{"id":19654,"date":"2025-10-28T10:38:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T10:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/19654\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T10:38:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T10:38:10","slug":"new-york-and-california-are-taking-on-the-nimbys-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/19654\/","title":{"rendered":"New York and California are taking on the NIMBYs"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City voters are currently deciding on one of the most polarizing issues in decades. But it has nothing to do with 34-year-old democratic socialist mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani.<\/a><\/p>\n

Instead, it will determine who has the power to greenlight \u2014 or block\u2014 affordable housing development in the city.<\/p>\n

Several proposals<\/a> on the ballot could speed up affordable housing development and land use approvals in the city. The proposals have pitted the City Council against the mayor, and developers against unions. The fight is symbolic of a larger power struggle playing out in liberal cities and states like New York and California. Despite championing inclusion, these places are some of the most unaffordable in America and have policies that empower local voices to block affordable housing, often called NIMBYism \u201cNot In My Backyard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone wants new housing, but no one wants it on their block,\u201d said David Schleicher, a Yale University professor of property and urban law.<\/p>\n

Power to block housing<\/p>\n

One ballot proposal in New York City would speed up review for affordable housing developments in the neighborhoods that have built the fewest. Another would remove a local city council member\u2019s ability to kill a housing project.<\/p>\n

Supporters of these reforms say zoning laws have been hijacked by NIMBYs, and control should be shifted away from local leaders to cities and states. Local government is typically most responsive to vocal, well-funded homeowners who oppose affordable buildings on their blocks over fears their property values will decline or strain school systems.<\/p>\n

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and affordable housing advocates back the ballot measures. The proposals build on recent city zoning code changes<\/a> to add more housing, such as making it easier to build accessory dwelling units (ADUs) like garages and basement apartments or converting office buildings into apartments.<\/p>\n

But City Council members say the proposals silence neighborhood voices, and labor unions say they weaken important checks on real estate developers.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has been unable to pass statewide housing reform. – Andrew Lichtenstein\/Corbis News\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The ballot measures come as New York City faces one of the worst housing affordability crises in its history. Median rents have hit nearly $5,000 a month<\/a> in Manhattan, and vacancy rates have fallen to a record low of 1.4%.<\/p>\n

A similar reckoning is playing out in California over policies that made it difficult to build housing, contributing to sky-high rents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

California rolled back its landmark environmental law<\/a> earlier this year, which had given neighborhoods and groups a powerful tool to sue to stop housing development.<\/p>\n

California also passed legislation this month permitting apartment buildings near major rail and bus stations around the state. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law over fierce pushback from some local governments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have multi-story apartment towers in residential neighborhoods,\u201d said<\/a> Los Angeles City Councilwoman Traci Park. \u201cThis is an effort to Manhattan-ize Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sea change on zoning<\/p>\n

California and New York City\u2019s recent reforms would have once been unthinkable.<\/p>\n

During the 1960s and 1970s, those states helped galvanize a movement to establish local control over development. It grew as a response to unchecked urban renewal programs that demolished historic neighborhoods, such as Robert Moses\u2019 highway projects<\/a> in New York City.<\/p>\n

But local rules designed to preserve neighborhoods now stifle housing development, reformers say.<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/p>\n

Los Angeles leaders opposed a state law to build housing around mass transit. – Juliana Yamada\/Los Angeles Times\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco build housing at some of the slowest rates of major cities in the country. Over the past decade, New York City added just 30.6 housing units per 1,000 residents \u2014 far fewer than Atlanta or Miami\u2019s roughly 140 housing units \u2014 according to NYU\u2019s Furman Center data.<\/p>\n

Recent reforms have been propelled by activists who believe it\u2019s hypocritical for liberal bastions to call for equality while blocking affordable housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn jurisdictions that are going to block new housing, the whole game is to use the power of the state to take away their ability to say no,\u201d said Matthew Lewis, the communications director for California YIMBY, a housing reform group. \u201cYou\u2019ve got a new cohort of activists and generations who can\u2019t own a home because cities have put up these barriers.\u201d<\/p>\n

No silver bullet<\/p>\n

New York City and California are joining a wave of cities and states<\/a> that are changing zoning laws to speed up development amid the nationwide housing shortage.<\/p>\n

States governed by both Democrats and Republicans \u2014 including Florida, Montana and Washington \u2014 have enacted reforms like eliminating minimum lot sizes, permitting accessory dwelling units and limiting on-site parking spaces.<\/p>\n

\u201cHousing has turned out to be one of the least partisan issues state to state,\u201d said Charles Gardner, a research fellow at George Mason University\u2019s Mercatus Center who studies planning law and housing affordability.<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco and other California cities are in the grips of a housing affordability crisis. – David Paul Morris\/Bloomberg\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

But these changes are not an immediate solution. Rewriting zoning regulations likely won\u2019t help low-and moderate-income residents afford housing for years. A 2023 Urban Institute study<\/a> found that loosening zoning restrictions did not add lower-cost housing units for at least nine years.<\/p>\n

Surging building costs also make it harder to offer affordable apartments. The cost of labor and materials in New York, which make up more than 60% of constructing a building, is among the highest<\/a> in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cAwareness has come around on local regulation, but right now that\u2019s not the biggest problem we\u2019re facing,\u201d said Lydia Lo, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute\u2019s housing and communities division. \u201cIt can only do so much in an environment where costs are rising so quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zoning reforms must be coupled with major subsidies to help people afford new housing, many researchers<\/a> say. This would require huge investments that cities and states on tight budgets are likely unable to make.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not all ponies and rainbows because we did zoning reform,\u201d said Lewis from California YIMBY. \u201cBut the ponies and rainbows are within sight.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City voters are currently deciding on one of the most polarizing issues in decades. But it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[13427,433,2136,301,8013,4211,13426,426,9,24,55,54,56],"class_list":["post-19654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-accessory-dwelling-units","tag-affordable-housing","tag-california","tag-city-council","tag-housing-affordability","tag-housing-development","tag-housing-units","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}