One year after the City Council passed the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, changes to New York City’s zoning laws are influencing housing development across the city. The amendment, which marked its anniversary on Friday, has led to an increase in applications for larger residential buildings, more air rights transactions, and a rise in homeowners seeking to add accessory dwelling units.
The Department of City Planning released data highlighting the effects of the new rules. Among the key features is the Universal Affordability Preference (UAP) program, which replaced Voluntary Inclusionary Housing. Under UAP, developers can receive a 20 percent density bonus if they dedicate that additional space to permanently affordable housing for residents earning 60 percent of area median income.
Since UAP applications opened in April, over 100 housing developments have applied under this program. While details on specific properties were not provided, officials estimate these projects could result in 5,400 new homes, with about 900 designated as affordable.
The amendment also streamlined the process for transferring air rights from landmarked buildings by removing some transactions from land-use review requirements. Transfers that would increase a project’s height by more than 25 percent still require a special permit. Since these changes took effect, five buildings have sought approval for such transfers—an uptick compared to only 15 similar applications over the past five decades. These recent deals could yield an additional 400,000 square feet of development.
Applications for accessory dwelling units opened in September. Since then, 98 homeowners from boroughs including the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island have submitted requests to add these units.
City of Yes introduced two new high-density residential zoning districts—R11 and R12—which allow buildings up to 15 or 18 times the size of their lots through rezoning. So far, these districts have been mapped once as part of Midtown South’s rezoning and proposed at two other sites: one at 395 Flatbush Avenue Extension in Downtown Brooklyn and another above the Second Avenue subway extension.
Officials initially projected that City of Yes could help create up to 80,000 housing units over a span of fifteen years. However, whether this target is met will depend on future policy decisions and support from upcoming city administrations and council members.
Industry representatives have expressed concerns that pending legislation might restrict construction if four bills setting new rules for affordable housing production are approved by the current Council. Developers also argue that wage requirements tied to property tax break 485x may limit new building activity and reduce both City of Yes’s impact and that of recent voter-approved housing measures.
