Brooklyn Skyscraper Boom to Bring 22K Units in 5 Years | NYC Disputes FEMA on Flood Risk
Image Credit: DNAinfo / CityRealty Rendering off of Google Earth
- Brooklyn Skyscraper Boom To Bring 22K Units over Next 5 Years, Report Says “Thousands of apartments in glassy high-rises are anticipated to take over the Brooklyn skyline over the next five years in the biggest construction boom in a decade, according to a new report. Some 22,000 new apartments in new developments are expected in Brooklyn by 2019 — with more than half of the units opening in high-rises in Downtown Brooklyn and on the Williamsburg and Greenpoint waterfront, according to research from real estate site CityRealty. Construction is expected to reach a 10-year high next year, with around 5,000 new apartments constructed, as well as another 6,000 by early 2017. Most of the units will be rentals, and virtually all of buildings will resemble the modern, glassy towers that are more typical of Manhattan than Brooklyn or Queens, said Gabby Warshawer, director of research and communications for CityRealty.”
- New York Disputes FEMA on Flood Risk “Two years ago, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a new flood map for the New York City region, one that substantially expanded what’s known as the ‘100-year floodplain’—areas where there is at least a 1% chance of flooding in any given year. FEMA’s map, a preliminary document still subject to final approval and its first significant update since 1983, would expand the number of city residents in the 100-year floodplain by 83% to 400,000. It nearly doubles the number of structures in the zone to 71,500. Now, the city is challenging FEMA’s map, saying it overstates the risk of flooding in much of the expanded flood zone, unnecessarily imposing insurance and other costs on homeowners. In late June, the city released the results of its own analysis, conducted by consulting firm Arcadis, which produced a smaller flood zone, one the city says is more reasonable than FEMA’s.”
- City Housing Authority Head Prepares for Fight over New Development “The chairwoman of the New York City Housing Authority is preparing herself for what could be a contentious four months. She’s likely to face opposition from Housing Authority tenants angry over plans to turn over green space in the authority’s projects to developers who will build market-rate and affordable units. Tenants don’t want to lose their green space, and they especially don’t want to lose it to developments designed for residents who are somewhat better off than most residents of the projects. The authority chairwoman, Shola Olatoye, says they can’t be guided by nostalgia. ‘There are very strong feelings on both sides,’ the chairwoman said. ‘Our open spaces are precious resources that should be stewarded and cared for, and you know what? I agree.’ But, she said in an interview with POLITICO New York, ‘If you go to any of those open spaces today, they’re strewn with trash. We don’t have the resources to keep up with them, no one is sitting in them because they’re gated off. So I think there’s a little bit of this nostalgia that’s heaped on the authority….If we only could go back to the good old days.’”
- Fannie, Freddie Regulator Leaves Affordable-Housing Targets Little Changed “Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s regulator won’t push the mortgage companies to direct additional lending resources to low-income borrowers, a blow to affordable housing advocates. On Wednesday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced new target goals for the percentage of the mortgage companies’ business that must go to less well-off borrowers. Under the new goals, which are effective from this year to 2017, 24% of Fannie’s and Freddie’s mortgages to buy homes will be expected to go to families with incomes no higher than 80% of their areas’ median income, up one percentage point from 2014. Fannie and Freddie will also have the goal of directing 6% of their home purchase loans to families with incomes that are no more than half of their areas’ median, down one percentage point from 2014. Overall, the goals were little changed from 2014 and from what was proposed a year ago, apart from adjustments reflecting changes in the overall mortgage market.”
- De Blasio: Housing Critics Want Poor Neighborhoods ‘to Remain Poor’ “Mayor Bill de Blasio shot back at critics who say his affordable housing plan isn’t producing enough inexpensive apartments Wednesday morning. ‘Some people, I think, almost argue we have some poor neighborhoods and they should just remain poor,’ he said during an appearance on ‘The Brian Lehrer Show’ on WNYC. ‘I’m caricaturing, but I think it makes the point.’ He added that critics seem to think, “We have some poorer neighborhoods, and the way to preserve affordable housing is to leave things the way they are.” I think that’s unacceptable.’ He was responding to a question from Lehrer about concerns over whether it is sufficient to reserve 25 or 30 percent of units in a given development for low-income apartments — the requirement in the mayor’s ‘mandatory inclusionary housing’ plan announced earlier this month.”
- HUD Flips Public Housing Stance on Families Earning too Much “The Department of Housing and Urban Development said Tuesday that in response to an unsparing audit by its watchdog, it’s urging public housing authorities across the country to kick out tenants who make too much money to qualify for government subsidies. ‘It may be legally acceptable, but it is morally unacceptable for people who could pay market-rate rents to be in public housing,’ a senior HUD official said of the disclosure that more than 25,000 tenants earn more than the maximum income to get into public housing _almost half of them making $10,000 to $70,000 more. ‘We agree there has to be some change,’ said the official, who requested anonymity because the agency is ‘still in discussions about options we have to ensure that we don’t encounter this problem in the future.’”
- Priced Out of Brooklyn, a Sculptor Seeks a New Studio to Rent “Recognizing that high rents were pricing many artists out of the city, Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed this year to create 1,500 units of affordable housing ‘for the artists and musicians who make New York culture so vibrant,’ along with 500 dedicated affordable work spaces. The process is already underway: In June, the city began seeking proposals for the redevelopment of a property in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx that may be used as living and work space for artists and others, city officials said. That same month, the city issued a request for proposals for the development of a historic office building on the North Shore of Staten Island that could include studio and programming space for artists. Another project that is expected to create 40 studios for visual artists on Governors Island is also being planned.”
- Housing Starts in U.S. Climb to an Almost Eight-Year High “New-home construction in the U.S. climbed in July to the highest level in almost eight years, indicating the industry will pick up in the second half of the year. Residential starts rose 0.2 percent to a 1.21 million annualized rate, the most since October 2007, from a 1.2 million pace in the prior month that was higher than previously estimated, a Commerce Department report showed Tuesday in Washington. The median forecast of 77 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was 1.18 million. A drop in permits, a proxy for future construction, signals additional gains will take time to develop. Rising employment and historically low mortgage rates are enticing buyers, while increasing prices induced by a lack of homes on the market is an incentive to start new developments. Data showing builder sentiment at a decade high in August underscores the view that the housing rebound will stay on track even as the Federal Reserve is poised to boost borrowing costs.”
- Skyscraper That Would Soar Over Sutton Place Runs Into Neighborhood Opposition “Herndon Werth met with several lawyers last week in a restaurant around the corner from his home of over 40 years, on a sleepy stretch of 58th Street near luxurious Sutton Place on the East Side of Manhattan. They offered to give him an apartment rent-free for life, moving expenses and, by one account, $1 million, if only he would vacate his rent-regulated studio on the top floor of a six-story brownstone. A developer has already bought three other small adjoining buildings on the block and plans to demolish them to erect New York City’s latest opulent supertower: It would soar over 900 feet, some 80 stories, above the street in what the developer calls ‘Manhattan’s quintessential luxury neighborhood.’ But Mr. Werth, 81, whose longtime neighbors refer to him as the Sage of 58th Street, said his response was blunt: ‘I told them,’ he said, ‘I ain’t going nowhere.’ Mr. Werth is only one obstacle in the quest by the developer, Joseph P. Beninati, to build the deluxe skyscraper.”
- The Uneven Success of America’s Housing Policy “It’s been proven time and again that housing vouchers, which provide permanent subsidies for poor families, work. They can help families move to areas with better job opportunities, better schools, and less crime. And as my colleague Alana Semuels has written, they’re also one of the more promising methods for permanently curbing homelessness. But the ability to make good on the promises inherent in the voucher system can be heavily dependent on where a family is located. When you look at the nationwide statistics, it’s clear that voucher recipients are able to live in areas of less-concentrated poverty, and that they live in less-segregated neighborhoods than poor families who have no choice but to live in shelters, transitional housing, or traditional public-housing units. […] But even so, getting a voucher is only part of the battle for many families, and finding better neighborhoods with landlords who will accept vouchers can be nearly impossible in some areas.”
