Programs & Events Land Use and Housing Policy Breakfast Series
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Monday, March 5th 2012
Improving Housing Choice Voucher Holders’ Access to High Opportunity Neighborhoods
On Monday, the Furman Center’s Institute for Affordable Housing Policy convened experts from government, academia, community-based organizations, and the private sector to address difficult questions: What kind of neighborhood choices are voucher holders making in New York and around the country? To what extent do the scarcity of affordable housing, discrimination, and a lack of information shape those neighborhood choices? What strategies should federal, state or local agencies adopt to help voucher households reach better neighborhoods, and how feasible are those strategies?
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Thursday, January 19th 2012
Passport to Opportunity: Innovative Strategies to Increase the Cost Effectiveness of Housing Choice
On Thursday, January 19th, the Furman Center’s Institute for Affordable Housing Policy convened over a hundred leaders from government, academia, community-based groups, and the private sector to discuss the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program in New York City and nationally.
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Wednesday, April 27th 2011
Driving a Hard Bargain: Parking Requirements for Residential Development
On Wednesday April 27, The Institute for Affordable Housing Policy convened over eighty leaders from government, academia, community-based groups, and the private sector to debate the importance of private off-street parking for new residential housing developments. Our panelists discussed the benefits and drawbacks of New York City’s minimum parking requirement for residential development, and how the requirements interact with the city’s sustainability and affordability goals.
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Friday, April 8th 2011
Free Parking? Managing the Public Parking Supply
Owned and managed by the city, on-street parking is the single largest source of parking in the city. On Friday April 8, the Institute for Affordable Housing Policy convened leaders from government, academia, community-based groups, and the private sector to debate the importance of on-street parking for residents and businesses in New York City.
Panelists discussed the challenges of optimizing curb use in New York City’s diverse neighborhoods, the correlation between available on-street parking and car ownership rates, and potential conflicts between parking policy and the city’s sustainability and affordability goals. The panelists also debated the viability and desirability of potential reforms to the city’s existing on-street parking policies, including residential parking permits, car-sharing programs, and demand-based pricing.
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Tuesday, November 16th 2010
New Solutions for Housing Extremely Low Income Households
On November 16, the Furman Center’s Institute for Affordable Housing Policy hosted its second policy breakfast in a two-part series, The Challenge of Housing Extremely Low Income Households in High-Cost Cities. Over 120 leaders from across New York City came together to explore innovative approaches to meeting the housing needs of the very poor.
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Friday, October 15th 2010
Housing Extremely Low Income Households: How Can Current Programs and Resources Better Meet Needs?
On October 15, the Furman Center’s Institute for Affordable Housing Policy hosted a policy breakfast that brought together practitioners, developers, researchers and government officials to examine how existing programs and resources can best meet the housing needs of extremely low income households. As the recession persists, many families in New York City have seen dramatic reductions in their incomes. Meanwhile, evidence suggests that rents for the most affordable apartments have fallen only minimally, leaving a growing number of families facing extremely high rent burdens and even homelessness.
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Tuesday, May 5th 2009
Foreclosures and Neighborhood Stabilization in NYC
Last May, the Furman Center convened leading housing researchers, policymakers, lenders, and nonprofit housing organizations to discuss how to best leverage public and private resources to reuse foreclosed properties in a manner that helps stabilize neighborhoods. A year later, in response to the worsening foreclosure crisis, the federal government has put in place new neighborhood stabilization programs that “provide emergency assistance to state and local governments to acquire and redevelop foreclosed properties that might otherwise become sources of abandonment and blight within their communities.” At the May 5th breakfast, we continued the conversation we began last May with a particular focus on how the Neighborhood Stabilization Programs can work best in New York City. View the Program.
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Wednesday, December 10th 2008
The Future of NYCHA
At the second breakfast our panel examined the pressing issues that will determine the future of NYCHA. The panel discussed both the challenges that threaten the city’s stock of public housing and the opportunities for creative solutions to help NYCHA preserve its developments, including the current economic downturn and the new Obama Administration.
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Wednesday, November 12th 2008
The Educational Outcomes of Children Living in NYCHA
The first breakfast in this series focused on the experiences of students living in NYCHA. A recent Furman Center-Institute for Education and Social Policy report found that children living in public housing perform worse in school than other poor children. The panel will review these findings and explore what can be done to improve the life chances of children living in public housing.
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Wednesday, April 9th 2008
The Future of Middle Class Housing
At the April 9th breakfast, we focused on the importance of middle-income households to the City’s economy, and the challenges the City faces in retaining them. We evaluated the successes and failures of previous City and State middle-income housing programs, and asked: what can be done by the public and private sectors to preserve and create housing for New York’s middle class?
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Thursday, December 6th 2007
Open Space Land Use and Development Issues
At the second breakfast in our Fall 2007 series, we assembled a panel to delve into the land use and development controversies that surround open space in New York. Panelists discussed policies to protect gardens, parks and other green spaces that the City might consider as it embarks on its ambitious PlaNYC 2030 green agenda, as well as strategies for funding the construction and maintenance of green space.
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Wednesday, November 7th 2007
The Costs and Benefits of Community Gardens and Open Space
Our first breakfast in the Fall 2007 series explored research and thinking on the costs and benefits of community gardens and open space more generally, including recent Furman Center research on the impact that gardens have on residential property values.
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Wednesday, May 2nd 2007
Thinking Outside the Block and Lot, Part 2
Our Spring 2007 Breakfast Series explored strategies for creating affordable housing on underutilized land. In May, we examined how non-profits are partnering with affordable housing providers to develop un-used FAR on property they own.
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Wednesday, April 4th 2007
Thinking Outside the Block and Lot, Part 1
Our Spring 2007 Breakfast Series explored strategies for creating affordable housing on underutilized land. Our April breakfast explored creative strategies for building affordable housing on publicly-owned, underutilized FAR.
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Thursday, May 4th 2006
Alternative Strategies to Preserve the Affordability of Low Income Housing Tax Credit Developments
Our third breakfast of the Spring 2006 series featured Naomi Bayer (Director, New York Partnership Office, Fannie Mae), Bill Frey (Executive Vice President and Eastern Regional Director, Enterprise Foundation [invited]), Bill Traylor (President, Richman Housing Resources), and Adam Weinstein (President and CEO, Phipps Houses Group).
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Thursday, April 6th 2006
Strategies to Preserve the Affordability of Expiring HUD-Assisted and Mitchell Lama Housing
Our second breakfast in the Spring 2006 series featured Marc Jahr (Vice President, Citibank Community Development Bank), John Kelly (Partner, Nixon Peabody LLP), Deborah VanAmerongen (Director, Multifamily Housing Division, United States Department of Housing and Urban Development), and Emily Youssouf (President, New York City Housing Development Corporation.)
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Thursday, March 9th 2006
Department of Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Shaun Donovan
Our Spring 2006 breakfast series began with New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Shaun Donovan. Commissioner Donovan spoke about his agency’s efforts to deal with the “expiring use” problem. Numerous federally- and state-subsidized housing developments in New York City and around the country are now at risk of converting to market rate housing as the long-term subsidies and agreements that have guaranteed affordability expire.
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Thursday, January 19th 2006
Competing Approaches to Inclusionary Zoning
Our third breakfast in the Fall 2004 series featured Ronald Moelis, a principal of L & M Equity Participants, who spoke about the competing approaches to inclusionary zoning proposed by Councilmember Yassky and the City Planning Commission from the perspective of a financer and developer of both market rate and affordable housing.
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Friday, December 9th 2005
Opposition to Urban Density vs Affordable Housing
Our Fall 2005 series continued with three panelists discussing the major proposals for resolving the tension between opposition to density on the one hand and affordable housing on the other. These proposals include rezoning of non-residential land such as manufacturing zones; upzoning of underused residential land; and reuse of obsolete facilities.
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Friday, November 18th 2005
Preserving Neighboorhood Character vs. Affordable Housing
In our first breakfast of the Fall 2005 series, our panelists considered the extent and nature of the tension between the goal of preserving neighborhood character and the need to make housing affordable. Three speakers discussed their particular experiences with this tension.
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Tuesday, April 12th 2005
Possible Solutions to Predatory Lending
The second breakfast in our Spring 2005 series featured an in-depth discussion of, and possible solutions to, predatory lending. Participants included Michael Bosnick, Assistant Commissioner, NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development; Barbara Kent, Director of Consumer Services and Financial Products, State of New York Banking Department; Mark A. Willis, Executive Vice President and Director of JP Morgan Chase’s Community Development Group; and Josh Zinner, Director of the Foreclosure Prevention Project of South Brooklyn Legal Services.
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Thursday, March 10th 2005
The Magnitude and Dimensions of Predatory Lending
In the first breakfast of our Spring 2005 series, Sarah Ludwig, Executive Director of Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, Phyllis Rosenblum, Senior Vice President of Community Development at HSBC Bank, and Sarah Gerecke, Chief Executive Officer of Neighborhood Housing Services tackled the magnitude and dimensions of predatory lending.
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Wednesday, December 1st 2004
NY’s Department of City Planning’s Strategic Plan
Our second breakfast in the Fall 2004 series featured Amanda Burden, Chair of the Department of City Planning, who spoke about the Department’s Strategic Plan. The plan highlights rezoning initiatives throughout the City, including the Williamsburg/Greenpoint waterfront rezoning that would be subject to Councilmember Yassky’s proposal.
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Tuesday, October 19th 2004
The Affordable Housing Zoning District proposal
Our first breakfast of the Fall 2004 series featured Councilmember David Yassky, who spoke about his Affordable Housing Zoning District proposal.
