City of Maybe? Mayor Adams will need his political rivals to save his housing plan.

Opponents of a sweeping blueprint to fuel housing development across New York City are seizing on the political turmoil surrounding Mayor Eric Adams in hopes of tanking the policy proposal as it approaches a full City Council vote later this year. But the mayor and top City Hall officials say they’re not backing off the plan to overhaul land-use rules across the five boroughs for the first time in six decades.

It's the foundational piece of Adams’ efforts to make way for new construction to address the city’s severe housing shortage. He's framing the policy push in social justice terms and explicitly condemning the segregationist legacy of rules prohibiting new housing in many neighborhoods.

While other supporters of Adams’ "City of Yes" plan, including members of the Council, say they expect the measures to pass, the route to a majority vote is getting more complicated. Many councilmembers will likely seek changes to unpopular parts of the plan or demand deeper funding commitments for their districts in exchange for their votes — at a time when multiple investigations are engulfing the Adams administration.

The situation is making for odd political bedfellows. Adams' sharpest critics on the Council — including members of the Progressive Caucus — are among the rezoning plan's strongest supporters. Meanwhile, more moderate elected officials, who represent areas that helped deliver the mayor’s 2021 Democratic primary victory, say they hate the plan.

The political battle lines are hardening as Adams’ proposal heads to a Council vote this fall and as the mayor faces serious questions about his political future.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who is backing the City of Yes proposal, said Adams' vulnerabilities don’t detract from the proposal's merits.

“The bottom line is we are in a housing state of emergency and even with the distractions, the Council will take a vote on this plan,” Richards said. “This is a necessary proposal.”

New York is mired in a severe housing shortage after years of population growth far outpacing new development. Between 2010 and 2018, the number of new jobs in New York City rose by 22%, while the number of housing units increased by 4%, according to a 2020 analysis by the nonprofit Citizens Budget Commission.

The shortage is especially hard on low- and middle-income New Yorkers. Less than 1% of apartments priced below $2,400 were vacant and available to rent last year, and about a third of tenants pay half their income on rent, according to city data.

“Since the first day of our administration, Mayor Adams has been clear that we must build more housing to address this crisis,” City Hall spokesperson William Fowler said.

City of Yes isn’t a specific housing plan that spells out what will get built where. Instead, the proposal would change how land can be used to pave the way for more development, such as by permitting slightly larger apartment buildings on commercial strips, making it easier to convert office buildings into apartments and greenlighting three-to-five story buildings on corner lots near public transit.

Under Adams’ proposal, developers could get permission to build bigger buildings if they reserve additional space for affordable housing. As a whole, the various changes could lead to the creation of 58,000 to 109,000 new homes over the next 15 years, the Department of City Planning estimates.

But the nearly 1,400-page City of Yes plan's most vocal opponents live in low-density areas that have produced very little new housing in recent years. They especially criticize proposed rule changes that would allow for an extra unit to be built on single- and two-family lots, the elimination of mandatory off-street parking requirements for new apartment buildings, and a perceived threat of large buildings and more people moving into their areas. In many cases, these are the same neighborhoods that voted for Adams in the 2021 mayoral election.

Moderate Democrats in those areas are urging councilmembers to say “no” to the City of Yes.

“I think this proposal makes it clear: Either the mayor doesn't understand us or he understands us, but just doesn't care,” Assemblymember Ed Braunstein, a Democrat, told a crowd of several hundred City of Yes opponents in Bayside, Queens, on Monday night. “If he doesn't pull back on this plan and he goes forward with it, we're going to remember in June" — the month of the 2025 mayoral primary.

Braunstein’s remarks were met with jeers of "vote him out" from rallygoers in the planned community of Bellcourt. Some attendees held signs that read “save one-family zoning.”

Other attendees warned that the rule changes could incentivize owners to sell their properties to developers who would then tear down the homes to build apartment buildings.

Assemblymember Alicia Hyndman, a Democrat who represents the predominantly Black Queens neighborhoods of Laurelton, Rosedale and St. Albans, told the crowd Adams needs to cater to his base during a period where he's politically vulnerable.

“The mayor of the City of New York, with everything else that's going on, don't turn your back on us now,” said Hyndman. “You need us.”

Federal prosecutors are conducting at least four separate investigations into Adams’ inner circle, top police officials and his 2021 mayoral campaign. And at least four Democrats are challenging him in next year’s primary, with his poll numbers stuck in the mire.

Hyndman said in an interview that she thinks Adams is turning off many voters he will need in a competitive 2025 primary.

“We understand that you need to have development, but to have this blanket approach, I just think he really alienated a lot of us,” she said. “As much as we agree with him on a lot of issues, this one was a really big sore spot.”

Councilmember Vickie Paladino, a Republican, also slammed the plan during the Bayside rally. Paladino, who owns a two-family residence on a block zoned for single-family homes, panned the proposal to allow homeowners to add an extra unit to their properties through inside garages, backyard cottages or basements.

“We don't end up with a lovely little couple in there,” she said of the additional units. “We end up with like 10 or 15 people.”

Supporters of the plan counter that such opposition is steeped in fearmongering about the scope of changes. They also say single-family zoning rules lock out new residents, especially people of color, from many neighborhoods.

The City of Yes proposal coincides with a push from the Biden administration and Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign to change restrictive land-use rules preventing people from moving into communities with high-quality schools and services.

“It’s smart to lean into housing, especially affordable housing,” said Democratic strategist Trip Yang. “It’s what the voters want.”

Richards, the Queens borough president, said many opponents are exaggerating how much people care about the City of Yes plan. He cited a recent slate of events he participated in during his “Borough Hall on Your Block” series in Rockaway.

“I’ve done 30 events in the Rockaways this week," said Richards. "The subject of City of Yes has come up twice."

The backlash isn’t a complete surprise. Community boards, civic groups and homeowners in suburban parts of the city made their feelings known about any sweeping changes amid a doomed state-level push to spur housing development last year. Most community boards in low-density districts have rejected the plan in their advisory role, according to a review of board votes by the publication City Limits.

But Adams' current political vulnerability adds another wrinkle to negotiations with lawmakers over City of Yes, said Councilmember Linda Lee, who spoke out against the plan at the Bayside rally.

“We’ve just seen a lot of the top officials, a lot of the top aides getting investigated, having their homes raided,” Lee said. “We're concerned because we don't know what's going to happen.”

City Hall officials say the turmoil facing the mayor isn’t a deterrent to pushing the proposal forward. Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer told Gothamist zoning reforms are always complicated, and even more so when it comes to rare citywide policies.

“The city needs a real set of solutions for the crisis, so it hasn't changed our game plan at all,” she said. “We're going to continue to do the work with members of City Council, get the voices out and we're going to continue to answer the questions that councilmembers have.”

In order for the plan to pass, a simple majority — or 26 — of the Council's 51 members will have to vote in favor of it. Councilmember Lincoln Restler, a Brooklyn Democrat who supports City of Yes and is one of Adams’ main antagonists, said he thinks lawmakers will get there.

“We face a real affordability crisis in New York City and many of my colleagues recognize that generating more housing supply is a part of the solution,” said Restler, a member of the Progressive Caucus.

The final plan will likely undergo significant changes before a Council vote because councilmembers will seek concessions. Those could include restoring minimum parking requirements to appease constituents who say they’re concerned about more drivers circling their blocks and taking their spots.

It could be up to Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, a Queens Democrat, to whip votes needed to secure the plan's passage. A former community board chair, the speaker has made housing a priority during her tenure and introduced legislation last year to set housing targets for every community district in the city.

City of Yes supporters say they’re hopeful about the plan advancing.

“The speaker has been very vocal through her Fair Housing Framework [legislation] that whatever solutions we find to our housing crisis, everyone has to play a role one way or another,” said Citizens Housing and Planning Council Executive Director Howard Slatkin, a former city planning administrator. “Her role only becomes more important in this environment.”

Speaker Adams’ office declined an interview request. In a statement, a spokesperson for her said residents are demanding “comprehensive housing solutions.”

“There will be meaningful opportunities for input from all stakeholders," spokesperson Benjamin Fang said, "and the Council will receive New Yorkers' specific feedback on the proposal."