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Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, one of several Democrats challenging Eric Adams in next year’s mayoral election, rolled out a policy blueprint Tuesday to build and preserve 1 million homes in the city over the next decade — pushing past an already ambitious production goal set by Adams.
Myrie’s plan, dubbed “Rebuild NYC,” proposes achieving the 1 million target by 2036 via nine initiatives that would require input from a variety of stakeholders, including the City Council. Of the 1 million, 700,000 would be brand-new units, while the remaining 300,000 would be already existing homes that would be preserved thanks to programs laid out in the plan.
One of the most ambitious planks in Myrie’s blueprint would establish new neighborhoods on “underutilized land” across the city, an effort the plan estimates would create 85,000 new homes over a decade. Another proposal is to create 85,000 new mixed-income apartments in Midtown Manhattan over the same span by enacting zoning changes to increase the density allowed on sites currently accommodating residential towers.
A third proposal would redirect city funding currently being used to build shelters and instead pump it into constructing 50,000 new homes.
The plan is in part light on details, including not identifying any new sites that could be turned into the new neighborhoods envisioned by Myrie.
In an interview with the Daily News on Tuesday, Myrie also acknowledged it won’t be easy to persuade Council members to back all of his sweeping proposals, especially given that the Adams administration’s “City of Yes” plan — which estimates say will create 80,000 new units over 15 years — was watered down by lawmakers ahead of this week’s expected passage.
Still, Myrie said he’s unveiling the plan now — about seven months before June’s Democratic mayoral primary — to make it the cornerstone of his campaign to unseat Adams.
“This is what New Yorkers want, and we are banking on having a mandate from New York City voters that they want us to do it quickly,” said Myrie, who represents a section of Brooklyn in the state Senate that includes Crown Heights. “We want to build a political mandate for the city to build housing and preserve housing, and this is going tor require us to marshal every resource at our disposal at City Hall, and that’s going to have to happen on day one, and that’s not what has happened under this administration.”
A spokesman for Adams’ reelection campaign didn’t return a request for comment.
Cea Weaver, the coalition director of the left-leaning Housing Justice for All organization, argued Myrie’s proposals are lacking when it comes to protecting tenants who are already struggling to pay rent.
“His proposal threatens to undermine New York’s stabilization system — giving the real estate industry new ways to jack up rents and force hardworking families out of our homes,” Weaver said, echoing criticism her group has lobbed against Adams’ housing agenda. “Seventy percent of New Yorkers rent, and our demand is clear: If you want our votes, freeze the rent. Sen. Myrie was once a champion for rent-stabilized tenants. We hope to see him return to his roots and commit to a rent freeze.”
Adams announced in 2022 his administration will work to create 500,000 new housing units by 2032. The City of Yes plan, which proposes overhauling various city zoning rules to boost housing production, has been a key component of that goal, and the Council is expected to pass it Thursday.
The focus on housing production comes as average rents in the city remain well above prepandemic levels. Experts say soaring rents are the result of a dearth of housing, with data showing the city’s vacancy rate — the number of apartments open for new tenants — is at just 1.4%, the lowest since the 1960s.
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