New York City ballots this November will include four land-use proposals and a bid to shift municipal election years after a special panel voted to advance their suggestions Monday.\n<\/p>\n
The Charter Revision Commission, empaneled by Mayor Eric Adams in December to address the city\u2019s housing shortage, approved four ballot measures<\/a> it had been considering that would amend the City Charter to streamline affordable housing projects, as well as a fifth to shift the city election to even-numbered years. New Yorkers will vote on all five proposals in November.<\/p>\n Richard Buery, the commission\u2019s chair, said the proposals will help New York City address its affordability crisis.\n<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s lots of pieces to this puzzle, but we feel really good about the polls we\u2019ve made and really looking at ways the charter can particularly help us build housing we need faster,\u201d Buery said.<\/p>\n Housing development and council oversight<\/p>\n The first two proposals alter the city\u2019s current process for approving new housing development by shortening and streamlining the review timeline while limiting councilmembers\u2019 unofficial veto power over projects in their districts, known as \u201cmember deference.\u201d The proposals specifically target areas with low affordable housing, often because their councilmembers refuse to approve affordable projects.<\/p>\n Under the amendment, the 12 districts with the least affordable development over five years would be put on a \u201cfast track\u201d review process for affordable housing.\n<\/p>\n \u201cThis will be a way to build affordable housing in parts of the city that today produce next to nothing,\u201d said the commission\u2019s executive director, Alec Schierenbeck.\n<\/p>\n The third proposal also amends the appeals process for affordable housing projects, replacing the mayor\u2019s veto with a three-person board of the mayor, the speaker of the City Council and the appropriate borough president. A previous version of the ballot measure would have subjected all housing to this \u201cappeals board,\u201d but Buery said the commission altered their proposal to preserve more community input.<\/p>\n A fourth proposal would make processes more efficient with a citywide map, while a fifth would aim to increase voter turnout by aligning city elections with federal races.\n<\/p>\n The ballot measures come as the city faces an unprecedented affordability crisis, with the housing vacancy rate at a record low of 1.4% in 2023, the most recently available data.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n