Andrew Cuomo’s housing plan pays homage to NIMBYs in low-scale neighborhoods
Rival candidates pounced when mayoral front-runner Andrew Cuomo released a housing plan riddled with typos and a ChatGPT reference. One even claimed it was written by AI.
Don’t be fooled: A chatbot didn’t write Cuomo’s plan. But it could have.
The real problem with the 29-page, single-spaced blueprint is that it lacks boldness. For example, it rules out adding homes in low-scale residential areas — a win for NIMBYs.
“With limited exceptions such as transit-oriented development, Gov. Cuomo does not favor further zoning changes in these low-density neighborhoods at least until the impact of recent rezoning efforts are absorbed in these areas,” the plan states, referring to City of Yes, which will take 15 years to add a mere 82,000 units, if we’re lucky.
New York cannot afford to wait 15 years, when Cuomo will be 83 years old, to create more homes in communities where conservative Council members watered down City of Yes.
Politically, Cuomo might be smart to put out such a cautious housing policy, as he is counting on votes from middle-class homeowners in places like Staten Island and eastern Queens. These folks fear that new housing, and especially anything other than single-family homes, will mean The End of Life As They Know It.
Cuomo’s proposal does get many things right, even if they are obvious. Most importantly, he correctly identifies the housing crisis as a supply problem that grew worse while the government focused on policies like rent control. (Note: He was governor for 11 of those years.)
He properly notes that the city needs new market-rate as well as affordable housing, and promises to appoint Rent Guidelines Board members who make decisions based on evidence and the law, because landlords need enough revenue to maintain their properties.
Calls by other candidates for a rent freeze are “politically convenient,” he accurately asserts.
Unfortunately, Cuomo himself makes politically convenient statements, noting that while gentrification can bring investment and improved infrastructure, “it can also increase property values and rents, pricing out long-time renters and underwater homeowners.”
What? An increase in property values rescues underwater homeowners. It does not price them out.
It’s a cop out for Cuomo to assert that the city needs to “build or preserve 500,000 new housing units,” because there’s a big difference between building and preserving, and he doesn’t say how much supply he aims to add. Moreover, it makes no sense to talk about preserving new housing.
Cuomo’s plan is less robust than that of another Democrat in the race, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, who would build 700,000 units and preserve affordability at another 300,000.
Cuomo does not lay out any new ways to add units, except for one already pending in the state legislature: “giving preferential treatment to property owned by faith-based institutions without the need to undergo extensive zoning changes so long as developments fit the context of the surrounding community.”
He does endorse issuing more requests for proposals to build housing on city land, including schools and libraries. He cites the 14-story building developed where Inwood’s public library stood. But he doesn’t suggest any ways to make such projects easier, to avoid bruising fights like the Hudson Companies endured to build homes over Brooklyn Heights’ library at 280 Cadman Plaza West.
One promising idea from Cuomo is to have the private sector evaluate city-owned properties for redevelopment, rather than the usual practice of asking city agencies to evaluate their own inventory. He would also look to allow more transferring of air rights.
But to supercharge housing development, the city must rezone aggressively, reduce construction costs and subsidize affordability.
Cuomo calls for a modest $2.5 billion in new city funding, matched by the state, over five years. He wants some city pension funds invested in affordable housing, as other candidates have proposed.
However, the former governor’s plan doesn’t touch supply-limiting labor costs (he and the construction unions’ Gary LaBarbera are tight) or patch the holes in City of Yes by ending parking mandates and legalizing accessory dwelling units. Instead of proposing City Charter reforms, Cuomo pledges only to evaluate those proposed by a commission created by Mayor Eric Adams.
The takeaway is that Cuomo’s plan avoids risk, an approach that has helped his political career and is standard strategy for the front-runner in a race, but is inadequate for the housing crisis New York faces.
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