Housing Starts: 421-a Deadline Triggers Development | Broadway Buildings Denied Landmark Status

Image Credit: Yana Paskova for The New York Times

1. As Tax Break Sunsets, Developers Rush In “Mayor Bill de Blasio may have lost some battles over his affordable-housing agenda in Albany, but the struggle has contributed to a boom in residential construction in New York City. The threatened expiration of the developers’ property-tax break known as 421-a triggered a rush to beat the deadline, creating the city’s biggest surge in building permits in seven years, according to data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau. “You are seeing a lot of good come out of it,” said Gene Kaufman, an architect, of the rush by developers to meet the deadline.” [Wall Street Journal – 06/25/15]
2. 21 Broadway Buildings Denied Protection, Prompting Debate on Growth and Preservation “After five years of study, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission decided last week that 21 buildings on Broadway that it had considered protecting were unworthy of that honor. In a unanimous vote that took many by surprise, the commission decided that the buildings, all between 89th and 109th Streets, and built between 1871 and 1927, would be excluded from an expansion of the Riverside-West End Historic District. […] The decision has inflamed a debate as old as the Landmarks Law itself —celebrating its semicentennial this year — a debate as old in some sense as Broadway: If there is too much development, can there also be too much preservation? Where and how can a city grow, and is it the new or the old that gives it its spirit?” [New York Times – 06/29/15]
3. Albany Extends Key Incentives for Businesses, Lower Manhattan “Amid the chaos of the legislative session’s conclusion in Albany, several lucrative tax breaks for businesses and developers were extended for two years. The Relocation and Employment Assistance Program, or REAP, was renewed, as was the Industrial and Commercial Abatement Program, the Energy and Cost Savings Program and the Commercial Expansion Program. Versions of those tax breaks that are targeted at lower Manhattan’s post-9/11 recovery were also extended. ‘We’re really pleased,’ said Jessica Lappin, president of the Downtown Alliance. ‘It was critically important to us.’” [Crain’s New York Business – 06/26/15]
4. Calls for NYCHA Head’s Ouster Say de Blasio is to Blame “Angry residents and faith leaders joined forces Thursday to call for the resignation of Shola Olatoye, chairwoman of New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). On the steps of City Hall under a bright sun, hundreds of members of Metro Industrial Areas Foundation called for a “shake up” at NYCHA, demanding that Mayor de Blasio keep his promises to New York City’s most vulnerable population. But the sudden call for Olatoye’s ouster was met with a zealous defense of the chairwoman by at least one frequent NYCHA critic. Pia Benton, who lives in Breukelen Houses, says she came out to protest the lack of repairs and the lack of accountability at public housing. The Authority’s claims that response times have been getting shorter are false, Benton told City Limits.” [City Limits – 06/25/15]
5. More Communities Demand Developers Build Affordable Housing “With home ownership in the U.S. at a 20-year low and growing evidence that skyrocketing housing prices are burdening not just the poor but also the middle class, calls for affordable housing are getting louder across the nation. Now key court decisions are bolstering calls for equitable housing and reflecting the national angst over housing affordability. On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against the state of Texas and found that the way the state awarded $9.7 billion in low-income tax credits from 1990 to 2011 reinforced segregated housing in violation of the Fair Housing Act. The state gives federal incentives to private developers to build or rehabilitate affordable housing. Civil rights groups sued, charging that the state doled out the money in a way that clustered minorities in poor neighborhoods, keeping low-income housing out of white areas.” [Al Jazeera America – 06/26/15]
6. Spofford, Notorious Youth Jail, May Be Redeveloped into Affordable Housing “Spofford, the notorious Bronx juvenile detention center, could transform into a haven of affordable housing and high-quality jobs if the city gets its way. The New York City Economic Development Corporation is looking for someone to redevelop Hunts Point’s former Spofford Juvenile Detention Center, which closed in March 2011, and officials have specified that they would like to see the site used for a residential and commercial project that would bring affordable housing and jobs to Hunts Point.” [DNAinfo – 06/24/15]
7. Latin American Cities to Millennials: Move Out of Your Parents’ House and Rent “There are many reasons for Chile’s newfound interest in strengthening its rental market, but the simplest comes down to a question of economic opportunity. Angelica Salvi Del Pero is a social policy analyst at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) who has been monitoring and advising Chilean housing policy. She credits labor mobility as one of the major macroeconomic reasons to promote a stronger rental market: More housing options mean more job opportunities. ‘It’s easier to move around from one place to another for employment reasons if you’re renting rather than owning,’ she says. Although the rental subsidy program, which launched last year, started small with fewer than 10,000 families participating, its effects are already being felt in Santiago and across Latin America. Already, the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires and Medellín in Colombia are beginning to pursue their own local rental subsidies while Mexico has embarked on a national program.” [Next City – 06/29/15]
8. New York City Board Set to Vote on Rent Freeze After State Legislators Reach Deal “Just days after state legislators agreed to extend rent regulations for another four years, New York City’s Rent Guidelines Board is scheduled to vote on Monday evening on whether to increase rents for more than one million rent-stabilized apartments. The board, which voted for its lowest-ever rent increases last year, has a chance to make history again. It is considering freezing rents for the next year. The board has never voted for no increases. The vote, to be held at Cooper Union’s Great Hall in Manhattan, will be the first test of a rent board appointed entirely by Mayor Bill de Blasio. The mayor asked for a rent freeze last year, when a majority of the board were de Blasio appointees, along with some holdovers from the Bloomberg administration. But the board, which consists of two tenant representatives, two landlord representatives and five members of the public with experience in housing, finance or economics, resisted the mayor’s call.” [New York Times – 06/28/15]
9. U.S. Homeownership Is at Its Lowest Rate Since 1993 “A new report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University spells out bad news for Gen-X homebuyers, and worse news for the Millennials waiting in the wings. According to the 2015 State of the Nation’s Housing report, homeownership rates are down to the their lowest levels since 1993. And they don’t show any signs of improving. The Great Recession hit Gen-X homebuyers especially hard. People who were born from 1965 to 1984 were either buying their first homes when the housing crash hit in the 2000s or just starting to think about trading up. When the market tanked, young homeowners suffered a real blow to their equity; would-be buyers, on the other hand, were simply frozen out.” [CityLab – 06/24/15]
10. Lovett: Democrats Look to Revamp Rent Regulation Laws if They Take Control of Senate Next Year “The rent regulation laws that were extended last week for four years could be revisited much sooner if the Democrats win control of the Senate next year. Senate Democratic Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Democratic Speaker Carl Heastie left the door wide open for seeking tougher tenant protections in 2017 if the Dems prevail in next year’s elections. Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) acknowledged it’s an issue her chamber’s leadership will be ‘taking a very hard look at.’ ‘We feel that had we been negotiating the rent, we would have been able to do so much more for the tenants all over New York state, for affordable housing, and for our families who depend on it,’ she said.” [NY Daily News – 06/28/15]