Adams’ Charter Revision Commission has proposed measures to accelerate affordable housing production in the parts of the city that have produced the least, a move that has drawn criticism from councilmembers and community boards.

Annemarie Gray, the executive director of Open New York, a nonprofit group that supports development, called the proposals “thoughtful and impactful.” She said her group will mobilize voters to help pass the measures in November.

Annemarie Gray, the executive director of Open New York, a nonprofit group that supports development, called the proposals “thoughtful and impactful.” She said her group will mobilize voters to help pass the measures in November.

Mayor Eric Adams and other city leaders painted the move as a win-win: the 123 affordable apartments will be shuffled to a nearby block and the garden will not be disturbed. (The senior housing development plan, dubbed Haven Green, also included plans for green space.)

Amid a housing crisis, Mayor Eric Adams made a signature push for more apartments, spearheading zoning changes as part of a goal to build half a million new homes, even over the objections of some local community leaders.

But the Adams administration on Monday nixed the long-planned development of 123 affordable apartments for seniors on city-owned land in Lower Manhattan, known as Haven Green, at the Elizabeth Street Garden in NoHo.

“Sometimes the YIMBY or abundance movements can feel abstract, especially in national races,” said Annemarie Gray, executive director of Open New York. “Local races — especially City Council races — is really where the rubber meets the road.”

The organization’s advocacy  arm is among the funders of the Abundant New York committee, which has spent more than $200,000 so far to influence five Council races in Manhattan, Brooklyn and The Bronx. 

“For the first time, we’re seeing every mayoral candidate recognize our housing shortage and include building more homes as part of their housing plan,” says Annemarie Gray, executive director of Open New York, a pro-housing advocacy group. “Four years ago it would have been inconceivable to see every mayoral platform across the spectrum feature strategies to build more homes, and faster.”

In a competitive City Council primary already loaded with outside spending, incumbent Council Member Shahana Hanif will get a six-figure boost from a couple of pro-housing and pro-public space PACs, the groups exclusively told City & State.

The nonprofit housing advocacy group Open New York announced its first round of endorsements on April 7 and said it will spend $500,000 on this year’s key races — more than twice the spending of last election cycle. 

Forty-nine candidates applied for the organization’s endorsement, which said in a statement that it is “only endorsing candidates who are both strongly aligned with pro-housing values, and are in races where an endorsement, resources and member mobilization could meaningfully influence the outcome.”

Open New York, a housing-focused nonprofit that advocates for more development, launched a political arm last year with a super PAC called Abundant New York. After spending roughly $250,000 in state legislative races, the PAC is doubling down with a plan to spend at least $500,000 in this year’s City Council races. The PAC will wade into some of the most competitive races this year, backing incumbent Council Member Shahana Hanif, who is facing a tough primary challenge in Brooklyn, and Open New York member Ben Wetzler in the crowded primary race to replace Council Member Keith Powers in Manhattan, among others.

The so-called Arrow Linen proposal had all the makings of the sort of fight that has become familiar in middle-class parts of the city with enough political influence to alter or defeat unpopular projects. It was subject to more than a year of contentious debate.

Yet the conclusion demonstrates just how much the politics around development have started to morph as the housing crunch has become one of the city’s most pressing crises.

“City of Yes highlighted what municipal-led initiatives can achieve,” said Annemarie Gray, who used to work in planning and housing policy for the city under the de Blasio and Adams administrations and now serves as the executive director of Open New York, a nonprofit that supports housing expansion. But what is necessary going forward, in her view, are aggressive measures taken at the level of the governor’s office and the State Legislature.

Open New York’s Annemarie Gray told The Real Deal Friday that the commitment to building more housing shows an “undeniable consensus that the root of our housing crisis is a housing shortage.” 

Open New York, a group that advocates for more housing in New York State, declared, "the housing debate in the Democratic Party is over."

Samir Lavingia, campaign coordinator of Open New York, a pro-housing nonprofit, believes the rezoning policy is the answer to the city’s housing shortage crisis. “Evictions have increased, asking rents have skyrocketed and newly issued building permits have plummeted. The City of Yes for Housing Opportunity offers a once-in-a-generation chance to reverse these trends,” Lavingia said. 

“Nothing on the table was tackling the status quo of allowing local governments absolute power to ban new homes,” said Annemarie Gray, executive director of the pro-development group Open New York

“The proposed redevelopment of the Arrow Linen site on Prospect Avenue presents a valuable opportunity to start to address this crisis. The project would transform a sorely underused industrial space and parking lots into hundreds of homes for families near good schools and transit. Many of these homes will be subsidized, allowing low- and middle-income New Yorkers to experience the incredible quality of life Windsor Terrace provides. All of them will be served by elevators and wheelchair accessible, a rarity in our neighborhood with its old housing stock.”

“For the first time in a long time, we saw a majority of speakers speak in favor of more housing in every neighborhood, especially their own,” said Annemarie Gray, executive director at Open New York, a nonprofit advocacy group pressing for more housing.

The pro-development group Open New York recently launched Abundant New York – a separate effort – as an independent expenditure committee for pro-housing and pro-tenant candidates in state and city elections, including 2025.

“If we can do that just 277 more times we can fill the $15b hole in the capital budget,” Open New York, a pro-congestion pricing group, posted to X.