My testimony to the NYC Planning Commission on the City of Yes

Today our city has a clear housing crisis. Manhattan has the highest rents in the country. The city has a vacancy rate approaching one percent. We see homelessness rising. It’s clear that the current approach to urban planning is not working to meet the needs of the public.

This is why I am in support of the City of Yes. The core tenants of this legislative reform provide a variety of affordable housing options, all of which are desperately needed to accommodate everyday people like you and me.

A lack of housing is a key factor for many renters burdened by rents. It has been shown many times, in many places, that the supply of housing affects the price we all pay. One paper, Do new housing units in your backyard raise your rents? by Xiaodi Li, found that even market-rate housing in New York City push down rents for those living nearby.

ADUs, SROs, UAP, and Transit-Oriented Development are all great policies that will help our many neighborhoods do their part in the shared goal of more affordable housing.

We can look at examples from Austin to Auckland. When cities encourage housing, rents fall. When cities use restrictive and onerous zoning to block housing, rents rise. This may be great for a landlord, or someone who benefits from their property values rising, but it directly hurts us: the millions of city residents who rent.

Jane Jacobs said a shelter “is a useful good in itself, as shelter”. Our city does not have enough shelters for everyone who is here today, and it is not ready to shelter everyone who will be here tomorrow. I encourage the Planning Commission to be bold and I encourage you to pass the City of Yes.

Thank you.