Housing League, Silent Since Founding, Active Behind Scenes

8 October 2025

Do you remember this New York Times headline from February 2024?

They’re Starting a New York ‘Housing League.’ NIMBYs Not Allowed.

Virtually nothing has been heard from the housing league since. But that’s by design, a co-founder told me.

I took the opportunity to ask Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso about the group when I was interviewing him about his seemingly rogue Planning Commission appointee.

I assumed nothing had come of the housing league, because I had seen no mention of it in the media, press releases or anywhere else since it first convened at Brooklyn Borough Hall.

But that is not the case, Reynoso told me. He said the group tries to meet every month. More than 10 elected officials regularly attend, and others come occasionally.

“You must be serving good food,” I said.

“There’s no food,” Reynoso replied.

The purpose of the gatherings is to talk about how to support a pro-housing agenda. However, elected officials are welcome to attend even if they are not in the YIMBY camp. “We want to have a big tent,” Reynoso said.

He and Manhattan City Council member Erik Bottcher invited 160 elected officials to the first get-together. One reason the league has not been heard from since is that it takes no official positions. It’s not even a formal organization. But it does do things, according to Reynoso.

For example, the housing league pushed for elected officials to sign on to an amicus brief supporting the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity against a legal challenge. At least 29 elected officials, including Assembly member Zohran Mamdani, have done so.

The league also encouraged its members (although technically, there is no formal membership) to support Council member Shahana Hanif’s negotiated rezoning for the Arrow Linen project in Windsor Terrace.

A vocal NIMBY group had formed to demand the project’s height be reduced by half, and vowed to unelect Hanif if she refused. The opposition group failed miserably. Hanif only trimmed the height of the project. She kept its unit count intact and instead insisted on deeper affordability. Then she won re-election handily against a well-funded opponent.

It was also a win for progressives and supporters of the abundance strategy to alleviate the housing shortage.

(Disclaimer: It remains to be seen if the Arrow Linen project will pencil out under the state’s 485x tax abatement. A project is not truly a project until it gets a construction loan. If developer Andrew Esposito doesn’t get financing, it would likely be because Hanif demanded too many low-rent units.)

Reynoso said the housing league would also back elected officials who support future housing development at the Pacific Park (formerly Atlantic Yards) site, as well as other projects “that might on occasion face local backlash or political backlash.”