Mayor Shifts Housing Subsidy Stance | New York City Revisits Private Development on NYCHA Land

Photo Credit: Crain’s New York Business / Buck Ennis

1. De Blasio Administration Shifts Stance on Housing Subsidies “In a change from last year, the de Blasio administration will let some residential developers double or even triple-dip into subsidy pools by using the same group of affordable apartments to qualify for a variety of programs—a practice it initially pledged to eliminate. The pivot came to light as details of two housing programs were released in recent weeks. First, in late June the state legislature took a cue from the mayor and passed preliminary reforms to a property tax exemption called 421-a, requiring developers to set aside 25% to 30% of apartments in new buildings as affordable housing. Then last Friday, the administration discussed the specifics of a new proposal called mandatory inclusionary zoning.” [Crain’s New York Business – 08/05/15]
2. Another Way of Looking at Infill Housing Development “The mayor touted the number of affordable apartment units - 20,325 - as a one-year record, and far from anything seen in the city since Mayor Ed Koch’s ambitious housing plans of the ‘80s. The 20,000-plus, which includes both new and preserved units, is a big first step toward the de Blasio administration’s plan to build 80,000 entirely new affordable units and preserve another 120,000 over the next ten years. And, at a July 13 press conference, Mayor Bill de Blasio celebrated the accomplishments of his first full fiscal year in office. But, in addition to political and economic capital, the 80,000 new units key to de Blasio’s plan require substantial space: a challenge in crowded and expensive New York real estate. In an attempt to clear this hurdle, the administration is revisiting an idea from the final months of the Bloomberg years: facilitating private development on property owned by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA).” [Gotham Gazette – 08/06/15]
3. ‘Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning’: The Dullest, Most Important Phrase in New York “Could there be a more soporific or cryptic string of words than mandatory inclusionary zoning, the new rallying cry in the fight to make New York a place where New Yorkers can afford to live? And yet it’s an exciting concept, especially if your rent-regulated apartment is going co-op and you can’t afford to stay, or if you’ve fought to make your neighborhood a more pleasant place to live and now your children can no longer afford to live where they grew up. The city is drowning in its own money, and this is a lifejacket for those who can’t swim. Bill de Blasio has been talking about mandatory inclusionary zoning since before he was elected mayor, and now he’s laid out a way to make it work. It’s not a magic wand, but it is a powerful tool that, properly wielded, could make the city both more desirable and more affordable, an apparently insoluble paradox.” [New York Magazine – 08/05/15]
4. De Blasio, Facing Criticism, Is Taking on Homelessness with $22 Million Initiative “The question has leapt from dinner parties to community boards to the nightly news, its implications echoing in the highest echelons of City Hall: Why are there so many homeless people in New York? On Thursday, Mayor Bill de Blasio is set to appear with his wife, Chirlane McCray, to announce a $22 million mental health initiative that his administration says will aid the homeless. For the mayor, a Democrat who has staked his administration on battling inequality, dealing with what seems to be a growing homelessness problem is as much about social reform as political survival. His critics have seized on what they say is a classic urban quality-of-life issue, arguing that Mr. de Blasio’s liberal policies are driving the city backward. In fact, the number of people in shelters rose sharply during the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a political independent, and officials say the city’s shelter population is now falling after reaching a record high over the winter.” [New York Times – 08/05/15]
5. $100,000 New Benchmark for Affordable Apartments “City Point 1, the Downtown Brooklyn mixed use project co-developed by BFC Partners, Washington Square Partners and Acadia Realty Trust, is offering affordable housing studios for people making as much as $99,825. According to an advertisement from New York Housing Development Corporation, 76 studio apartments in the building have been set aside for affordable housing. These include two $500 per month apartments for people who earn $18,515 to $24,200 per year, 13 $651 per month units for people making between $23,692 and $30,250 and 61 $1621 per month apartments for people who earn $56,949 to $99,825 per year. The lottery for City Point 1 apartments opened last week. The affordable housing options in the building range from studios to two bedrooms.” [Real Estate Weekly – 08/05/15]
6. The Recovery Is Super-Sizing Houses “The housing crisis may have wiped out Lehman Brothers, Iceland, and the credit of home buyers across the nation. But it didn’t put a dent in the McMansion. Oh, for sure, the average size of new single-family houses dipped a bit between 2007 and 2009. After ticking up slowly over the course of the 1990s and ramping up a bit more quickly in the first half of the 2000s, the party came to a halt in 2008, when the average square feet of new homes fell 3 square feet. But the bounce is back. Between 2010 and 2011, the average size of new houses grew from 2,392 square feet to 2,480 square feet—the biggest push since the late 1980s, according to Census data. Last year, the mean square footage for a new U.S. home crested 2,600 square feet for the first time. Median square footage is rising the same way. The trend is being driven by a surge in the construction of ginormous houses.” [CityLab – 08/03/15]
7. No Consensus on de Blasio’s Latest Affordable Housing Plan “Developers, housing activists and City Council members are divided over the benefits of a City Hall proposal, unveiled last week, that would tie land rezonings to mandated affordable housing. Several members of the Council, which must approve Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan, spoke in favor of the plan. Others privately expressed concerns they were hesitant to articulate publicly. Developers were cool at best, citing concerns about the fate of an existing development tax break known as 421-a, which was reformed in Albany in June but must clear another political hurdle before taking effect in January. Affordable housing advocates offered measured optimism about the plan, which is referred to as ‘mandatory inclusionary zoning,’ while taking issue with one aspect they deem insufficient for low-income New Yorkers.” [Capital New York – 08/05/15]
8. Brooklyn May Join the Super-Tall Skyscraper Club “A skyscraper more than 1,000 feet tall might be heading to Brooklyn. Towers that tall are hard to come by even in Manhattan, and there aren’t any plans to build anything that large in any other borough yet. But there’s plenty of demand for a super-tall residential tower in Brooklyn—and now, one of the developers who has nurtured Manhattan’s Billionaire’s Row has the air rights to build something as tall as the Empire State Building in downtown Brooklyn. Crain’s New York Business reports that Michael Stern bought the former Dime Savings Bank at 9 Dekalb Avenue, a landmarked classical building dating back to the early 1900s. In addition to the architectural gem—which might be repurposed as an event space or high-end retail outlet—Stern picked up 300,000 square feet in air rights. That’s all he needs to build a super skyscraper on the site he owns next door at 340 Flatbush Avenue Extension.” [CityLab – 08/05/15]
9. Officials Commit Nearly $80M to Upgrade 15 NYCHA Developments — but Records Show Others May Need Them More “City officials Tuesday committed nearly $80 million to upgrade lights at 15 public housing developments red-flagged last year because of high crime. But records show the crime picture has changed since then — meaning the security upgrades in some cases aren’t going to the developments that need them most. Since the 15 were first selected in July 2014, the problem has shifted to other developments that are not going to get the enhanced lighting. In some cases, the crime has simply moved across the street. At one of the chosen 15, the Brownsville Houses in Brooklyn, crime dropped 21% from Jan. 1 through July 26 compared with the same time last year. Across Dumont Ave., it spiked 38% at the Tilden Houses.” [New York Daily News – 08/05/15]
10. “Great Reset” Calls for Tax Rebates for Renters “Pointing to a shortfall in New York City’s supply of affordable housing units, the authors of an NYU research paper offered recommendations similar to an earlier tax plan from Governor Andrew Cuomo. The study, which was written by experts from the university’s School of Professional Studies, recommended government assistance to renters, something that the governor proposed over a year ago. ‘Direct assistance to renters in the forms of tax rebates or direct subsidies will be required to boost the supply of low- to moderate-income housing, not just for the non-working and underemployed, but for households whose combined incomes are as high as the low six figures,’ the study read. The study, entitled ‘New York City: The Great Reset,’ contained an outline of the city’s recovery from the 2008 financial crisis.” [Real Estate Weekly – 08/05/15]