Mayor Adams re-upped calls on Albany to pass a key housing plan during the new legislative session at a press conference on Thursday where he also highlighted the city’s record-breaking affordable housing production — but stressed more needed to be done.
Adams and Gov. Hochul seem to be on the same page when it comes to housing, stressing the need to create new apartments to alleviate the housing crisis. Whether or not the state will be able to pass the housing agenda needed to make that happen is less certain — especially after Hochul’s so-called housing compact fell apart in the state Legislature last year.
“We left Albany last year with not one housing plan pushed forward. We can’t do that again,” Adams said at the press conference, flanked by a sign reading “Calling on Albany to Act.” “We have our role to do here but we need Albany and we need our federal partners.”
The state Legislature has signaled that it plans to prioritize fixing the housing crisis this time around.
At the same time, he announced that city agencies financed over 14,000 units of affordable housing in 2023 — an all-time high and an 80% bump from 2022, he said — amid an ongoing shortage. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) also connected 13,000 households with affordable apartments, another record, he said.
But 51% of the 14,227 new units relied on 421-a, an expired state tax break that elected officials and the real estate industry describe as crucial for spurring new affordable housing construction, but has also been criticized as a handout for developers.
It comes even as overall city housing construction fell dramatically last year, according to a recent analysis by the Real Estate Board of New York, a trade group, which attributed the decline to the expiration of 421-a.
“Now, more than ever, we need our state partners in Albany to lean in and help us do even more to address this housing crisis and keep our city competitive,” HPD Commissioner Adolfo Carrión Jr. said in a statement.
Gov. Hochul included a 421-a extension and replacement when she debuted her budget this week. In a change, HPD would set affordability requirements, though other details remain unclear. During a question and answer session she indicated she would leave it to the construction unions and the real estate industry to iron out many of the specifics over 421a’s replacement, dubbed 485-x or the “Affordable Neighborhoods for New Yorkers” (ANNY).
Earlier this month Hochul unveiled a watered-down version of her housing compact from last year. Aside from 421-a, it included other housing measures championed by the Adams administration including allowing for the legalization of basement apartments, an office conversion tax incentive and lifting a residential density cap.
On the local side, Mayor Adams continues to push his “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” initiative, a package of zoning changes intended to encourage the construction of 100,000 new units across the city.
But he reiterated his hope that Albany can secure a housing deal this time around.
“You’re going to see a different energy when you go up this time. And it’s not a guarantee, but it is a real desire. All of us agree we need more inventory,” Adams said. “I am enthusiastic about something that I’ve never been enthusiastic before about, and that’s traveling to Albany.”
