Housing Starts: Spending on Luxury Housing I Call for Supportive Housing I Younger Adults Renting

Photo Credit: STUDIO V Architecture

1. Hyper-Pricey Homes to Sap Housing Growth The New York Building Congress predicts that residential construction spending will increase by billions of dollars over the next two years. The hitch is that much of it will be spend on housing for the ultra-affluent. By 2016, residential construction spending is forecast to hit $12.4 billion without adjusting for inflation, according to the report, an increase of almost 80% from 2013 levels. But the number of units generated by that wall of spending is predicted to increase by just 30% over the time period, to 24,000, from 18,400 last year. [Crain’s New York Business – 10/23/14]
2. Council Questions Astoria Cove Plan Astoria’s barren and inaccessible waterfront could become a residential and commercial hub if the project’s developer and the City Council can reach agreement on a plan to include more affordable housing….But at a Council hearing on Monday, officials disagreed with developer John Mavroudis on the definition of affordability and how many housing units they are willing to build in exchange for their approval. [Capital New York – 10/20/14]
3. Rising Land Prices Could Undercut Housing Plan The rapid growth of luxury development and rising land prices in New York City might be a double-edged sword for the administration’s affordable housing plan. Construction costs have risen by $40 or $50 per square foot for affordable and middle-income housing over the last eight or nine months, said affordable housing developer Jonathan Rose. He added that he expects that trend to continue. The topic was discussed during a lunch event at the Urban Land Institute’s fall conference at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. [The Real Deal – 10/22/14]
4. Ambitious Call for De Blasio, Cuomo to Build Supportive Housing Mayor de Blasio’s 10-year affordable housing plan, which laid out a proposal to build or preserve 200,000 affordable housing units, has advocates from the nonprofit sector and government cautiously optimistic that homeless numbers can improve in upcoming years. The accelerated expansion of supportive housing, in particular, is being viewed as an integral part of the city’s necessary housing reform—and lauded as one of the most efficient and tested methods for combatting homelessness and improving quality of life for clients. The de Blasio administration agrees, mentioning in its “Five-Borough, Ten-Year Plan” that it’s a “cost-effective intervention that provides a permanent, affordable place to live combined with on-site services. [CityLimits – 10/23/14]
5. 3 WTC to Ride Muni-Bond Market The sale of $1.6 billion of tax-exempt bonds to finance 3 World Trade Center is expected to take place as soon as next week, according to The Wall Street Journal. Developer Larry Silverstein is hoping to benefit from a turnaround in the municipal bond market. If the sale is a success, the construction of the stalled 2.5 million-square-foot tower will proceed. [Crain’s New York – 10/22/14]
6. Fort Greene Residents Denied Affordable Housing When 63 units came onto the market at Rockwell Place in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene district last year, it was one addition to several affordable housing developments in the area. Low-income residents of the district applied in large numbers via a lottery, but nineteen months after the lottery closed, most of the apartments remain vacant because few tenants have qualified. The McDermott Group, the developers of this location, have not succeeded in obtaining enough qualified applicants to fill these cheap luxury apartments, whose rents range from $546 to $748 per month. [NY City Lens – 10/21/14]
7. Developer Spends $22M to Buy Largest Piece of Jamaica Land in a Decade A Flushing-based company dropped $22 million to buy the largest property in Downtown Jamaica in nearly 10 years — and are planning to build market rate housing along with retail, sources said. The project is the latest among a number of new real estate developments proposed for downtown Jamaica, which has been dynamically changing in recent years. [DNAinfo New York – 10/21/14]
8. No Picket Fence: Younger Adults Opting to Rent That generation of folks has seen people really get hurt by homeownership,’ said Mr. Solomon, president of the company, which is based in Waltham, Mass. ‘The petal has really fallen off the rose as it pertains to homeownership. People don’t want to be tied down to a mortgage they can’t get out of quickly. [New York Times – 10/22/14]
9. Dozens of Brooklyn Churches Looking to Sell Their Land More than 50 Brooklyn clergy members are looking to develop their land and air rights in an effort to maintain their congregations while offering affordable housing and other community services. Hundreds of religious leaders — based primarily in Downtown Brooklyn, Cobble Hill, Flatbush and Crown Heights — attended a recent conference on “faith-based property development,” hosted by Borough President Eric Adams, to learn how to partner with private developers to build out their parking lots, extra buildings, vacant lots and air rights. [DNAinfo New York – 10/21/14]
10. Why Do People Move: Jobs or Housing? It’s often assumed that people move to get better jobs. But Census data show the main people reason move is to gain access to better housing. The issue is sometimes posed as a chicken-and-egg question: What comes first, people or jobs? [Atlantic CityLab – 10/23/14]