It\u2019s odd how little credit Mayor Eric Adams gets for his relentless, steady and successful drive to get more housing, including more affordable homes, built in New York City.<\/p>\n
In under four years, he\u2019s arguably done more than his predecessors achieved in the previous two decades, winning changes that will make a huge difference in the long term rather than offering empty promises of instant miracles.<\/p>\n
The latest: The City Council just OK\u2019d Adams\u2019 plan to rezone Midtown South, opening the door for nearly 10,000 new housing units, 2,800 of them affordable, in an area that was largely zoned for (outdated) industrial uses.<\/p>\n
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Some of those units will come from converting commercial space to residential, an obvious next step for older, vacant office buildings.<\/p>\n
All told, Adams\u2019 rezoning push starting in 2021 has cleared the way for 100,000 new units to be built across the city, with 30,000 more on the way if the City Council approves his plans for Jamaica and Long Island City.<\/p>\n
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That\u2019s more housing gained via zoning changes than added in the Bloomberg and de Blasio years combined.<\/p>\n
Another unheralded gain, from years of steady effort and deft alliances: getting the Legislature to lift the floor-area-ratio cap<\/a> of 12, which arbitrarily restricted the height of residential buildings.<\/p>\n Between the mayor\u2019s massive City of Yes package, which the council approved last year<\/a>, and other efforts, including the preservation of about 134,700 existing units, City Hall counts the number of units added to or kept in the Big Apple\u2019s housing supply under Adams at about 426,000.<\/p>\n Yes, that includes the totals from proposals that still need to go through the approval process \u2014 and a good chunk, like those enabled through rezoning, won\u2019t be fully realized for years.<\/p>\n