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Mayor Adams’ charter commission eyes housing reforms, including land use rule changes
By
David Brand
Published Jan 7, 2025
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Gothamist/David Brand
By
David Brand
Published Jan 7, 2025
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Housing may also be on the ballot as New Yorkers head to the polls this November to choose a mayor and city councilmembers.
Mayor Eric Adams’ latest Charter Revision Commission — a 14-member panel made up of nonprofit and civic leaders that met for the first time Tuesday — is tasked with proposing amendments to the city’s governing document to streamline housing production amid a dire shortage of affordable homes. The commission's recommendations would then go before voters, most likely in November.
But the process for getting to those housing-related referendums is only aggravating an existing rift between Adams and members of the City Council, who have worried the proposals could strip their influence and limit public input on key land use decisions.
Housing policy experts have speculated that the new commission may champion a dramatic overhaul to the city’s complex process for changing zoning rules to legally accommodate larger development. The current seven-month procedure includes multiple public hearings and advisory opinions from community boards and borough presidents.
Pro-development advocates have also floated a mechanism for developers to appeal if the city or Council rejects their applications, and a maneuver to override a tradition of “member deference,” where the full Council accedes to the local member on land use issues in their districts.
Commission Chair Richard Buery, who serves as CEO of the influential anti-poverty foundation Robin Hood, said Tuesday that nothing is off the table — including eliminating components of the land use review process.
“I think as a commission, we're open to anything and everything,” Buery told reporters following the hearing. “We want to come into this with open minds .”
Buery, who'd been a deputy to then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, had previously stressed the commission’s independence, despite the presence of three members of Adams’ administration: senior adviser Diane Savino, housing chief Leila Bozorg and Alec Schierenbeck, the commission’s executive director and counsel to Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer. He told reporters that he is also eager to work with the City Council to expedite housing development.
“ I think we're at a point in the city where everyone really understands that something has to change,” Buery said. “Something has to give.”
Councilmembers aren’t sharing his enthusiasm, even as they propose strategies to increase affordable housing in the five boroughs. They say they see the commission as Adams’ latest attempt to undercut their authority — after they came together to back his “City of Yes” plan to change citywide zoning rules in exchange for concessions and billions of dollars in local investments.
“So much for the kumbaya partnership around the City of Yes. Now we're back to reality: Another day, another blatant attempt to undermine the co-equal branch of New York City's democratic government,” Councilmember Justin Brannan said in an email. “Sadly, there are some who wish New York City to be a monarchy.”
The new commission is the second assembled by Adams in the past year, and, like its predecessor, complicates the City Council’s own charter revision efforts. The Council previously proposed a ballot question that would require its approval for mayoral nominees to lead city agencies. But upon learning of the plan in May, the mayor formed his own charter revision commission, which took precedence over the council’s proposal.
Adams announced the current commission just days after a majority of councilmembers voted for the City of Yes plan intended to spur tens of thousands of new housing units..
Speaker Adrienne Adams, in turn, issued a statement criticizing the mayor for attempting to “politically weaponize mayoral charter commissions as vehicles to undermine New Yorkers’ democratic rights and representation.”
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Speaker Adams accused the mayor of sabotaging a partnership between his administration and the Council when it comes to housing.
“We recently approved one of the most comprehensive housing plans in the history of New York City with a diverse range of stakeholders and engaging in good-faith negotiations with the administration,” said spokesperson Julia Agos. “At the same time, the administration was instead secretly conspiring to launch an additional commission under the guise of the same issue.”
She said councilmembers also fear the mayor’s commission will attempt to weaken laws protecting immigrants.
Mayor Adams on Tuesday told reporters that he was not trying to “block” the Council.
“We're really looking to see how do we fix our housing issues and whatever else they come up with,” he said.
In introductory remarks and interviews before and after the meeting Tuesday, individual members spoke of building bridges with the Council or downplaying the sweep of the potential changes.
“I would hope that the commission will aim to work with the Council in a positive effort to amend the charter in ways that are not designed to undermine the Council’s land use powers,” Commission member Kathryn Wylde, CEO of the powerful Partnership for New York business group, told Gothamist Monday.
Wylde said she would like to trim administrative requirements that stymie development, especially on smaller lots where zoning changes approved by last month could unlock more housing.
Those delays force property owners to pay loans and taxes for months or years before they can actually build, she said.
“It’s more the case than ever,” she added.,
Savino, Mayor Adams’ adviser and a former state senator, also described the delays for development in her remarks on Tuesday.
"It just takes too long,” Savino said. “And we’re not producing the kinds of housing people need.”
Several members said they hoped to ease affordable housing creation.
Shams DaBaron, a homeless rights advocate allied with the mayor, said commission members had not discussed their plans. But he said he hoped to streamline the land use process and find ways to get more homeless New Yorkers into permanent housing.
He said New Yorkers should weigh in at upcoming public hearings. The first will take place in Downtown Brooklyn on Feb. 11 followed by another in Long Island City, Queens on Feb. 24.
“This is people-driven,” DaBaron said. “It’s really up to the people.”
Additional reporting by Liz Kim.
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housing
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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