Hotel Extensions for Sandy Victims | Mid-Year Stuy-Town Rent

Midtown East. (Flickr/Andrea Puggioni)

1. Court stops Christie from using affordable housing funding to balance NJ budget. “With time running out to balance this year’s state budget, a three-judge panel temporarily halted Governor Christie’s plan to seize $140 million dedicated to local affordable housing projects.The judges issued an emergency order to stop the transfer of the money, a decision trumpeted Tuesday by towns and housing advocates who said the move could delay the construction of more than 3,000 homes for low-income and disabled residents.” [North Jersey – 05/14/13]
2. Generation Y favors renting, mixed-use development, and downtown living, says Urban Land Institute. “Many housing observers agree that Generation Y-people from 18 to 34 years of age-largely prefers downtown living, often in rental apartments with easy access to walkable neighborhoods and public transportation.The real question is whether they’ll outgrow those tastes once they earn higher salaries and have kids. [Wall Street Journal – 05/15/13]
3. East Midtown rezoning vision plan: too little, too late? “Local leaders and elected officials are railing against the timing of a study of how to overhaul East Midtown’s streetscapes, saying the plan may ultimately offer too little, too late.The study was announced Monday, when the city’s Planning and Transportation departments declared that they will issue an “East Midtown Rezoning Vision Plan” this fall.” [DNA Info – 05/16/13]
4. Judge orders extension of hotel program for Superstorm Sandy evacuees. “It has been nearly seven months since Hurricane Sandy struck, but a state court judge ruled on Wednesday that New York City cannot end its hotel program for evacuees just yet.The ruling provides a reprieve for about 900 people in 375 displaced households across the city who remain in 45 hotels.” [New York Times – 05/16/13]
5. From Brooklyn to California, housing bubble threat grows. “Just a year since the U.S. housing market hit bottom after the biggest plunge in eight decades, signs of excess are re-emerging…The U.S. spring homebuying season has been marked by a frenzy of demand fueled by the Federal Reserve’s drive to push down borrowing costs, a scarcity of listings and Wall Street’s new appetite for foreclosed homes.” [Bloomberg – 05/16/13]
6. Affordable housing bill advances in Massachusetts. “A bill designed to expand and preserve affordable housing in Massachusetts is making its way through the Statehouse.The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Housing has advanced a five-year, $1.4 billion housing bond bill. The legislation would provide additional authorization for housing programs for low-income and moderate-income residents across the state..” [Boston Globe – 05/15/13]
7. Stuy-Town/Peter Cooper Village tenants protest mid-year rent increases. “Elected officials joined Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village tenants Wednesday to protest what they call sudden and extreme mid-lease rent increases.More than 1,000 residents said they were told Tuesday that their rents would be going up on June 1 with increases ranging anywhere from $100 to over $900 a month.” [CBS New York – 05/15/13]
8. Do rising home values make people feel richer? “Do people buy more stuff because rising home values make them feel wealthier, or do they buy more stuff because consumption and home values are similar but unrelated signs of deeper changes in the economy?” [Atlantic Cities – 05/16/13]
9. When “cozy” means small: decoding NYC apartment ads. “When a rental ad says “cozy apartment with laid back roommates” does that actually mean “closet for rent in apartment full of potheads?” Help us create a glossary to decipher rental ad language. In your search for decent affordable housing in New York, what have you learned about what certain language in the ads really means?” [WNYC – 05/10/13]
10. Experts urge lawmakers to let the mortgage market stand on its own without government backing. “To bring private capital back into the mortgage finance market, experts are proposing various restructuring initiatives, including plans to turn the jumbo mortgage market back to the private sector and to form securitization cooperatives that function like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Mark Willis, resident research fellow at New York University Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy firmly believes it’s time to let the jumbo market stand on its own without a government guarantee.” [Housing Wire – 05/14/13]