Be Very Afraid: More Homes Might Actually Get Built

City Council’s fear campaign shows why the Charter proposals are needed.

If you’ve ever wondered why it’s so hard to build anything in New York, Eric Kober has your answer: the City Council. After decades in city planning and now as a Manhattan Institute senior fellow, he’s seen every trick in the book.

This week, the Council launched a “vote no” campaign against three ballot measures meant to speed up housing approvals—warning, in all seriousness, that they could lead to… taller buildings and more apartments. Kober’s take: exactly the point. Opinions are those of the author.

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The New York City Council, having failed dismally in its gambit to have the Board of Elections kill three pro-housing ballot proposals, has now launched its vote-no campaign in earnest. Crain’s New York Business reports that council staffers are going around to community boards with a slide show intended to scare them with the potential consequences, should the ballot questions pass.

The Council’s arguments suggest to me the “Sickos Haha Yes” internet meme. Crain’s helpfully includes a slide from the council’s presentation showing tall new apartment buildings under construction, surrounded by other buildings that are less tall. More of this, you say? I can’t wait.

The council slide show also asserts that single-family home neighborhoods would be replaced with four-story apartment buildings. If only.

The council’s response demonstrates the necessity for the City Charter changes that would be enacted, should the ballot questions be approved. The council is not pro-housing; it’s pro-dealmaking and preserving the ability of individual council members to veto any new housing that offends the sensibilities of well-organized local activists. As long as that’s true, large areas of the city will be closed off to new housing. Additionally, the council is well practiced in the art of seeming to allow lots of new housing in a rezoning, while basking confidently in the knowledge that housing developers are so hemmed in by conditions making new housing economically infeasible that little new housing will get built.

At the same time, the council’s demand for public panic is misplaced. The proposed charter changes offer only modest relief for the city’s housing supply crisis. Many impediments to new housing, such as environmental review, affordability restrictions, prevailing-wage provisions and off-street parking requirements, remain in place. Furthermore, the new mayor will need to maintain a working majority of 26 members on the council, to get approval for the budget, local laws and other zoning changes still needing the council’s consent. That gives the council significant leverage. The mayor will gain power but hardly reign unchallenged.

In summary, New York City will be better off if the ballot proposals pass. If the next mayor takes advantage of their potential, more new housing will be built than would have been the case without these changes. Unfortunately, however, the changes are not some magical solution that will carpet the city with new apartment buildings, despite the council’s claims. But if they were, New Yorkers should be overjoyed – not scared that the city will finally have plentiful and affordable housing.

Photo by Esther Kooij / Unsplash