{"id":456962,"date":"2025-12-19T03:51:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T03:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/456962\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T03:51:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T03:51:13","slug":"nyc-council-passes-housing-bills-focused-on-affordability-in-final-2025-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/456962\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Council passes housing bills focused on affordability in final 2025 meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

At their final meeting of the year, New York City Council members on Thursday passed a slew of housing-related bills<\/a> that would require the city to build more affordable housing for families and put local nonprofits at the front of the line for building sales.<\/p>\n

But a spokesman for Mayor Adams, who can still use his veto pen<\/a> through the end of the year, promptly signaled the departing mayor intended to veto the measures, saying they would create red tape and send rents higher.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese short-sighted bills will not only worsen the affordability crisis, but will also sandbag the incoming mayor and speaker,\u201d Adams spokesman Fabien Levy said in a statement, referring to Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and incoming Council Speaker Julie Menin.<\/p>\n

\u201cIrresponsible actions like these demonstrate the importance of Mayor Adams\u2019 efforts to modernize the housing approval process,\u201d Levy added. \u201cFortunately, Mayor Adams is in office until December 31.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Thursday, Adams had not said publicly where he stood on the measures, but administration sources had indicated he was opposed to them.<\/p>\n

The housing bills<\/a> that passed late Thursday after a marathon Council session would, among other provisions, require housing projects subsidized by the city to contain minimum percentages of two- and three-bedrooms and affordable units for extremely low-income and very low-income households.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of new housing built in New York City is made up of studios and one bedrooms \u2014 though city officials have said this is fitting, citing research that shows there\u2019s more demand for affordable units among single adults than families.<\/p>\n

Opponents of the bill, including Adams\u2019 Department of Housing Preservation and Development<\/a>, have argued it would stifle the city\u2019s ability to build affordable housing by throwing legislative hurdles in the way, making it more expensive and take more time to build new units.<\/p>\n

HPD estimated that should the bills go into effect, they would cost $600 million a year and create thousands fewer homes.<\/p>\n

Mamdani and his allies, including Cea Weaver, a housing adviser on Mamdani\u2019s transition team, have voiced opposition to the bills, putting the incoming mayor and Adams in an unusual alliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mayor-elect has concerns about this legislation, which holds the potential to make it more difficult to build housing at a time when so many New Yorkers are struggling to afford a place to call home,\u201d Mamdani spokeswoman Dora Pekec said in a statement. \u201cHe looks forward to working with the City Council to advance the affordability agenda and address the housing crisis head on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bronx Councilman Eric Dinowitz, who penned one of the main bills, argued they would ensure families get a fair shake at finding housing they can afford. Dinowitz, who\u2019s an ally of Menin, said if Adams were to veto the legislation, he\u2019s ready to fight it.<\/p>\n

\"EricEric Dinowitz speaking during a press conference before a New York City Council meeting at City Hall in Manhattan, New York on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. (Shawn Inglima for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the mayor chooses to veto pro-family housing legislation to correct for errors that have been made by our city\u2019s policy over the past decade, then we\u2019re willing to fight that battle once we get to it,\u201d Dinowitz said at a press conference ahead of the meeting.<\/p>\n

In the event of an Adams veto, the Council would have 30 days to try to override it. Outgoing Council Speaker Adrienne Adams told reporters the Council will not reconvene this year to host any override. That means it could not happen until next year at the earliest, when Menin is expected to be speaker.<\/p>\n

Menin did not immediately comment on whether she\u2019d be willing to move to override an Adams veto.<\/p>\n

Another contentious bill that passed Thursday, the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act<\/a>, or COPA, would give local community groups and nonprofits first dibs at buying certain buildings in their neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

The buildings in question<\/a> would be ones that have racked up serious housing code violations or are way behind on paying off property tax bills. Buildings that have certain affordability-related tax abatements that are about to expire would also be prioritized for purchases from that category of buyers.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the bill, introduced by Councilmember Sandy Nurse, argue it would help preserve affordable housing by preventing venture capitalists from being able to use their financial advantage to snap up distressed property.<\/p>\n

Signaling the bill could have a good shot at becoming law, Mamdani<\/a>, who\u2019s taking office Jan. 1, called for the legislation\u2019s passage during the 2025 campaign.<\/p>\n

But the real estate industry is vehemently opposed to the measure, fearful it would complicate the sales process, especially for small landlords.<\/p>\n

Queens Councilwoman Vickie Paladino, one of the Council\u2019s most far-right Republicans, blasted the COPA bill as \u201cnonsense,\u201d saying it\u2019s counterintuitive that a landowner would need to first try to sell property to a nonprofit if there are other buyers already lined up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is absolutely ridiculous,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At their final meeting of the year, New York City Council members on Thursday passed a slew of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":456963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,728,405,403,5294,5296,8989,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,80,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-456962","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-new-york-county","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-new-york-politics","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkcity","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-politics","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115744203966235865","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}