Zoning reform measures have divided tenant advocates in New York. Yet loosening the city’s anti-housing regime is essential if we ever want to build social housing at scale.

In this year’s election, New York City voters are being asked to weigh in on one of the hottest-button issues in municipal politics: land use. Ballot questions 2, 3 and 4, proposed by outgoing mayor Eric Adams’s Charter Revision Commission, would make it modestly easier for certain types of housing to get one-off exemptions from the city’s restrictive zoning rules. These proposals have generated heated debate – and strange bedfellows.

Opponents of the proposal include City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and the conservative wing of the city council, which includes many members from outer-borough homeowner neighborhoo

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