New Yorkers May Vote on Curbing Council’s Power to Block New Housing

New York|New Yorkers May Vote on Curbing Council’s Power to Block New Housing

The unofficial veto City Council members hold over big new developments in their districts has long been blamed by many critics for making New York City’s housing shortage even harder to solve.

Now, a special city panel is trying to curb that power.

The panel, known as the Charter Revision Commission, is moving forward with a plan to place several measures on the November ballot that, if approved by voters, would rewrite the rules of development and diminish the sway Council members hold over new housing, giving more power to the mayor and the five borough presidents. Mayor Eric Adams created the commission in December.

The details of the proposals, many of which are likely to be contentious because of the way they aim to disrupt traditional hierarchies of political power, are set to be released by the commission in a report on Tuesday.

The City Council created its own, separate commission a month before the mayor announced his, but it cannot put anything on the ballot if the mayor’s does. The Council speaker, Adrienne Adams, has been publicly critical of the mayor’s commission.

The proposals the mayor’s commission is seeking to advance include the creation of a simpler process to approve housing projects subsidized by the city or those that seek only modest increases in density. The proposals would let development move forward without City Council approval in the districts that haven’t been approving much housing. And they would create a way for developers to appeal when the Council rejects housing plans.

The 13-member commission will still have to approve the specific ballot language at a meeting next month before the proposals are sent to the city clerk. The package of proposals is expected to also include some that could significantly change how elections are run in New York City.