Mayor Bill de Blasio’s new affordable housing plan takes a page out of the millennial-living handbook by updating zoning laws to allow so-called “tiny houses” to be built in city backyards.
“By creatively unlocking what’s already in our backyards, we can make more affordable homes available for renters and give new lifelines to struggling homeowners,” said Matthew Creegan, a spokesman for the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
Tiny homes are micro units under 350 square feet.
As part of his “Save Our City” plan, de Blasio said at his annual State of the City address Thursday that he’s adding new elements to his affordable-housing plan to help low-income New Yorkers.
They include changing the zoning rules to allow homeowners to add basement apartments units over a garage or accessory dwelling units, also known as tiny houses.
The changes are expected to create 10,000 new housing units over the next decade.
The tiny-house movement has exploded with the advent of Instagram, the desire for simpler lifestyles, and the inability of millennials to afford mortgages for larger properties.
City Comptroller Scott Stringer, who’s running to replace de Blasio in 2021, pooh-poohed the plan as too small to make a big difference.
“To save our city, we need full-time focus on tackling our affordability crisis with bold solutions, not more half-measures that leave New Yorkers struggling with higher bills,” Stringer told The Post after the mayor’s speech.