in the world has been and has decided to become a City of Yes. 

This image represents the future. A little more housing in every neighborhood to lift our city out of crisis. Behind me are the teams who [got] the job done and they all have in their hands something special, a key. Hidden behind my desire to get this done is because it's time for Jordan to get his own place. This key represents the unlocking of a new future of our city and fairer, more affordable city for working people. 

I know firsthand as someone who grew up on the edge of poverty and homelessness, afraid I'd be out on the street but mommy found a way out of [inaudible] and she was lucky. We can't have a city of luck, we have to have a city of opportunity and that's our job. Today, we're unlocking the American dream of a home for too many previously felt it was just that, a dream. 

The City of Yes proposal is going to allow us to build housing that is not disrupted to the communities and the neighborhoods, is going to use the available space that we've had. For far too long, we had these low-level storefronts with no opportunity. Building a small amount of housing on top of these storefronts, we don’t have to worry about not having housing for all New Yorkers. We use our existing footprint because you can't build more land, we have to find ways to build more housing on our land. 

The City of Yes will forever change the course of our city's history by bringing the American dream closer to reality, closer to sleep that allows us to have that dream, is to be able to place a key in the door, to have a place that you can enjoy your family. That kitchen table is more than just a location, it's a way you decide who's going to college and how you paid for it. It is where you plan a wedding. Bedrooms is where you sing goodnight stories to your loved ones and family members. It's not just four walls that we're building. It is hope, it's opportunities, and it's a safe haven. Today we say yes to that. Thank you team.

First Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you so much, Mayor Adams, and I do have to reiterate because I've been doing this work for some time now under a few different administrations, but to have the mayor who didn't blink when we said, let's do something really big, who didn't blink when we said, do something really hard with a non-zero chance of failing, a mayor who didn't blink when we said, let's do something that might actually change the entire game, something that has never been done before. For you to not have blinked over the course of the last few years and to have pushed us to get this over the finish line really made all the difference. And so I thank you, Mayor Adams, for your leadership. 

So we always knew that we weren't going to get this done alone. And this depended on a coalition across government. Governor Hochul was here. She and her team have been extraordinary partners in all of this work. And she's been such a tireless housing champion. 

And of course, our partners across the hall in the entire City Council and Speaker Adrienne Adams, also incredible, tireless advocates for affordability across this city. Today's vote is a testament to their leadership and their commitment and their partnership on this joint mission. I want to acknowledge councilmembers who are with us today. I believe Councilmember Oswald Feliz is here, as is Councilmember Keith Powers, and we will hear from someone who has been a partner on the building of affordable housing, an advocate to make sure that we do this fairly across the city, and an extraordinary chair of the Land Use Committee, Councilmember Rafael Salamanca.

City Councilmember Rafael Salamanca: All right, good evening, everyone. As the chair of land use committee for the last seven years, I've had the privilege of overseeing tens of thousands of units that we've approved here in New York City. 

In my district alone, I've approved over 10,000 units of 100 percent affordable housing, more than any council district. But the South Bronx cannot do it alone. We need all communities to do their part, and that is what this plan that we voted on today signifies. This council has constantly shown the importance of advancing housing solutions across the city. We recognize the sincerity of our current housing crisis, the impact it is having on working and middle class New Yorkers, and the urgency required of us to advance bold solutions that match the scale of this challenge. 

My colleagues and I are dedicated and proud of what we are able to secure through our City for All housing plan, in conjunction with modifications to the citywide zoning text amendment, City of Yes. City of All was formulated with the input of councilmembers, advocates, and most importantly New Yorkers who made their housing concerns and challenges abundantly clear. We have led efforts to make housing more affordable, especially at the deepest levels needed by by most New Yorkers. 

We have championed the importance of homeownership through support for existing homeowners and expansion of opportunities to own a home for more working class New Yorkers to stay in the city. City of Yes and City for All also brings with it a historic investment of $5 billion, $4 billion from the city and $1 billion from the state that will provide instrumental support for many of the key provisions in this deal. 

Today's another step forward for this council to advance meaningful housing solutions at lower costs to make our city affordable and ensure housing as a stabilizing force. The agreement maintains the core principles that every part of the city should contribute to the production of housing. I would like to thank my speaker, Speaker Adrienne Adams for her leadership. It's important that I recognize my colleague, Chair and Councilmember Kevin Riley for hosting a 14 and a half hour hearing on this plan. 

And it's important that I also recognize the hard work from Director Dan Garodnick, who was on the call with us to the very end, and of course, First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer for her work. And it's important that I also recognize our Chief of Staff, Jeremy John, and the best land use team we have here in the city, Paris and his entire team. Now is the time for action and our shared contributions to solve our housing crisis is what will ensure that New Yorkers today and tomorrow can succeed. Thank you.

First Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you so much, councilmember. We are joined this evening by a beautiful and diverse coalition of supporters, each instrumental in today's victory, and so I want to thank all of our partners in labor, in the faith community, housing advocacy, business, and beyond. 

And I also want to thank the large group of public servants, many are here with us today across the administration, who knew from day one that this needed to be a whole-of-government, all-hands-on-deck campaign to combat our housing crisis. You each inspire me and I hope that you are proud of what we have accomplished together. But there is one person who deserves a special shout out. 

The City of Yes for Housing Opportunity was originally crafted by a group of dedicated public servants of the Department of City Planning, led by the amazing and my friend, Director Dan Garodnick, who from his days at the City Council really distinguished himself as one of our city's top champions for affordable housing. And this victory is also a mark of his leadership. So I'm honored to introduce him and to have him say a few words. Chair Garodnick. 

Dan Garodnick, Director, Department of City Planning: Thank you very much, deputy mayor. And thank you, Mayor Adams, for your steadfast leadership and commitment to getting this done. Mayor, when you appointed me to my role at city planning, your clear direction was that it was time to go big on housing. Your message was clear. New Yorkers face a generational housing crisis, and we needed bold, transformative measures to build a more affordable city. And today, that is exactly what we are doing. 

With today's council vote, we are making the most pro-housing zoning changes in the history of New York City, enabling 80,000 much-needed homes. That's more than just a stat. A stable, affordable home can be life-changing, and New Yorkers will feel the difference. Working New Yorkers struggling to pay rent will have more options and more leverage. Growing families will be able to have more room for a younger generation. And home ownership will be within reach once again. 

And of course, the impact of what we have just done will be felt much further than the next 15 years. We are talking about the biggest update to our zoning code since 1961. When future New Yorkers look back another 60 years from now, they will see 2024 as the year that we finally turned the tide on housing in New York City. And it could not have happened without the dedicated work of everyone standing here, starting with you, Mayor Adams, First Deputy Mayor Torres Springer, of course, Governor Hochul, and our amazing team at the Department of City Planning, including my amazing and indefatigable Chief of Staff, Genevieve Michel, and of course, Speaker Adrienne Adams and the city councilmembers who voted for this today. We appreciate all of you. Today, we all said yes to a fairer, more integrated city with opportunity in every neighborhood. Yes, to a city that is nimble enough to evolve with the times. And yes, to a more affordable city for all of us. A great day for New York. Congratulations.

First Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you. Thank you so much, Dan. And finally, we could not do this work without dedicated allies outside of government, because this was not just a whole of government approach, but one that required advocacy from a wide array of housing advocates, labor leaders, faith leaders, and so many more. And one of those leaders is with us here today. She really She led the charge on City of Yes by being one of the key organizers of the Yes to Housing Coalition. And so it's my great honor, and I have so much gratitude for what you do, to introduce to all of you the executive director of the New York Housing Conference, Rachel Fee.

Rachel Fee, Executive Director, New York Housing Conference: Thank you so much. I'm thrilled to be here today. My name is Rachel Fee, I'm executive director of the New York Housing Conference. I'm so proud that my organization was able to lead the Yes to Housing Coalition, nearly 150 organizations supporting the City of Yes for housing opportunity. 

To every coalition member, advocate, and New Yorker who raised their voice, showed up at hearings, community meetings, and refused to give up, this victory is yours. This moment marks a historic win that lays out a blueprint for a more affordable and inclusive city. The recipe for success was a common sense zoning proposal to add more housing in every neighborhood from Mayor Adams. 

Remarkable leadership from the City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams to negotiate $5 billion investment in housing and infrastructure to deliver a comprehensive housing affordability package and a pro-housing governor contributing a billion dollars in funding to help seal the deal. 

The passage of the City of Yes says loud and clear that everyone deserves a safe, affordable place to call home, no matter their income or their neighborhood. This is a win for families who want to stay in the neighborhoods they love, for young people trying to find their first home, for seniors who need a safe place to age with dignity, and for every New Yorker who dreams of a more affordable city. Today, we've secured a brighter future for New Yorkers across every borough. Thank you. 

Mayor Adams: I really, really want to take hats off to former mayors, Mayor de Blasio and Mayor Bloomberg for saying how important housing is and, you know, you have to continue to learn from what they have done. Dan brought in his experience in the council, and I think it's an accumulation of all of those administrations that allowed us to be able to learn from what was done differently and how we could do better, and we were able to come to where we are right now. Really excited about this. 

Why don't we open to a few questions? How are you? 

Question: [Inauidble] a plan to respond to members, [inaudible] several of those members voted against it anyway, despite their concerns. [Inaudible.] What's your response? 

Mayor Adams: If anyone who has been in this business know, you sit down and you negotiate and you come with a sweet spot. Our initial goal was 100,000 units. We got to 80,000 units. This is part of the process. You know, I've been a state lawmaker, a borough president, and now the mayor of the city. This is how it was done. If you go in with the arrogancy that you're not willing to negotiate and communicate and understand that all of those 51 council [] districts have different needs and different concerns. And that's what we did. 

We went in with not only a open mind, but how do we get to the most important thing, build more housing than this type of reform in the history of the city. So I don't know how could you not celebrate that. No one else was able to accomplish what we accomplished. And if we mean negotiating around ADUs or parking spaces, we're willing to do that. That is smart leadership and hats off to the councilman, their team, the speaker, and what this team did over here. I'll leave it to you.

Question: Mr. Mayor, I can't see you. 

[Crosstalk.]

Question: How are you going to pay for this? Because the past couple of budget cycles you've threatened to slash agency budgets. We say the feds aren't paying for the migrant crisis. It seems like you're adding up your tab. And also the legislature will have to approve Hochul’s $1 billion. So where is this money going to come from? 

Mayor Adams: Well, I think we don't lead by pessimism. We lead by being optimistic. We know the money's gonna come here to accomplish the task. And much of what Dan has done is to open the door to be able to build more housing. We've had so many barriers, and this was not just one layer. Remember what we won in Albany. We were able to come up with some real changes in Albany, as the governor stated, and then we had to come here and do the second piece. We talked about it. Albany did their job, now we need the City Council to do its job, and that is what we accomplished here today. We need to open the opportunities to build, and that's what we're able to do. 

Question: [Inaudible] budget cuts this cycle?

Mayor Adams: We're going to do what we have to do to move our city forward, and hopefully the $6.4 billion that we had to build for the migrant asylum seeker[s], because we didn't get help from the federal government, because of the job Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom was able to accomplish. 

We went from the 225,000 migrants and asylum seekers to 170,000 were able to go on their next leg of their journey. And then Jacques [Jiha], what he did around making sure we had PEGs in the migrant asylum seeker issue and how we successfully navigated through. So our goal is not to cut budgets. So our goal is to make sure the federal government do its job so we can do our job. We have been smart handlers of city tax dollars, and we expect the federal government to do the same.

How you doing? 

Question: Great, great. I'm sure you're doing great. There were, if you listen to the debate, there were really principled arguments made by– this was [inaudible], actually. It wasn't lopsided. 

There were people who have had many years in political life, like yourself, Schulman, and the rest. And they expressed that their community boards had voted against it. And they have a maybe simplistic, not as grandiose as your idea, that if a community board said no in large numbers, that they had to represent their interests. And they're also concerned that, historically, maybe this is different. Big developers have always run the city because they all fund your campaigns. Why is this going to be different?

Mayor Adams: Yeah, well, first, if you do an analysis of my campaign, it was low donor dollars, and I'm pretty sure if you look at many of us–

[Crosstalk.]

But you didn’t say funding their campaign, you said my campaign. I wanted to get that clear. So listen, that's the beauty of this. The tightness of the vote is stating that we were willing to listen to the concerns citywide. This is a city of 8.3 million people, 35 million opinions. You can't have a city where 10 community boards are building more housing, affordable housing, than 49 combined. That's just not acceptable. 

With this team, what we were able to do is we were saying every neighborhood and community is going to build a little more housing. This is not a skyscraper. This is two stories. A little more housing for your neighbors. And when we go to our town hall meetings, then sometimes we walk in and people are talking about no more housing. I have never met a homeless person in my life that said, don't build any more housing. We're here for all New Yorkers. And this is what Dan and his team was able to do is say, a little more housing in every neighborhood without being disruptive to those neighborhoods. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: I'm well, sir. Councilman Carr hinted at a possible legal challenge. A group of Queen's civic organizations put out a press release saying they'll be filing an article 78 cap challenge. I'm trying to get a sense of how ready your administration is to take on these challenges and what do you think of the legal standing?

Mayor Adams: There's one thing we don't have a shortage of in New York City, our lawyers. Everybody sues in New York. That's just the reality of it. We believe we are on a strong legal footing. This was voted on by their colleagues. It passed by a substantial number. And now we're going to move forward and build more housing for New Yorkers.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you doing?

Question: Good, thank you. So Speaker Adrienne Adams earlier today hinted that you were absent from some of the negotiations. So just wondering why she's not here today and what you have to respond to some people saying that you were as present in whipping up some of these votes?

Mayor Adams: When I sat down, first of all, I don't know if she's here– No she's out of town. Connor and Tiffany Raspberry, who's in charge of our intergovernmental affairs, their relationships in the City Council, in the state, and in Washington, it's just unbelievable. You know, I mean look at our wins. You know, it's almost hard to believe that when we go to Albany and when we deal with these votes here, we walk away with real wins. And so let your team– my job is to build a team. 

I have so much confidence in Deputy First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer. We were clear on the mission. I have confidence in Dan. When I sat down with the speaker, Connor, what [are] you doing back there? You need to come up here and hang out with us, you know. 

When I sat down, we met with the speaker, I don't know what month that was, we met with the speaker in the COW, Committee of the COW upstairs, and the speaker is sensitive about people lobbying her members. She's been always clear on that. She said, I'd rather lobby with my members and talk to my members. She was clear on what I said. She said, this is what I need from you, Eric. I need you to go out and sell this into the community. And we held town halls. We had hearings. We held meetings with individuals. We made phone calls. So I got my marching order. She says, I'll do what I have to do in my conference to negotiate the best deal. Here's what I need of you. 

And so if you respect the partnership, you go with what they ask of you. She was very clear what she needed of me. I delivered what she needed when we had over 70 percent of the New York state to support this. She delivered what I needed from her by getting her 31 members to vote for this. That's the way you do business to get stuff done. 

Question: So, with these, you can tell this is a win for the working class and add it to this council. How are you going to ensure that the 80,000 more units are affordable and within the reach of that class of people? 

Mayor Adams: I know Dan bounced. You want to–

First Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: I’m happy to mayor. Where are you? There you are. Okay. We've been clear. We've been a broken record. Our affordability challenge as a city, at the root of it is housing supply, right? 

And so the City for Yes for Housing Opportunity, by helping increase housing supply in a way and a fashion that hasn't been seen really in the last 60 years, will allow us to see rents come down. That's just the laws of supply and demand. And through City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, whether it's a universal affordability program or other components, we have built in bonuses for density so that you only get that bonus if you build more affordable housing. So it's both the overall, the core of the proposal in terms of increasing housing supply and very specific components. 

In addition to that, this administration has made record investments in our affordable housing budget, $26 billion, another $2 billion through City of Yes for Housing Opportunity for HPD, our Housing Preservation Development Agency, as well as NYCHA. And so we've always said, we've always known, and we have demonstrated in action that solving the affordability crisis is a combination of increasing housing supply and having an extraordinarily aggressive affordable housing production program. Those have been the key and we'll continue to do that in the months and years ahead.

Mayor Adams: And Commissioner Carrión, what he has done year after year, our first two years, record breaking of housing in those two years,  just breaking the records, breaking the records, more transition out of homeless shelter into permanent housing, more people using the voucher program, more housing built and restoration. I mean, year after year after year after year. He has been breaking these records, kid from the Bronx, I thought I was going to have an Aaron Judge year, you had your Aaron Judge year.

Question: Hi, how are you? I'm good, how are you?

Mayor Adams: Quite well.

Question: So you like to say there's 8 million people in the city.

Mayor Adams: 8.3.

Question: Yeah, 8.3. What do you say to critics who say that 80,000 units isn't making a significant enough dent in the city's housing supply?

Mayor Adams: When it comes down to housing, no amount is too much. As the deputy mayor stated, we have a real supply issue. That supply drives the demand and drives the cost. And so what we have, will we love to have a program or have our moonshot goal of 500,000 units? Yes, we will. But one thing that the record is clear on, no one has done what we've done with the City of Yes. 

No one has been able to do this comprehensive housing reform since 1961. No one. And so we always want more, but let's acknowledge what we've done and we broke the record and we're going to continue to break records. Remember we have five more years to go so we could get a lot done by then.