Mayor Bill de Blasio is urging the state legislature to change the law to permit the city to promote larger residential buildings that would pave the way for more affordable housing in the city:

“The city is pushing for changes to a state law that would allow developers to nearly double the maximum square footage permitted in new residential developments.”

Two new bills propose to revise zoning rules that currently limit the size of the city’s residential buildings, Crain’s reported. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration hopes the law change will help encourage the creation of affordable housing in high-density commercial areas.
– The Read Deal June 9, 2016

This would be a great step forward towards achieving the mayor’s affordable housing goals and would at the same time promote economic development. As BNYC spokesperson Brad Gerstman points out:

“By allowing the city to permit more tall residential buildings, the state would be facilitating the mandatory inclusionary zoning that would create thousands of affordable units for New Yorkers in areas of the city where almost all of the building is luxury housing. This would be a win-win for the city’s residents and for the merit based contractors and their diverse workforce represented by BNYC who are doing the bulk of the new residential construction in New York.”