Transcript: Mayor Eric Adams Holds Bill Signing Ceremony Related to "City of Yes for Housing Opportunity"

December 18, 2024

Video available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfeuZnZlAWo

First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer: Good afternoon, everyone. It's good to see you all gathered here today. My name is Maria Torres-Springer. I'm the first deputy mayor for the City of New York. And today for me, as I hope and I'm sure for many of you in this room, it really is one of the proudest days in my public service career because today we sign into law our City of Yes for Housing Opportunity legislative package. And this, of course, is the most pro-housing zoning proposal in our history. 

With a generational housing crisis that has led to a 1.4 percent vacancy rate citywide, we knew that we had to be bold and, make no mistake, bold we were. But more importantly, we knew that we had to do this together. And so facing a historic housing crisis, the leadership and partnership between Mayor Eric Adams and Speaker Adrienne Adams and, of course, the entire City Council, together with the leadership and partnership of so many agency leaders, together we took decisive action to deliver affordability for hardworking New Yorkers who are facing the squeeze of our higher rents. 

I want to acknowledge the Chair of Land Use we'll be hearing from in just a few minutes, Rafael Salamanca, who's been such an extraordinary partner in this work. We are also joined here today by amazing Councilmembers Carlina Rivera, Gale Brewer, Keith Powers, and she is not here, I know she wanted to be, but also extraordinary leadership from Councilmember Pierina Sanchez. We also have our heads of different agencies, HPD, Commissioner Adolfo Carrión, Executive Director for Housing, Leila Bozorg, and our chair and director of City Planning, Dan Garodnick. 

Everyone who is up here today and many in the crowd and certainly fanning out across the city, we all knew that this effort was not going to be easy, but we knew that it had to be done. And the result of this collective effort, the 80,000 new homes over 15 years and a $5 billion investment to strengthen our infrastructure, to finance more affordable housing, and to protect tenants across the five boroughs. The City of Yes proposal alone exceeds all of the housing created from rezonings during any mayoral administration of the last 50 years, including all of the 12 years of Bloomberg and all eight years of the de Blasio administration. And so, with all of that said, I'm so pleased to introduce the person who has been leading the charge for this historic win for New Yorkers, the 110th mayor of New York City, Mayor Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you so much. And, you know, we're proud, as the first deputy mayor mentioned, proud of this achievement as an administration that accomplished it. But we should also, the City Council, those members who are standing here today and those who voted yes, they should be proud of this moment. 

You heard from all of your constituents why housing is at a crisis level. We use that number often, 1.4 percent vacancy rate. That's a real number. And as we spanned out across the city at town halls, at older adult town halls, at youth town halls, we've heard it over and over again. People were fearful about their ability to live in this city. And that's why this bill was important. It was so important for the City Council to fight for the infrastructure needs that were part of building new housing. And the $5 billion that the first deputy mayor mentioned was because of the negotiation with the council to look at the infrastructure, the sewer needs, and building out our walkways and roadways so that we can land this plane and bring it home. 

But I really want to commend also, she's not here with us, Governor Hochul. Governor Hochul allowed us to bring this across the finish line. I thanked her when I was in Albany yesterday and her continuing support for the City of New York. During some of the most challenging moments that any administration can go through, she has repeatedly stood up and fought on behalf of us. And so I am truly pleased of this team headed by our first deputy mayor, and Adolfo Carrion and his team over at HPD to accomplish this task. This is definitely one for the record book, but it is also a moment for those families who are suffering. 

These bills will help us build housing that will finally allow us to turn these generations of no into generations of yes. A phrase that was coined by Dan Garodnick. If we would have just stayed, Dan, at City of Yes for carbon neutrality, City of Yes for economic development, if we would have stayed there, we would have already showed a great level of achievement. But we did not stop there. This administration, we desire to move beyond where we were to where we need to go as a city. 

Intro 1127A establishes a basement and cellar dwelling unit legalization program in certain community districts. Intro 1128A sets forth design and safety requirements for accessory dwelling units. And Intro 654-A extends the J51 tax abatement program for eligible condos and co-ops for major building renovations and conversions at affordable rental apartments, allowing building owners to recoup improvement costs. This is a critical preservation tool that offsets costs for building owners and makes housing more affordable for families and New Yorkers. And Intro 850-A requires HPD to submit periodic reports to the City Council on city finance affordable housing projects on disposition of city property. 

And so since day one, this has been our agenda, working class New Yorkers and ensuring that we can address all areas of their needs and aligning ourselves with those organizations. Some of them are here in the room. We want to say thank you. We heard you. You were very much part of moving this agenda forward. We could not have gotten it done without the grassroots support that you showed. And that is why we're going to continue to ensure that we protect New Yorkers and have proper housing in areas throughout this city. 

Probably for the first time, every area of the city will have some form of affordable housing being built in their communities. No more 59 community boards and 10 community boards carrying the full scope of the housing crisis. We're now going to ensure we have housing for our neighbors. We're going to be investing in flood infrastructure that save lives and protect property from damage and flooding in low lying underserved areas. These two bills that I'm going to mention will help us prepare for future storms, floods and climate changes. Intro 814-A requires DEP to update its plant to prevent sewer backups by 2025. And Intro 815-A require DEP to adopt an interim flood risk area maps.

And so thank you all the way around to the speaker, to the chair of the two most important committees. Councilman Salamanca, the chair of Land Use Committee. Councilman Riley, the chair of Zoning and Franchise Committee. Councilmember Sanchez, who, as was indicated, could not be here. I think she's bringing in a new voter into the world. So congratulations to her and the entire team that made sure we could have it, including Councilmember Gennaro, the chair of the Environmental Protection, Resiliency and Waterfronts Committee. Thanks all for their partnership in getting this done. Thank you.

First Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you so much, Mayor Adams. As you mentioned, we're joined here today by so many partners who stood with all of us to make sure that the zoning proposal was voted on, the package that was voted on, represented the needs and aspirations of New Yorkers across the five boroughs. And so I think that that diverse coalition for holding us accountable and for really giving us the energy and motivation through this long and challenging, but ultimately very rewarding process. 

I'm pleased now to introduce our chair of the Land Use Committee with the City Council. He has not a new champion on this issue for many, many years, both in his district and chairmanships of different committees, has been an extraordinary partner. And I do want to give a shout out not just to the members of the City Council and, of course, Speaker Adrienne Adams, but really the staff and team with City Council, Land Use and the Speaker's Office. A lot of late nights to get this over the finish line. And so this is a win for a city, the City of Yes, it's a win for a city for all. But what it is is a win for a city that really asked for and now has gotten the type of rapid action from all parts of this building. And so please join me in welcoming chair of Land Use Council member Rafael Salamanca.

City Councilmember Rafael Salamanca: All right. Buenos dias. Thank you, deputy mayor. Congratulations. I want to give to the administration, to you, Mr. Mayor, and to you, deputy mayor, and to the director of city planning and the commissioner of HPD on the passage of City of Yes. You know, we got to the finish line. And I guess what's best and what I really find rewarding is the $5 billion investment that we're doing throughout the entire city of New York. But most importantly, that we're going to build 80000 units across all five boroughs. That is going to be equitable in terms of fair, fair share throughout the city of New York, not just in the South Bronx or certain communities. 

But I really want to talk about Intro 850 that we're going to pass today. That's seven years in the making, Mr. Mayor. And so, you know, and just to point out in terms of why this bill is so exciting for me. You know, as chairman of the Land Use Committee in the last seven years, I've overseen the approval of over 10000 units of housing throughout the entire city of New York, 10000 of those units in my district. 

But unfortunately, there's a sad reality. And despite the lengthy negotiation that it takes to approve a project and the critical needs within our communities for new housing, the city's Department of Housing and Preservation often, for years, it takes them years to approve the necessary project funding and meaning that it stays on a pipeline. And much of the frustration of elected officials, developers and constituents alike. This is a reality that happens far too frequently and often without a rhyme of reason. 

And so in my district alone, for example, I've had one property, which is 100 percent affordable housing that waited five years to close. Much to the disappointment of the local community, we were patiently waiting for more than 500 units of housing that we’ll create as part of this project. And of those 500 units, only half of that project has been approved, which is 250 units. And we're still waiting for phase two to close. So I am working with my commissioner on that. I know I'm always putting him on a hot seat on this issue. 

But this lack of transparency is why Intro 850 was created, which would require HPD to report biannually when projects can expect to receive funding from the city twice a year. And basically what this bill does is that if HPD does not close on a project, they need to explain why that project did not close and when do they expect to close. And those projects that did close, this bill will require the amount of funding that they're getting and who's the developer that got this project closed. So with that, congratulations and thank you.

First Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you so much, councilmember. At this point, I want to invite the mayor to see if there are members of the public.

Mayor Adams: Yes, thank you very much. So after all the comments, we're asking the members of the public to comment if there are any. I was hearing there are none. We will now sign the bills.

First Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: We invite partners who have been with us on this journey to come join us. 

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