Voters blessed a building boom for affordable housing in New York. Is it a model for the country?

Balconies on a residential apartment building in the Long Island City neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York, in July. Michael Nagle/Bloomberg/Getty Images/File

The biggest message New York City voters sent on election night was not their choice of democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani , who got a little more than 50% of the vote.

City voters gave larger margins of approval to a trio of housing-related initiatives meant to set off a building boom to generate more affordable housing and leave a mark that should last much longer than Mamdani’s four-year term.

Taking cues from Austin, Texas, residents voted to sidestep their own city council and zoning boards to fast-track the construction of affordable housing, simplify zoning review and create an appeals board to give rejecte