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Housing on the ballot: Here's what NYC voters need to know as they head to the polls
By
David Brand
Published Oct 24, 2025
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By
David Brand
Published Oct 24, 2025
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New York City rents are at a record-high and rising. Ditto home sale prices. About 90,000 people are spending each night in a city homeless shelter. And the number of vacant apartments across the five boroughs is stuck at a six-decade low.
So how do you solve a housing crisis like New York City’s? Late last year, Mayor Eric Adams commissioned a committee to find updates to the city charter that can streamline the city’s land use review process and speed up development.
It came up with four proposals: Two would eliminate steps from the current procedure and a third would create a mechanism for appealing rejections or modifications. All come with some controversy because they would erode the power of the City Council, which some see as an impediment to building.
A fourth would digitize the city’s official paper maps — a technical and uncontentious change that will make proposing land use changes easier and cheaper.
The first three housing measures have support from a broad range of elected officials, like Gov. Kathy Hochul and Comptroller Brad Lander, as well as the growing “YIMBY” — Yes In My Backyard — movement. One pro-development political action committee is now funding social media ads that encourage New Yorkers to vote yes.
Supporters argue that individual councilmembers can hold up or kill new housing in their districts, often in response to constituents opposed to new development, and that the measures will remove obstacles to new and sorely needed affordable, market-rate housing.
“Families across the five boroughs are struggling under the weight of rising rents and too few affordable housing options,” said Regional Plan Association Vice President Moses Gates. “We can’t keep doing things the old way and expect different results.”
Unsurprisingly, councilmembers are opposed, along with unions and some civic associations and preservation groups that typically reject any new housing.
Faced with a real threat to its authority, the City Council is flooding voters’ mailboxes at a cost of about $2 million, warning that the measures will lead to less affordability and open the floodgates of gentrification. They argue that individual lawmakers serve as the voice of the community and can leverage their power in the current process to achieve more benefits from the city and developers, like additional units priced for low-income tenants or even infrastructure investments.
“Through their democratically elected City Council, New Yorkers currently have the power to secure more affordable housing, neighborhood investments, and good union jobs,” Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said at a rally against the measures earlier this month. “But this is what is at risk.”
Now, it’s up to you to decide. You’ll find the questions on the back of your ballot, opposite the side where you’ll select your choice for mayor and other elected offices. They’re numbered two through five on the ballot.
Here’s what they say and how they could affect housing development.
Proposal 2: Fast-Track Affordable Housing to Build More Affordable Housing Across the City
What the ballot says
Fast-track publicly financed affordable housing. Fast-track applications delivering affordable housing in the community districts that produce the least affordable housing, significantly reducing review time. Maintain Community Board review.
“Yes” fast-tracks applications at the Board of Standards and Appeals or City Planning Commission.
“No” leaves affordable housing subject to longer review and final decision at City Council.
What it means
This one’s a two-parter. The first specifically applies to 100% “affordable housing” projects that receive city financing, and where every apartment’s rent is capped for low- and middle-income tenants.
Here’s how the process works now: Before breaking ground on a new housing project, developers often have to apply for changes to existing zoning rules that would allow them to build larger than they otherwise could, or to construct housing in a section of the city designated for manufacturing or other non-residential purposes.
The city’s current seven-month review process involves the local community board, borough president and City Planning Commission before culminating in a binding vote by the City Council to greenlight or reject the land use changes required to construct the new housing.
But if voters approve this proposal, 100% affordable housing developments would bypass that process and instead undergo a two-month review by the local community board. That would be followed by a one-month review by the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals, which could then approve the project without City Council input.
The second part would give the City Planning Commission — again, not the City Council — the final say over new housing proposals in the 12 community districts producing the fewest new affordable homes, and could potentially target wealthier sections of the city where “Not In My Backyard” attitudes limit new housing development.
Here’s the twist: The proposal applies to all new development in those districts, including projects where the majority of the apartments are market-rate rather than “affordable.”
New York City has 59 community districts. Sections of Northeast Queens, Staten Island’s South Shore and Manhattan's Upper West Side are among the 12 that have produced the fewest new affordable units over the past five years.
Sylvia Morse, the policy director at the Pratt Center for Community Development, said this question is the “least blunt instrument” for speeding up affordable housing creation of the three measures.
And Barika Williams, head of the nonprofit developer trade group Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, cheered the question, saying it will “help to create more of the affordable housing we desperately need and ensure a fairer distribution of housing development across all New York City neighborhoods.”
Proposal 3: Simplify Review of Modest Housing and Infrastructure Projects
What the ballot says
Simplify review of modest amounts of additional housing and minor infrastructure projects, significantly reducing review time. Maintain Community Board review, with final decision by the City Planning Commission.
“Yes” simplifies review for limited land-use changes, including modest housing and minor infrastructure projects.
“No” leaves these changes subject to longer review, with final decision by City Council.
What it means
Time for some math: The word “modest” applies to any housing project that is under 45 feet tall in the city’s low-density, suburban-style sections, like much of Staten Island or the Northeast Bronx. It also applies to a project that is 30% larger than current zoning rules allow in middle- and high-density areas like Central Brooklyn or Washington Heights. Think a 13-story apartment building on a block where land use rules max out at 10 floors.
The proposal has another, non-housing component. It would expedite the review process for resiliency projects, like using city-owned land for solar energy storage or greenlighting voluntary buyouts for homes in flood-prone areas.
The local community board and borough president would maintain their advisory role in the review process. But the City Planning Commission would have the final say over these applications, again cutting the City Council out of the process.
The Charter Revision Commission that came up with the proposals says this one will make it cheaper for smaller developers to complete the review steps.
Proposal 4. Establish an Affordable Housing Appeals Board with Council, Borough and Citywide Representation
What the ballot says
Establish an Affordable Housing Appeals Board with the Council Speaker, local Borough President, and Mayor to review Council actions that reject or change applications creating affordable housing.
“Yes” creates the three-member Affordable Housing Appeals Board to reflect Council, borough, and citywide perspectives.
“No” leaves affordable housing subject to the Mayor’s veto and final decision by City Council.
What it means
This is the most controversial of the three housing proposals because it would further neutralize the City Council by giving developers and the Department of City Planning a tool to challenge their decisions for any project that includes affordable housing, unlike the 100% affordable developments covered by Proposal 2.
If the Council ever voted to reject or modify a rezoning application at the end of the seven-month review process the developer or city officials could turn to the newly created three-member panel to override the vote and get what they want.
The panel would include the mayor, the City Council speaker and the president of the affected borough. It would give the city’s five borough presidents more power than they have had in decades.
The proposal's supporters say it would counter the Council’s custom of deferring to the choice of a single local councilmember on land use decisions in any given district.
Under the current tradition, if a local councilmember opposes a zoning application, the developer will likely pull it before a final vote — or give up before even starting the formal review process.
“We want to strike a better balance between local, boroughwide and citywide views because our housing crisis doesn't end at district lines,” said Charter Revision Commission Executive Director Alec Schierenbeck. “There should be more than one voice in the room when we are addressing important citywide challenges, like our housing crisis.”
But councilmembers and many community leaders say that member deference isn’t about rewarding NIMBYism, it’s about giving local councilmembers leverage to demand more potential benefits for the neighborhood, like additional apartments for the lowest-income New Yorkers or upgrades to local sewers, roads and parks.
“Without community voices in power and development decisions, our neighborhoods will get less affordable housing, less investment and will be vulnerable to more unwelcome, unwanted gentrification,” Speaker Adams said.
Proposal 5: Create a Digital City Map to Modernize City Operations
What the ballot says
Consolidate borough map office and address assignment functions, and create one digital City Map at Department of City Planning. Today, the City Map consists of paper maps across five offices.
What it means
This one is a technical fix meant to make it easier for developers and city planners to propose land use changes without digging out decades-old paper maps. The city has about 8,000 paper maps currently kept in offices around the five boroughs, with some dating to the 19th century — a fun bit of history, but kind of a pain for efficiency.
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Politics
election
housing
new york city
David Brand
David is a reporter covering housing for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 908-310-3960.
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