Housing Starts: Astoria Cove Approved | Affordable Vets Housing | Evictions And Homelessness

Chart by: The Independent Budget Office (IBO)

1. Land Use Committee Approves Astoria Cove Deal Developers of the Astoria Cove project reached a deal with key City Council members on Wednesday to include 27 percent affordable housing for low- and middle-income residents at the 1,700-unit complex to be built on the Queens waterfront. The Council’s land use committee approved the project by a vote of 18-0, clearing the way for a full Council vote next week. Councilman Costa Constantinides, who represents the area, called the deal “historic,” and hailed Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, as well as the City Council, for helping to broker a deal that he hopes will set a new precedent for development in the city. [Capital New York – 11/12/14]
2. L+M, Other Partners Bring Affordable, Veterans Housing to Brooklyn A partnership between L+M Development Partners and Bell Urban LLC, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HDP), the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and its partners, have announced the debut of the Crown Heights Brooklyn mixed-use project, Utica Place. The residential component’s 87 units are designated as affordable housing, 26 of which are exclusively reserved for veterans. [Multi-Housing News – 11/12/14]
3. Evictions Are Top Driver of Homelessness Domestic violence is a major contributor to the city’s worsening homeless problem. But evictions are the leading reason why families end up in the shelter system, according to a report by the city’s Independent Budget Office, or IBO, released on Thursday. The IBO report examines the period from fiscal 2002 through 2012, an era during which the number of families in the shelter system nearly doubled, then receded slightly. [City Limits – 11/13/14]
4. NYC’s Pool of Foreign Real Estate Buyers Shows Signs of Drying Up Some of Manhattan’s top brokers have noticed a slowdown in foreign buyers in the last couple of months as the strength of the dollar rose along with prices of high-end condos. New development — which often targets the moneyed class of global buyers — saw prices hit an average of $1,807 per square foot — a nearly 29 percent jump from the year before, according to a recent report from Douglas Elliman. For foreign buyers, the double whammy of the surging dollar and the recent price jumps translate into about a 40 percent price hike in the last six months, said Douglas Elliman’s Brian Meier, who has been keeping tabs on the U.S. Dollar Index. [DNAinfo – 11/12/14]
5. Notes Reveal What a Developer Wants to Do With Pier 40’s Air Rights A proposed development in the St. John’s Terminal building across from Pier 40 on the Hudson River will contain condos, retail and affordable housing, DNAinfo New York has learned. The details of the controversial project were revealed at a recent closed-door meeting at Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer’s office, according to handwritten notes obtained by DNAinfo through a Freedom of Information Law request. The notes show the lower-income units will not get riverfront views. [DNAinfo – 11/12/14]
6. Fort Greene Sees Highest Monthly Rent Increase in Brooklyn Fort Greene saw the highest rent increase in Brooklyn last month — 4 percent — following a steady increase in prices for the past year, according to a report recently published by MNS Real Estate. Between September and October, studio rentals increased from $2,302 to $2,345, the average cost of one-bedrooms rose from $2,777 to $2,924 and two-bedrooms jumped from $3,496 to $3,659, MNS found. Bay Ridge saw the second highest rental price increase in the month at 3.3 percent. Brooklyn Heights had the largest decrease in rental prices — 6.11 percent. [DNAinfo – 11/13/14]
7. Economists: Liberal Cities Least Affordable for Middle Class Liberal cities are the least affordable for middle-class homeowners, real estate experts say. ‘Blue markets have lower affordability, lower homeownership, and greater income inequality,’ Trulia chief economist Jed Kolko writes in a recent article for the big realty company. [Newsmax – 11/11/14]
8. Cardinal Dolan: Archdiocese Can Use Endangered Churches As Future Affordable Housing Locations Cardinal Timothy Dolan is proposing that the properties of churches slated for closure be considered for use as affordable housing throughout New York City. Most of the parishes on Staten Island that will be shuttered under the “Making All Things New” pastoral planning initiative are located on the North Shore which already has a glut of low-income housing. [StatenIsland Live – 11/11/14]
9. Manhattan’s Second-Tier Office Buildings Make Energy Efficiency a Goal Class B office buildings are known for being old, no-frills and off the beaten path. What they are usually not associated with is energy efficiency. That may be changing. In the last few years, a handful of those buildings in New York, in Hudson Square, the garment district and Times Square, have taken steps to shrink their carbon footprints, as their fancier Class A counterparts have done for years. While landlords of Class B buildings find it difficult to recoup what they spend on green features from their tenants, energy savings can be significant, analysts say. [New York Times – 11/11/14]
10. Brooklyn Sees Big Surge in New Leases in October A surge of renters signed new leases in Brooklyn last month – a sign that rising prices citywide are pushing people farther into the outer boroughs. The number of new rentals jumped 53 percent to 678, according to Douglas Elliman’s monthly rental report, released today. Overall, the median rental price in Brooklyn in October – which had slipped in August and September – rose 5.9 percent to $2,858. Meanwhile, Manhattan’s median rental price rose 3 percent to $3,246 – or $388 more than in Brooklyn. [The Real Deal – 11/13/14]