New York
With ‘City of Yes,’ New York Finally Gets Real About the Housing Crisis
For decades now, progress in solving New York’s housing crisis has stagnated amid the contest between two dominant visions: one that would have the city build up and up and up as if it were Hong Kong, and another that would privilege intimate scale — in some parts of the city meaning the charming traditions of European urbanism and in other parts, farther from the center, meaning the traditions of Levittown. Binary solutions nearly always present a trap. But last month the city took a historic step toward breaking out of it. After 175 community board meetings and two public hearings, each of which unfolded over nearly 15 hours, the City Council passed the most extensive set of zoning changes in more than 60 years.
The Zoning Resolution of 1961 radically altered the contours of the city in a way that was described in one academic analysis as reflecting “a disdain for the existing built form.” Famously labyrinthine, the codes, in the simplest understanding, prioritized high-rise office buildings over housing as the city’s population went into decline. The new rules — packaged as City of Yes for Housing Opportunity — roll back arcane restrictions that have long stifled housing supply in an era of staggering demand, and they have come about largely under the radar of New Yorkers, a vast majority of whom do not immerse themselves in the wonkier corners of planning and policy.
City of Yes does not — and isn’t intended to — resolutely end the city’s housing emergencies, which policymakers have estimated would require 500,000 additional units of housing. But it represents a vital new approach, one that shifts the focus away from the current paradigm, where the answer seems to consistently and tenaciously lie in building glass towers in high-density neighborhoods in Manhattan, northern Brooklyn or the waterfront in Queens and making some percentage of them “affordable,” a term subject to multiple interpretations. Again and again, this model tends to invite fierce community opposition — as it has with proposed projects across from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and in Gowanus — that plays out over years and mountains of litigation.
The guiding principle behind City of Yes is to distribute the responsibility of creating housing more evenly, essentially extending it to every neighborhood in the city. Say you are a homeowner with an underused backyard. Under certain conditions, you can now build or repurpose a structure of up to 800 square feet to rent out long term (Airbnb use is not approved) or generously hand over to your aging parents. The crux of the plan, though, is an emphasis on modest structures of five or six stories rather than 30.
This is meant to address what urban planners characterize as “the missing middle,” the void of a certain housing style that cities across the country are now trying to fill. Zoning changes do not mandate where and how much housing ought to be built; they open up (or foreclose) possibility. In this case, they unlock a catalog of opportunities to facilitate development; converting office buildings to apartment buildings around the city, long suggested as a way to create housing, now has a much easier path.
According to the calculations of the city’s planning department, City of Yes will create more homes accessible to those at lower income levels over the next 15 years than all of the city’s other inclusionary housing programs since they first came into being in the mid-1980s. The plan further incentivizes development of all types of housing by relaxing — and in some places eliminating — the expensive requirement that a certain number of parking spaces be allotted for new apartment complexes. It is a requirement that urban planners and ordinary car antagonists have complained about for decades.
In all, City of Yes is expected to produce 80,000 new units of housing, which might seem unimpressive, given the need. But this amounts to many, many more homes than previous amendments to the zoning code have produced. This goal is to be met in part with the help of a new, state-sponsored tax incentive and a $5 billion contribution of additional city and state funds, for which the City Council speaker, Adrienne Adams, fought vigorously.
“City of Yes highlighted what municipal-led initiatives can achieve,” said Annemarie Gray, who used to work in planning and housing policy for the city under the de Blasio and Adams administrations and now serves as the executive director of Open New York, a nonprofit that supports housing expansion. But what is necessary going forward, in her view, are aggressive measures taken at the level of the governor’s office and the State Legislature. Some of this would involve changing certain zoning codes outside the city, especially near commuter rail lines, to accommodate apartment buildings.
Despite the obvious need, recent efforts to increase housing density in New York’s commuter suburbs have failed. Assemblyman Robert Carroll, who represents Park Slope and other adjacent Brooklyn neighborhoods, told me that “during the last two years, we have been unable to convince a single suburban county to build more housing.”
Recently, Mr. Carroll has taken the side of “the missing middle” for a site in Windsor Terrace, in his district, where the Arrow Linen and Uniform Supply Company has stood since 1947. In conjunction with a developer, the longtime owner would like to turn it into a 13-story apartment complex, in a plan ginned up well before City of Yes was passed. Mr. Carroll and many members of the community are pushing for something closer to seven or nine stories with more affordable units than have been proposed.
In an article in City Limits last year, Zellnor Myrie, a state senator who has since announced a run for mayor, wrote that between 2010 and 2020, parts of his district, which includes lower-income neighborhoods in Central Brooklyn, added 7,400 new housing units, while in Windsor Terrace, that figure stood at 268. In six of those years, he wrote, the neighborhood actually suffered a net loss of housing.
What is striking about the debate, no matter how contentious, is the shape it has taken and that such a message has really resonated. “The push to build housing in neighborhoods that haven’t is very strong,” Shahana Hanif, the local councilwoman for Windsor Terrace, who now has the most significant say in the fate of the project, told me. Many people who live in the neighborhood, which has plenty of single-family houses owned by gentrifiers, have argued for a development entirely made up of affordable apartments. The tension has not been between those who want all and those who want nothing.
Welcome to Day 2 of the Metropolitan Diary challenge, part of our celebration of the column’s 50th anniversary. On Day 1, we gave you tips for identifying your New York City story. Today, we’ll help you write it. (Missed Day 1? It’s not too late to start.)
What makes for a good Diary? It’s simply a good story that happens to be set in, and capture, the essential New York-ness of the city. While this isn’t a full writing course, we do have guidance on the kinds of elements that the submissions we publish include. They typically have: a beginning, middle and end; sharp details; catchy dialogue; a bit of surprise; some humor, warmth or emotion. But there is no formula, so flouting these loose rules can be worthwhile.
Don’t worry if you don’t think of yourself as a “writer.” Focus on being a “storyteller.” Pretend you are telling your story to the person who’d most appreciate it, using whatever conversational language or pacing that would hold their attention. Do it out loud if you want, maybe give that person a call and tell them your story (or tell it to them again). Then write it down.
That’s the big picture. For more tips, read on.
Here is an example of a published Diary that we (and readers) really liked, and a few thoughts on why that may help crystallize yours.
Unacceptable
Dear Diary:
I went to a new bagel store in Brooklyn Heights1 with my son.
When it was my turn to order, I asked for a cinnamon raisin bagel with whitefish salad and a slice of red onion.2
The man behind the counter looked up at me.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t do that.”3
— Richie Powers
One of this item’s best qualities is that it is short and snappy. Only 53 words! Although we will use stories of up to 300 words, many don’t need to be that long and the column doesn’t work if we don’t have a mix of long, medium and short, so we are always looking for stuff like this. Here’s another one!
At Attention
Dear Diary:
It was December 1967. I had just finished basic training at Fort Dix in New Jersey and was traveling to Boston in uniform. For reasons I no longer recall, I stopped in New York City on the way.1
Walking on the Upper East Side2 in a snowstorm, I spied another man in a uniform. He was older, and his cap bore the familiar gold band that identified him as an officer.
I rendered a snappy salute. It was not returned. 3The uniform was unfamiliar, so I guessed he was a foreign officer. Military courtesy still required me to salute.
A little farther down the street, I encountered another officer and offered another salute that went unacknowledged.4 His uniform was strange to me as well.
The third time it happened, the man I saluted ignored me while holding the door for a couple 5on their way into a large apartment building.
I realized I had been saluting doormen.6
— Stephen Salisbury
To get your storytelling muscles going, think through or jot down the answers to some of these questions.
Let’s start with setting the scene.
- When and where in the city did this happen? Is this place well-known?
- Was there anything particular about that point in your life that’s relevant?
- What did you see, hear, smell? Was there something notable about the weather?
Now, let’s move to the middle, the meat of the story.
- Did you have an exchange with someone?
- What details are important to how events unfolded, especially in setting up the ending?
And now, the end.
- What’s the resolution? Is there a punchline?
- Does the story end with a sense of shared humanity or some other warm feeling that lingers? You don’t need to name it. A good description will often allow readers to feel it too.
- Why has this experience stayed with you?
- Lines like “and that’s why I love New York” are almost always unnecessary.
That’s it. Keep your story simple and use the kind of plain language you use in conversation. You are sketching a moment in time. The details are important. Let them move the story along. Have fun and good luck.
Once you’re done, read through what you’ve got. What details are less important and can be left out? (Remember, there is a strict 300-word limit.)
Write your Metropolitan Diary however you like, on paper, on your phone or wherever! When you’re happy with what you’ve written, put your diary entry into the box below, fill out your information and submit it. You might just hear from me about including it in a future column.
This is the official submission form, so make sure to double-check your work before hitting submit.
That’s it! Submit your Metropolitan Diary.
By transmitting your submission, you grant The New York Times Company a perpetual, royalty-free license to use the submission in any medium. They may be edited, and may be republished and adapted in all media. You may reprint your story elsewhere after it appears in The Times.
65.
In or about and between December 2023 and April 2024, both dates being approximate and inclusive, within the Eastern District of New York and elsewhere, the defendants MALIK BEASLEY, also known as “Beas,” “Bease,” “MB” and “5,” WILLIAM BROWN, also known as “Willo,” EDWARD DAVIS, also known as “Ed,” “ED” and “E Davis,” ROBERT GORODETSKY, also known as “Rob,” ERNESTO PLASCENCIA, also known as “Ernie,” “Erny,” “Ernie P” and “Erny P,” and PAOLO ZAMORANO, also known as “PZ,”
together with others, did knowingly and intentionally conspire:
(a)
to conduct one or more financial transactions in and affecting
interstate commerce, which transactions in fact involved the proceeds of specified unlawful activity, to wit: (i) wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343 and (ii) sports bribery, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 224, knowing that the property involved in the transactions represented the proceeds of some form of unlawful activity, and with the intent to promote the carrying on of the specified unlawful activity, contrary to Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(a)(1)(A)(i);
(b)
to conduct one or more financial transactions in and affecting interstate commerce, which transactions in fact involved the proceeds of some form of unlawful activity, to wit: (i) wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343 and (ii) sports bribery, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 224, knowing that the property involved in the transactions represented the proceeds of some form of unlawful activity, and knowing that the transactions were designed in whole and in part to conceal and disguise the
19
How can people possibly afford to live in one of the most expensive cities on the planet? It’s a question New Yorkers hear a lot, often delivered with a mix of awe, pity and confusion.
We surveyed hundreds of New Yorkers about how they spend, splurge and save. We found that many people — rich, poor or somewhere in between — live life as a series of small calculations that add up to one big question: What makes living in New York worth it?
Weixun Hu enjoys what might sound like the ultimate professional perk. New Yorkers pay some of the country’s highest taxes on their income, more than $12,000 on average per person between state and local governments. But Mr. Hu’s income tax this year? $0.
That’s because Mr. Hu, 32, who was born in Guangzhou, China, conducts social development research at an international organization, where most employees are exempt from national income taxes or reimbursed for the cost. His gross and net income are one in the same; he earns roughly $110,000 after his insurance and pension contributions.
Mr. Hu became one of New York City’s 3.1 million foreign-born residents nearly three years ago, after reassignment from a post in Bangkok in the summer of 2023. But he quickly ran into a hurdle: finding an apartment with no credit history, no tax returns and no one to co-sign a lease.
“It sounds very cool that you don’t pay taxes,” Mr. Hu said. “It also creates a lot of problems.”
He discovered that many of his co-workers landed in a handful of pricey residential developments including Stuyvesant Town. Yet renting there felt worlds apart from Thailand’s capital city, where a luxury studio in a high-rise condo with a rooftop infinity pool and premium gym might run $600 per month.
So he found a studio in Long Island City, Queens, where he has in-unit laundry and falls asleep to the sound of waves hitting the shore near Hunters Point South. His employer subsidizes $700 of his $3,900 rent, and utilities and internet cost about $150 monthly.
“It’s much better value compared to renting in Manhattan,” he said.
Saving for Tomorrow
A good deal of young adults in New York City don’t know how to drive, and expect to remain renters for most of their lives. Not Mr. Hu.
He puts away $2,000 or so a month into a high-yield savings account, aspiring to buy a car. His sights are set on a Mazda CX-5. But he expects he’ll need to pay upfront in cash, another consequence of lacking a credit or tax history — and it’ll take about three more years to build up enough.
Eventually, he wants to own a home. “I know most people in New York City don’t care,” he said. “But for me, it’s very important.”
Mr. Hu also supports his parents in their retirement, sending about $3,000 every three months. As their only child, he feels both a sense of guilt for living about 8,000 miles from home — and an obligation to pay them back for their sacrifices.
“People will say, ‘Oh, you’re single. You don’t have a wife. You don’t have kids,’” he said. “‘So all your money is yours.’”
“And I’m like, ‘Excuse me, my parents are still alive.’”
In other ways, though, Mr. Hu fits the profile of an everyday bachelor: He rarely cooks meals at home. “My oven is basically storage space.”
Rather, he searches for affordable deals on Too Good To Go, a popular app where restaurants sell excess food at a discounted price. His No. 1 spot is Chinese Musician in Greenpoint, which offers a three-course meal for $9.
Sometimes, Mr. Hu does the $16 tonkotsu ramen at Nishida Sho-ten on 49th Street for lunch, an $8 lamb over rice meal for dinner from the halal truck in front of Bellevue Hospital or a hot dog for $3.25 from Gray’s Papaya. He’ll swing by the Dollar General in Astoria to stock up on his favorite drink, Coca-Cola Orange Cream.
And he saves up for an upscale dining experience every couple of months. He recently feasted at the Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud’s steakhouse, La Tête d’Or, where he spent roughly $300 and ordered what he called the standout filet mignon.
The Lions Over the Knicks
For any sports buff, it’s an incredible time to live in New York City.
But for Mr. Hu, ticket prices to see the Knicks play at Madison Square Garden felt “a little bit off-putting” — and that was even before their championship run. So he started religiously following basketball at Columbia, going to games that often run $10 to $12 on the Morningside Heights campus.
Yankees games, where a 400-level seat might run $45, are a no; he opts to watch the Columbia Lions up close at Robertson Field in Inwood without charge.
He is willing to spend up to about $300 on some singular sports showdowns. He can still recall how Kylian Mbappé flew down the field at MetLife Stadium during a Real Madrid match against Borussia Dortmund last summer.
Typically, though, he elects for low- or no-cost events like this spring’s edition of the Madison Avenue Gallery Walk.
And he regularly joins free lectures at the Asia Society, where he has a complimentary membership through his employer, and at local universities like N.Y.U., where he’s met the minds behind two of his favorite video games, The Elder Scrolls and Monument Valley.
A Sense of Wanderlust
Ever since Mr. Hu can recall, he’s felt a magnetic pull to experience the world. And few things embody such a yearning as aviation.
He sometimes goes to Canarsie to watch planes land at Kennedy International Airport, studying the way pilots pull up the nose of their aircrafts and slow the descent before touching down. He’s even found others who share his passion on walks in the neighborhood.
And traveling draws him even closer to his hobby.
He spent $4,400 on a trip to Guangzhou last June to fly for the first time in an Airbus A380, the only full-length double-deck aircraft in the world. Qatar Airways is one of the few airlines that still has an active fleet — so Mr. Hu arranged his trip by way of Doha.
“Some people treat it as bragging,” he said. “But no, it’s just to admire such an incredible machine that’s very rare to be seen these days.”
“It’s a weird, niche hobby, but I’m happy spending my money on it.”
As a young man living in his seventh country — after Belgium, China, Italy, Poland, Thailand and the United Kingdom — he appreciates that as “a foreigner in this city, you don’t have to worry about whether you stand out.”
He’s relished exploring from Crown Heights to Jackson Heights, taking the train to a random stop and popping into bodegas to chat up the owners. He considers Staten Island — and its Chinese Scholar’s Garden in Snug Harbor where adult admission costs $5 — to be a hidden gem.
And when he boarded the U.S.S. Bataan during a past Fleet Week, he felt obliged to tell a Marine that he was Chinese. “He said: ‘Oh, no worries at all. Everybody can be an American’.”
“To be honest, I still don’t think it’s a value option for the money,” Mr. Hu said of New York City. “But there’s something so unique, and I think it’s that inclusiveness.”
“You don’t need to go to the world,” he said. “The world comes to you.”
We are talking to New Yorkers about how they spend, splurge and save.
-
Austin, TX2 minutes ago2 Austin murder suspects arrested by U.S. Marshals
-
Alabama9 minutes agoAlabama Department of Transportation worker speaks of heat exhaustion experience during week of dangerously high temperatures
-
Alaska12 minutes agoAlaska lawmakers roll out draft compromise tax cut bill for the proposed AKLNG gas line
-
Arizona17 minutes agoHigh-upside three-star CB commits to Arizona over Washington football
-
Arkansas24 minutes agoAugust special primary set for vacant southeast Arkansas state Senate seat | Arkansas Democrat Gazette
-
California27 minutes agoCalifornia returns stretch of coast to Indigenous tribes. ‘This is beyond huge’
-
Colorado32 minutes agoDouglas County, Colorado, celebrates Independence Day without fireworks
-
Connecticut39 minutes agoConnecticut 250, 251, 252, 253 . . . – New Haven Independent
