Opinion | Andrew Yang’s N.Y.C. Mayor Endorsement Interview – The New York Times

But I will say that, you know, your first move starting out when you assume leadership and command is not to come in and say, “Hey, like, this organization or union that has been heading a particular direction. Like, I’m going to approach it, frankly, as like, as far as, like, an adversary, an enemy of progress from Day 1.” You know, I just don’t think that’s what you want to lead with.

Mara Gay: Eleanor, do you want to talk about the land use process here?

Eleanor Randolph: I do. You know, we watched your video on housing and saw the proposals that you had for housing — I mean — and it’s taking away the deference to City Council members for development. It’s changing the ULURP [Uniform Land Use Review Procedure], removing a lot of the environmental sections of the process, sort of cutting back on some of the NIMBY meetings. So then at the end of that, you said that this would be the will of the people. So the real question I have there is, if you’re going to change all the processes for housing and development, how are you going to get the will of the people?

So, Eleanor, I think we all know what’s been holding back the development of affordable housing in New York City, which is that everyone’s for it in the abstract. And then when you say, “Hey, it’s coming to your district or community,” then all of a sudden their enthusiasm heads the other direction. So when you talk about the will of the people, if you go to folks citywide and say, “Hey, you know, it’s clear that we’re short tens, hundreds of thousands of affordable housing units, like, do we want them built?” The vast majority of New Yorkers will say, “Heck, yes.” And so that to me is where we should be leading. And if you look at the process right now, unfortunately, it just emphasizes the negative incentives, where if you are an individual City Council member — and there are going to be people that are very animated against a particular project — then your easiest path is to be against the project. But if you extrapolate that citywide, then a lot of very worthy projects get stalled or worse. And so when you say “the will of the people,” I guess that’s what I’m describing — that, you know, we need to be operating in a larger context than on a particular block or district.

Eleanor Randolph: So you’re saying that the local community won’t have as much voice under your administration?

I’m saying that we need to be in position to build and address our city’s needs in various ways. And if you look at a process that is leading you not to actually be able to address these needs, then it’s something that we should be re-examining.

Mara Gay: Thank you. And what’s the right number of units every year to build, in your estimation?

So we’ve committed to 30,000 units a year of new affordable housing. That, of course, includes preservation of units, too. So that’s not all new ground construction when you look at the big opportunities right now.

[New York City announced a plan in 2015 to build 15,000 units of supportive housing by 2030, which would increase the total supply by roughly 50 percent. As homelessness continues to increase, the Coalition for the Homeless has urged the city to accelerate and hit that target by 2025.]