Housing Starts: Smaller Apartments, More Perks | Low-Income Tenants Without Heat | Fighting Blight

Photo Credit: Pablo Enriquez for The New York Times

1. Tenant Groups Seeking an End to Tax Abatement Program A coalition of tenant advocates plan to call for the end of a major tax abatement program that is both coveted by developers and seen as an important piece of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s affordable housing plan.The groups do not want the program, known as 421-a, to be renewed after its expiration in June because they believe it is an old and inefficient way to provide affordable housing. It made sense when it was created in the 1970s, the groups said, because New York City’s population was shrinking and needed all the new construction that could be mustered. Today, they claim, it’s just a perk for moguls building apartments for millionaires and billionaires. [Capital NY – 01/23/15]
2. NYC’s Low-Income Renters are Freezing Fickle heat is commonplace for most New Yorkers: A boiler in Brooklyn Heights might break one day, and a furnace in Brownsville the next. During the coldest months of 2013 and 2014, New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) fielded over 200,000 heat and hot water complaints. But it’s low-income residents who suffer the greatest burden, their plight worsened by unresponsive landlords and limited resources. [The Daily Beast – 01/26/15]
3. New York’s New Rentals: Smaller Apartments, More Perks Developers of large rental buildings have stuck to a formula over the past several years: Keep apartments small; go big on amenities. Now, with a surge of rentals coming to market, some developers are pushing this formula to the max, tweaking apartment sizes and piling on the perks. More than 13,000 new rental apartments are expected to open their doors in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens this year, according to Citi Habitats, one of the city’s largest rental brokerage firms. In Manhattan, the anticipated 4,900 apartments in 34 new rental developments represent a 25 percent increase from the 2009 peak, when 3,918 rental units opened for leasing. [New York Times – 01/23/15]
4. The End of the Suburbs and Four Other American Migration Myths Much of our thinking about migration is misguided. Lyman Stone, a migration researcher at George Washington University’s Elliot School of International Affairs and an economist at the Agriculture Department, is writing about the state of American migration. […] Perhaps the biggest myth is that Americans are moving to cities in droves. Yes, Americans have been departing sparsely populated rural areas for metropolitan areas, which contain urban “cores” surrounded by suburbs. But that’s not the same thing as moving to cities. [Wall Street Journal – 01/23/15]
5. Bronx Church to be Blessed with Boost as Part of New Affordable Housing Project This Bronx Holy House seeking a boost as the borough looks to add some affordable housing. A Mott Haven church is praying that the city bestows its blessing on a plan to develop apartments for low-income tenants. The development by nonprofit SoBRO would axe Senda De Mendicion Ministries, on Brook Ave. and E. 148th Street, and build a 36-unit residence that includes a ground floor church with three times the space the cramped congregation currently owns. [New York Daily News – 01/26/15]
6. Council’s Animosity Toward Airbnb Grows Airbnb’s charm offensive is not going well. Last Tuesday’s marathon City Council hearing on illegal hotels and room-sharing earned the online service more enemies in the chamber than friends. Several council members went into the hearing with open minds about the controversial company, hoping to hear Airbnb say it was committed to cracking down on users who violate the state law that prohibits short-term rentals. But they left frustrated with the company’s responses and befuddled by its testimony. [Crain’s New York Business – 01/26/15]
7. 4 Cities Step Up Fight Against Blight Cities across the country continue to look for ways to tackle blight. Here, a couple of recent developments worth watching: Camden Okays Teardowns: Last week, Camden, New Jersey, kicked off an ambitious plan to take down 600 of the city’s most derelict buildings. Although the clearing process is a welcomed one, the demolition has gotten off to a rocky start. [Next City – 01/26/15]
8. The Secrets of Street Names and Home Values Street names tell stories. They tell us if a neighborhood is expensive or affordable, brand-new or decades old. With street names alone, we can uncover all kinds of insights. This might seem surprising, especially given the relatively random process by which streets get their names. [...] The local government usually takes a look at the resulting map, just to make sure the names won’t confuse mail carriers or ambulance drivers. And that’s about it. But if you look at enough data, patterns start to emerge. Even randomness has an order. [New York Times – 01/24/15]
9. Middle-Income Housing Affordability: International Situation Hong Kong, Sydney, Vancouver and the San Francisco Bay Area have the worst middle-income housing affordability in 9 nations, according to 11th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey. Median house prices in Hong Kong were 17 times the median household income, a measure called the “median multiple.” Vancouver had a median multiple of 10.6, Sydney 9.8, while San Francisco and San Jose were each at 9.2. Other cities (metropolitan areas) with especially high median multiples included Melbourne (8.7), London (8.5), San Diego (8.3) Auckland (8.2), and Los Angeles (8.0). [The Huffington Post – 01/26/15]
10. Fighting a Housing Crisis, Egypt Builds Towers in the Desert Egypt is in the throes of a severe housing shortage, with people so desperate for shelter they’re building hundreds of thousands of illegal, sometimes rickety buildings that the government promptly dynamites. But one thing the country has an abundance of is lonesome desert, and developers are turning there to construct immense projects that stick out in the emptiness like skyscrapers on Mars. [City Lab – 01/22/15]