Ditching Dorms for Apts | Affordable Alternative to BK in NJ | Changing Tone on Homelessness

Image Credit: Marc A. Herman / MTA New York City Transit / Flickr

1. After Playing Down a Homeless Crisis, Mayor de Blasio Changes His Tone “In mid-July, facing a swelling public outcry over street homelessness in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio suggested that residents’ eyes were deceiving them. “Homelessness is not going up, thank God,” he said. Weeks later, Mr. de Blasio seems to have abandoned that notion. The mayor and his team have seized on the issue in public and in private, discussing a series of changes intended to stem the crisis, amid negative headlines and poll numbers that showed dissatisfaction with his handling of the problem. One important decision will be the choice of a replacement for Deputy Mayor Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, who for 20 months had overseen the city’s strategy on homelessness. The city announced her resignation late on Monday.” [New York Times – 09/01/15]
2. For Landlords, New Rules Loom on Buying Rent-Regulated Tenants Out of their Apts. “New York City is poised to rein in landlords seeking to buy tenants out of rent-regulated apartments, a practice that has come under scrutiny in a roaring real-estate market. Saying that residents of the city’s 1.3 million rent-restricted apartments are being pressured to move out, Mayor Bill de Blasio plans Thursday to sign legislation barring repeated buyout offers within six months if tenants don’t want them. Other provisions would require reminders that tenants can refuse or consult lawyers. ‘We will not let abusive landlords intimidate tenants so they can make an extra buck,’ Mr. de Blasio said at a hearing Wednesday.” [Crain’s New York Business – 09/03/15]
3. Showdown Looming Over Controversial Landmarks Bill “Opponents and supporters of a City Council proposal that would impose time limits on the Landmarks Preservation Commission are girding themselves for a public hearing next week. Preservation groups including the Historic Districts Council and the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation blasted out an email Monday criticizing the bill, which would give the commission a year to decide on an individual landmark and two years on a neighborhood or district once a proposal for historic status has been made. The bill was introduced by Councilmen David Greenfield and Peter Koo in April after it was discovered that more than 100 proposed designations had been languishing on the commission’s to-do list for decades.” [Crain’s New York Business – 09/01/15]
4. Police Officers and Other New York City Agencies Visit Homeless Encampments “As police officers, mental health workers, lawyers and others visit homeless encampments in New York as part of a City Hall initiative, a prime mission will be determining how people wound up on the streets. ‘They’ll be asking questions such as: ‘Why are you out here? Where are you from,’ ‘Carlos M. Gomez, the New York Police Department’s chief of patrol, said on Wednesday. ‘We want to take a deeper look, as to the issues, and how we can help them.’ The chief detailed officials’ plans to address a rise in homelessness at a wide-ranging briefing on Wednesday by Police Commissioner William J. Bratton at which he outlined measures that the city had taken in the past two weeks and framed the issue as a priority in a time when overall crime had decreased.” [New York Times – 09/02/15]
5. Students Ditch Dorms for Apartments Bought by Their Parents “While some college students are decorating dorm rooms, others are moving into new apartments as part of a family investment strategy. Although the phenomenon isn’t a new one, real estate insiders say they are seeing new twists on the trend. It isn’t just foreign buyers snapping up multimillion-dollar apartments in shiny new buildings, but relatively local folks, many of whom already live within commuting distance of New York City. Some of these buyers are former city dwellers who moved to the suburbs to raise their children, and now see a city apartment as a possible retirement location. They say buying early makes financial sense.” [Wall Street Journal – 09/02/15]
6. The Role of Public Investment in Gentrification “Setting aside for the moment the question of whether most people are even accurately defining the term, there is in fact an entire scholarly literature that pins gentrification on the cultural norms, values, and strategies of advantaged groups like my very own creative class. But a comprehensive review of gentrification research by researchers at the University of California Berkeley and UCLA, published by the Federal Reserve of San Francisco, helps us better understand the real underlying drivers of gentrification. While the location choices of advantaged groups provide its immediate impetus, gentrification—and the actions of these very groups—is also shaped by large-scale government policies and public investments.” [CityLab – 09/02/15]
7. Cuomo Says State Not to Blame for Increase in Homeless “Governor Andrew Cuomo thinks New York City has a homelessness problem, but disagrees with critics who say the state isn’t doing enough to help fix it. Among those critics, apparently, is the de Blasio administration, which criticized the state over its commitment to supportive housing for the mentally ill homeless. A spokeswoman for the administration said the state is ‘going backwards in its support’ for the homeless. Homelessness has returned as a major political issue this summer, thanks in part to media reports purporting to show a massive increase in the homeless population. During an appearance in Manhattan on Wednesday, Cuomo agreed that ‘it’s hard not to conclude that we have a major homeless problem in the city of New York.’” [Politico NY – 09/02/15]
8. New Jersey Developers Looking to Create Affordable Alternative to Brooklyn “This time of year, the southbound lane of the Garden State Parkway can become a bit crowded. With a few weeks left of warm weather, the Tri­-State area is full of residents who are eager to briefly stray from the city and migrate near the shore points. But the robust real estate market of the Greater New York area is creating an opportunity for tertiary sections of New Jersey to develop and offer affordable, quality year-­round housing. Last week, multiple partners announced a multi­-billion dollar revitalization plan that will “transform” a 1.25­ mile stretch of Asbury Park waterfront with more than 20 “carefully curated” residential, hotel and infrastructure projects.” [Real Estate Weekly – 09/02/15]
9. First Crowdfunded Building to Debut in the City “New York’s first real estate project financed significantly though crowdfunding is set to open, a step forward for a nascent investing model that has yet to prove itself in commercial property. AKA United Nations, an extended-stay hotel-condominium on East 46th Street near Second Avenue, will start taking guests Sept. 10. Sales of the suites have already begun. Of the $95 million it cost to buy and fix up the existing hotel, $12 million was raised from online pledges. It’s ‘the first ever crowdfunded building in New York coming to completion, from A to Z,’ said Rodrigo Nino, chief executive officer of Prodigy Network, which is gut-renovating the building with partners. Until now, ‘everything has been about promises.’” [Crain’s New York Business – 09/01/15]
10. Jersey City’s Innovative New Affordable Housing Plan Might Actually Work “In the coming years, Jersey City’s overall population rise is expected to accelerate, and the housing stock is expected to increase by 20 percent by 2020. To ensure this growth is equitable, the city has unveiled a clever new housing policy that employs a seemingly simple strategy: tax incentives. Local officials believe the plan can preserve community while promoting development—a harmony that’s proved so elusive elsewhere. ‘Where many urban areas in the country have affordable housing condensed into one area and market rate elsewhere, we think a healthy city has both market rate and affordable touching every corner of the city,’ Mayor Steven Fulop tells CityLab.” [CityLab – 09/03/15]