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TESTIMONY

Logan Phares, Political Director of Open New York, on City of Yes for Housing Opportunity zoning amendment

11:22:50

·

122 sec

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Logan Phares, representing Open New York, testifies in favor of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity zoning amendment. Phares argues that the proposed changes will help address the city's housing shortage and promote more equitable development across all neighborhoods.

  • Highlights the current inequitable distribution of affordable housing production across NYC council districts
  • Emphasizes that the zoning changes will allow for more diverse housing types without significantly altering neighborhood character
  • Suggests supplementing the zoning amendment with additional policies to protect tenants and support fair housing initiatives
  • Support for the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity zoning amendment
  • Current inequitable distribution of affordable housing across NYC council districts
  • The amendment will allow every neighborhood to participate in solving the housing shortage
  • The plan allows for more housing of every type in low, medium, and high-density communities
  • Zoning changes are critical but not sufficient to solve the housing crisis
  • Need for additional funding and policies to protect tenants and support fair housing
  • Acknowledgment of NYC's supply problem rooted in restrictive zoning
  • Urging the Commission to approve the proposal in full

[EXPERIMENTAL]

Which elements of City of Yes for Housing Opportunity were discussed in this testimony?

  • UAP
  • ADU
  • Small and Shared Housing

The following are AI-extracted quotes and reasoning about which elements of the proposal were discussed in this testimony.

This is a quick, close approximation. Occasionally, the connection between a testimony's transcript and specific elements of City Planning's proposal is tenuous.

Read about this AI-generated analysis here.

UAP

"If these proposed changes are implemented, every neighborhood in the city will finally take part in solving our housing shortage and we will see dramatic changes in the distribution of new income restricted housing across the Five boroughs."

This quote indirectly refers to the Universal Affordability Preference (UAP) by mentioning 'income restricted housing' and its distribution across the city, which aligns with the UAP's goal of creating affordable housing in high-cost neighborhoods.

ADU

"This means more income restricted workforce housing, more backyard cottages to support homeowners"

The mention of 'backyard cottages' directly refers to Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), which are a key element of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal.

Small and Shared Housing

"and more of the cheapest forms of housing to get New Yorkers out of our shelter system and onto their feet."

This quote indirectly refers to small and shared housing by mentioning 'the cheapest forms of housing', which aligns with the proposal's goal of re-legalizing shared housing and allowing more studio apartments to address homelessness and provide affordable options.


About this analysis:

This analysis is done by AI that reasons whether or not a quote from the testimony discusses a particular element of the proposal.

All the prompts and data are open and available on Github.

You can search for testimonies that mentioned a specific element in the table on the main meeting page.

When an element is explicitly stated in the testimony (e.g. "Universal Affordability Preference" or "UAP"), the analysis is accurate.

But the connection between a quote from the testimony and an element of the proposal is sometimes implicit.

In these cases, the AI might eagerly label a testimony as discussing a proposal when the connection is tenuous, or it might omit it entirely.

↗ Why are there transcription and diarization errors?
Logan Phares
11:22:50
to testify in favor of the proposed city of yes for housing opportunity tax amendment.
11:22:53
My name is Logan Farris, and I serve as the political director of Open New York.
11:22:57
Open New York is an independent grassroots pro housing nonprofit.
11:23:00
We have 12 chapters across the state with more than 600 volunteer members.
11:23:06
For too long, many of
11:23:07
the most well resourced parts of the state have been
11:23:09
de facto off limits to new residents, especially New Yorkers who need affordable housing.
11:23:13
As many of you know, this year's housing tracker report from New York Housing Conference showed that over the last 10 years, just one council district, district 17 in the Bronx, produce more new affordable housing units than the bottom 21 districts.
11:23:27
This form of an equitable development simply cannot continue if we want the city to work for everyone who lives here.
11:23:32
If these proposed changes are implemented, every neighborhood in the city will finally take part in solving our housing shortage and we will see dramatic changes in the distribution of new income restricted housing across the Five boroughs.
11:23:43
The city, yes, for housing opportunity, updates our zoning rules to meet the needs of New Yorkers in
11:23:47
an equitable way allowing for
11:23:48
more housing of every type.
11:23:49
This means more income restricted workforce housing, more backyard cottages to support homeowners, and more of the cheapest forms of housing to get New Yorkers out of our shelter system and onto their feet.
11:24:00
The plan will allow for more housing and low density, medium density and high density communities without definitely changing the character of any of these neighborhoods.
11:24:08
Of course, zoning changes are critical, but not sufficient to solving the housing crisis.
11:24:12
To ensure that we are protecting tenants and anyone struggling with housing and security, we must supplement the city just for housing opportunity tax amendment with additional funding and policies that will bolster fair housing, support the neighborhood most likely to be support neighborhoods most likely to be impacted with government resources and investments.
11:24:28
And prepared city agencies to support low income homeowners.
11:24:31
But everyone who wants to solve our housing crisis must acknowledge our supply problem, which is rooted in New York City's overly restrictive earnings.
11:24:40
Every New Yorkers deserve the opportunity
11:24:42
to stay in their community or find a home in
11:24:43
the city where they cannot just survive but thrive for years to come.
11:24:47
Accordingly, I urge the Commission to approve this to you guys for having an opportunity proposal in full.
11:24:51
Thank you for the opportunity today.

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