2025 New York City Charter Revision Commission Releases Preliminary Staff Report

Report Lays Out Pathways for Reform to City Charter on Housing and Land Use, Elections, Nonprofit Payments and Procurement, Climate Resiliency, and the City Map 

Potential Reforms Build on Extensive Public Input, with Additional Citywide Public Hearings to Follow 

NEW YORK – The 2025 New York City Charter Revision Commission (CRC) today released its preliminary staff report, which lays out an ambitious set of policies for further exploration as the CRC considers how to build a fairer, more affordable city. Chaired by Richard Buery, Jr. and charged with reviewing the entire City Charter to consider ways to promote fair housing and make municipal government more transparent and responsive, the CRC has heard from over 400 New Yorkers during more than 16 hours of in-person and virtual testimony and received written comments from an additional 450 New Yorkers. Much of this testimony is reflected in the preliminary report, which sorts testimony and policy recommendations into five chapters: Housing, Elections, Procurement and Payments, Climate, and the City Map. 

“This preliminary staff report is an ambitious document that presents proposals to ensure that New York City remains an engine of opportunity, prioritizing inclusivity for all New Yorkers, especially as we seek to make housing more accessible and affordable across all five boroughs,” said Richard Buery, Jr., chair, 2025 Charter Revision Commission. “I am grateful to everyone who has offered input thus far and I hope New Yorkers across the five boroughs will continue to voice their opinions to help us develop proposals in the months ahead.” 

“At public forums across the city, New Yorkers have told us of a housing crisis that isn’t treated like one. Of a climate crisis that isn’t treated like one. Of a democratic crisis that has festered for decades. And of a crisis in government’s basic ability to get things done,” said Alec Schierenbeck, executive director, 2025 Charter Revision Commission. “New Yorkers want a government that can act with the urgency and scale that our challenges require, and I hope this report points the way to necessary reforms.” 

Housing 

The report identifies how the land use status quo has led to low housing production, high housing costs, and an uneven geographic distribution of what housing does get built. The present land use review process and the informal practice of “member deference” mean that some parts of the city are essentially off limits to new housing production, even as other parts of the city see transformative changes. The extensive length, cost, and uncertainty of the review process also means that only large projects are proposed. The existing process imposes especially lengthy and duplicative requirements on the City when it seeks to develop affordable housing. 

To address these challenges, the preliminary report recommends the CRC explore ways to reduce “process costs” and streamline certain types of development, including affordable housing or small apartment buildings. It also lays out ways to reform the land use system to give borough- or city-wide perspectives greater weight in the decision-making process and explores how the City can better leverage publicly-owned land. Each proposed reform emphasizes the need to protect opportunities for local input, promote transparency, and ensure democratic accountability.  

Elections

The report examines why — despite a vibrant civic life — New York City consistently has low turnout in municipal elections. It lays out proven reforms from other cities that could build on recent efforts in New York to improve voter participation, like the implementation of ranked-choice voting, and State-level reforms to voter registration, mail-in, and early voting access, and electoral education. Possible reforms include shifting city elections to even-numbered years when turnout is higher, and a move to open primaries, in which all candidates are on the ballot; voters of all parties, including independents, may vote; and the top two vote-getters, chosen by ranked choice, proceed to a general election. 

Procurement and Payments 

The CRC has heard extensive testimony about the need to speed up payments to nonprofits that provide vital services to New Yorkers. To address this long-standing challenge, the preliminary report recommends exploring reforms to empower the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services (MOCS) and enshrine it in the Charter. It also recommends exploring additional reforms to promote advance, partial, or interest payments to providers, reforms to approval or payment on discretionary contracts, and changes to the structure of the Procurement Policy Board. 

Climate, Resilience, and Infrastructure 

The preliminary report describes how vital, life-saving infrastructure improvements have frequently been slowed by the City’s own review processes, which are often duplicative with themselves or other paths for public input. In order to speed the delivery of critical infrastructure improvements and other measures to address the climate crisis, the report recommends that the CRC explore ways to reform the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) to promote resiliency through measures like raising street grades and allowing willing homeowners in areas vulnerable to flooding to accept buyouts. It also recommends exploring reforms that could promote electric vehicle charging infrastructure citywide. 

City Map 

The City Map plays a little-known but vital role in housing and infrastructure development, but its administration is decentralized and archaic, with more than 8,000 individual paper maps over five separate topographical offices. The preliminary report recommends the CRC explore ways that City Map-related functions can be centralized and modernized to make municipal government more responsive. 

Opportunities for Further Input 

The CRC will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, May 14 at 10am in the Landmarks Preservation Commission Public Hearing Room (253 Broadway, 2nd floor, New York, NY 10007) where they will discuss the preliminary report. This meeting will be open to the public and recorded, but not an opportunity for new testimony. The CRC has previously announced five more public hearings across the five boroughs in May, June, and July, where the public can weigh in on Charter reform proposals. All five hearings will also include virtual options for testimony. Additional details about the hearings — including Zoom registration links for virtual testimony, translation services, and accommodations, as well as full recordings after the completion of each hearing — are available on the CRC’s website. 

Brooklyn  

• Monday, May 19, 2025  
• 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM  
• Medgar Evers College, Founders Auditorium (enter via the Crown Street entrance), 1650 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11225  

Queens  

• Wednesday, May 28, 2025  
• 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM  
• Queens Borough Hall, Helen Marshall Cultural Center, 120-55 Queens Boulevard, Jamaica, NY 11415  

Bronx  

• Tuesday, June 10, 2025  
• 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM  
• Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College, Café C Building/East Academic Complex, 450 Grand Concourse, 3rd Floor, Bronx, NY 10451  

Staten Island  

• Monday, June 23, 2025  
• 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM  
• Snug Harbor Cultural Center, The Great Hall, 1000 Richmond Terrace, Building R, Staten Island, NY 10301  

Manhattan  

• Monday, July 7, 2025  
• 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM  
• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Langston Hughes Auditorium, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037 

The CRC will also continue to accept written testimony to CharterTestimony@citycharter.nyc.gov on these or other topics related to the City Charter. For more information about the preliminary report and upcoming hearings, follow the CRC on Instagram, Threads, and X at @2025nyc_crc.