Housing Starts: A Simple Cure for Homelessness? | Staten Island Turning Point | Landmarks Law at 50

The original Penn Station (Photo Credit: The Real Deal)

1. The U.S. Spends Far More on Homeowner Subsidies Than It Does on Affordable Housing The United States spends more than four times as much on homeowner subsidies as it does on affordable housing for those most in need. That stat comes courtesy a detailed NBER working paper by Robert Collinson and Ingrid Gould Ellen, my colleagues at NYU, and Jens Ludwig of the University of Chicago. The U.S. shells out roughly $46 billion a year on affordable housing—$40 billion on means-tested programs and another $6 billion in tax expenditures through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, which supports affordable housing investments for low-income Americans. Compare that to $195 billion in subsidies that flow largely to wealthy and middle class homeowners via tax deductions for mortgage interest. [Atlantic CityLab – 04/17/15]
2. Promised a Supermarket Five Years Ago, a Housing Project Is Still Waiting Residents of the Farragut Houses, a city housing project in northwest Brooklyn, suffer from at least two forms of isolation. There is the physical kind: the gated Brooklyn Navy Yard to the east, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to the south. And there is the economic kind: the luxury apartments of Dumbo to the west, the historic rowhouses of Vinegar Hill to the north. And in this awkward patch, home to 3,500 people in 10 blocky New York City Housing Authority towers, there are very few options for affordable, fresh food. There is a Chinese restaurant, and there are a few bodegas and one small grocery store with a single aisle of produce. [New York Times – 04/17/15]
3. The Surprisingly Simple Way Utah Solved Chronic Homelessness The problem at hand was seemingly intractable. The number of chronic homeless had surged since the early 1970s. And related costs were soaring. A University of Pennsylvania study had just showed New York City was dropping a staggering $40,500 in annual costs on every homeless person with mental problems, who account for many of the chronically homeless. So that day, as officials spit-balled ideas, a social researcher named Sam Tsemberis stood to deliver what he framed as a surprisingly simple, cost-effective method of ending chronic homelessness. Give homes to the homeless. [Washington Post – 04/17/15]
4. Union-Friendly Bill Could Slow Affordable Housing Legislation introduced in the City Council on Thursday would require a prevailing wage be paid on many construction projects that receive public benefits, potentially slowing affordable housing development across the boroughs. Passage of the measure would hand labor unions and worker-rights advocates an enormous win. Many builders across the city would be forced to hire a union workforce, or at least meet the requirements set by the city comptroller’s office for prevailing wage. “It’s a really good bill,” said Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, who introduced the legislation. “It’s going to go a long ways in making sure people working on construction sites make a fair wage.” [Capital New York – 04/17/15]
5. Staten Island’s Turning Point? A wide bay may separate Staten Island from the rest of the city. But in terms of real estate, differences between the borough and other enclaves seem to be lifting like a morning fog. New rentals and condominiums, some with perks like a pet spa or rooftop beehives, are rewriting the island’s skyline. Big-city cool is popping up in a place not always noted for it: Small-batch espresso will soon flow at a coffee shop; a jug band played kazoos at a recently opened brewery; and stores selling brand-name skinny-leg pants are on their way. And a fresh crop of renters and buyers, unable to afford pricier precincts and unfazed by stereotypes about how the place can seem insular, bland or run-down, are setting sail for the island. [New York Times – 04/17/15]
6. First-Time Homebuyers Confront an Unforgiving Real Estate Market Consider it the price of success, or at least a growing pain, for a region that has prided itself as a place that offered its working and middle classes not just well-paying jobs but also enough affordable housing to help them get ahead. Jim Gaines, research economist at the Texas A&M Real Estate Center, said that has changed significantly over the last decade as the number of potential first-time homebuyers who could afford an entry-level home — currently, one between $150,000 and $200,000 — has dwindled. “Houston is becoming a major cosmopolitan city,” Gaines said. [Houston Chroncile – 04/15/15]
7. Chicago’s Carless Population Is Growing—and Developers Are Responding In the cities they looked at, 33 percent (New York) to 45 percent (Washington, D.C.) of all households were single-person households: no kid, no spouse, no roommate. In Chicago it’s 37 percent, including 42 percent of renters. That article the Furman authors cite is titled ‘Rooming House Redux.’ And that’s basically on-point. The original intent behind many of Chicago’s SROs, which are often associated with the transient and the marginal, was to house young white-collar professionals with little need to nest. [Chicago Magazine – 04/17/15]
8. 50 Years of Preservation in New York) It took less than 18 months from the drizzly day when demolition started on the old Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan to the day 50 years ago when then Mayor Robert F. Wagner signed New York City’s first landmark preservation law. The razing of the mammoth 1910 station, beginning in October 1963, with the removal of the huge stone eagles stationed atop the entrance, triggered a wave of outrage that led to the landmarks law and architectural-preservation laws across the U.S. Over the decades, landmark protection has been granted to thousands of properties in every corner of the city. [Wall Street Journal – 04/19/15]
9. Less Housing Production, Racial Diversity in Historic Districts Housing production is lower in the city’s landmarked districts and their populations are usually less racially diverse than the rest of the city, according to a new Real Estate Board of New York report.While the median household income in Manhattan is $63,832 with a racial diversity index of .68, Capital New York reported, those averages in completely landmarked neighborhoods are $123,800 and .28. In areas where more than 80 percent of the property is landmarked, the median household income is $113,665 and the diversity index is .32, the report found, according to the website. In Brooklyn, however, areas that are fully landmarked show more racial diversity and a lower median household income than the rest of the borough. [The Real Deal – 04/20/15]
10. Rent Guidelines Board Chairwoman Proposes Tax Plan to Finance Affordable Housing Rachel Godsil—whom Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed chairwoman of the Rent Guidelines Board—today proposed the city finance affordable housing through a novel neighborhood-based tax plan. Speaking at a panel discussion at New York Law School, Ms. Godsil suggested the city could harness tax value from new developments in up-and-coming neighborhoods and dedicate it to financing the construction of new low-cost apartments nearby through a program called ‘tax increment financing—thus preventing displacement of local residents. [New York Observer – 04/17/15]