City of Yes

In recent decades, high-demand neighborhoods have lost affordable housing and become increasingly out of reach to working families.

The Universal Affordability Preference is a new tool that would allow buildings to add at least 20% more housing, if the additional homes are affordable to households earning 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI). As a result, it will deliver new affordable housing in high-cost neighborhoods across New York City to working families.

Today, outdated rules prevent underused offices and other non-residential space from converting to housing. For example, many buildings constructed after 1961, or outside the city's largest office centers, cannot be converted to housing.

City of Yes will make it easier for vacant offices and other non-residential buildings to become homes, a win-win policy to create housing, boost property values, and create more active, vibrant neighborhoods in areas that have been hard-hit by the effects of the pandemic.

New York is a city of neighborhoods, and each neighborhood is anchored by commercial corridors with shops and vibrant street life – a little town center for every community.

Modest apartment buildings with stores on the street and apartments above exist in low-density areas across the five boroughs – most of them from the 1920s to 1950s. Today, zoning prohibits that classic form even in areas where it’s very common.

City of Yes would relegalize buildings with 2, 3 or 4 stories of housing above a commercial ground floor, depending on underlying zoning. These buildings would match their surroundings and provide urgently needed homes.    

New York City currently mandates off-street parking along with new housing even where it's not needed, driving down housing production and driving up rents.

City of Yes would lift parking mandates for new housing, as many cities across the country have successfully done. The proposal will preserve the option to add parking, but no one will be forced to build unnecessary parking.

For seniors fighting to stay in the neighborhood on a fixed income, or young people stretching to afford a first home, adding a small unit can be life changing. But under current rules, NYC homeowners can’t choose to use their properties in this way. City of Yes for Housing Opportunity would allow “accessory dwelling units,” or ADUs – which include backyard cottages, garage conversions, and basement apartments.

Many other cities have already legalized accessory dwelling units because they support homeowners, and provide more space for multigenerational families without significantly changing the look and feel of a neighborhood.

Modest apartment buildings already exist in lower-density areas of the five boroughs, most of them built between the 1920s and 1950s. However, current zoning bans new ones despite the severe housing shortage.

City of Yes would re-legalize modestly-sized, transit-oriented apartment buildings in low-density residence districts. Sites must be near transit, over 5,000 square feet, and either on the short end of a block or facing a street 75+ feet wide. Buildings would be 3, 4 or 5 stories, depending on zoning district. 

These modest “missing middle” apartment buildings would match the scale and character of existing buildings that can no longer be built.

Across NYC, many campuses, including churches, have underused space that they could turn into housing, if arbitrary zoning rules didn’t get in the way.

If existing buildings are too tall or too far back from the street, for instance, zoning prohibits new developments on the property – even if they would comply with current height limits and other regulations. Where housing is allowed, outdated zoning requires tall and skinny buildings that are out of context with their surroundings.

By removing obstacles and streamlining outdated rules, City of Yes for Housing Opportunity would make it easier to add new contextual, height-limited buildings to campuses. These new buildings could bring money for repairs, new facilities, and housing!

There are many types of campuses, from churches to private residential co-ops, campuses and schools. NYCHA campuses are not included in City of Yes.

City of Yes advances key recommendations from the Where We Live NYC Plan. Where We Live NYC is the outcome of an in-depth two-year process with over 150 community partners that identified strategies for fair housing and equity.

NYC banned shared housing in the 1950s and apartment buildings full of studio apartments in the 1960s. This has contributed to the homelessness crisis in the decades since, and forced people who would prefer to live alone into living with roommates.

City of Yes for Housing Opportunity would re-legalize housing with shared kitchens or other common facilities. It would also allow buildings with more studios and one-bedrooms for the many New Yorkers who want to live alone but don’t have that option today.

These apartments are important for so many people – recent college graduates, older households that are downsizing, and everyone who lives with roommates but would prefer to live alone. Allowing more small and shared apartments will also open up larger, family-sized apartments otherwise be occupied by roommates.