FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM FEBRUARY 6, 2020 • THE QUEENS COURIER 25
Stringer proposes plan to keep aff ordable housing actually aff ordable
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com
@QNS
With homeownership at half of what it
is compared to the rest of the country, a
new proposal has been submitted to make
housing more aff ordable for low-income
New York City residents.
On Jan. 29, New York City Comptroller
Scott M. Stringer announced a fi ve-borough
Photo by Susan Watts/Offi ce of New York City Comptroller
New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer
announced ‘Housing We Need’ on Jan. 29.
South Jamaica sewer fi x part of two-year, $800M water main project plan
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com
@robbpoz
Hoping to avoid the kind of recent water
main breaks that left parts of Manhattan a
mess, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his
offi ce would be pumping in $800 million
in underground infrastructure improvements
over the next two years.
According to the mayor’s offi ce, the
funding also includes $21 million toward
water main and sewer improvements in
South Jamaica, which was hit hard last
year by a massive sewage backup that left
numerous basements fl ooded.
Th e bulk of the funding will go toward
water main replacements across the city.
Earlier this month, the city suff ered two
high-profi le water main ruptures within
a week in Manhattan. Both breaks caused
fl ooding in underground subway tunnels
that caused massive delays and disruptions.
Still, the mayor’s offi ce maintained that
New York City “has one of the most reliable
water main systems in the country,”
averaging 6.6 breaks for every 100 miles
of water main. By comparison, most large
American cities average 25 breaks for
every 100 main miles.
Regular maintenance and replacement,
the mayor said, has proven to be the difference
for the city.
“New York City water is famous for its
drinkability,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“We must ensure our infrastructure keeps
it where it is supposed to be – en route
to New Yorkers homes and not spilling
out all over the sidewalk. Our investments
will continue to bring down water
main breaks and bring New Yorkers their
water safely.”
Th e two-year plan calls for an additional
$128 million in capital funds to replace
one percent of New York City’s entire
water main system every year. Th e new
funding, according to the mayor’s offi ce,
will be geared toward “priority projects”
to be identifi ed in the weeks to come.
Th e city already has “dozens” of water
main projects in the works, including
$114 million in water main replacements
for the Brooklyn neighborhoods of
Manhattan Beach and East New York, the
mayor’s offi ce indicated.
Th e Department of Environmental
Protection, tasked with maintaining the
city’s water and sewer lines, will also be
adding three crews for proactive main
inspections, and another three crews to
inspect valves.
Th e DEP will also be meeting with
the city’s Emergency Management
Department, the FDNY, the Department
of Transportation, Con Edison, National
Grid and the MTA to examine and better
coordinate responses to water main breaks.
Finally, the DEP will develop a predictive
model to forecast the likelihood of
future water main breaks around the city,
using data such as the age, size, material
and historical performance of each main,
along with neighborhood water demand.
housing strategy. Th e strategy, called
Housing We Need, aims to realign New
York City’s approach to the housing crisis,
including establishing a universal requirement
for 25 percent permanently low-income
aff ordable housing in all new as-ofright
development with 10 or more units.
Th e plan also calls for the end of the
421-a tax subsidy program for developers,
which costs the city more than $1.6 billion
per year, as well as the expansion of
aff ordable homeownership programs, the
redirection of existing capital dollars to
extremely and very low-income housing
construction, and the creation of a New
York City land bank that would facilitate
the process of turning vacant city-owned
properties into aff ordable housing.
“Th e power in this approach lies in its
simplicity: If you’re going to build in New
York City, you will provide aff ordability that
is sustainable,” said Stringer. “You will be
part of the solution. No longer will developers
be able to use aff ordable housing as a
bargaining chip with communities.”
An analysis by the Comptroller’s Offi ce
found that the “aff ordable” housing created
by “Housing New York” is too expensive
for as many as 435,000 of the city’s
most severely rent-burdened households.
Of the newly constructed housing
in the 2019 fi scal year, only one third of
the units available reached the extremely
low and very low-income households.
Additionally, the analysis found that nearly
565,000 New York households pay over
half of their income for rent, are severely
overcrowded, or have been in homeless
shelters for over a year. Most of the
housing built under the city’s Housing
New York plan, according to the analysis,
is set at 80 percent of HUD-defi ned Area
Median Income (AMI), or households
making up to approximately $77,000 a
year, or higher.
With most of the housing being unaffordable
for local residents, Stringer’s
plan is to bring universal housing would
be set at an average of 60 percent of AMI
(household income of $58,000 a year for
a family of three), or two parents making
minimum wage and raising a child.
Additionally, 10 or more units across
New York City will be legally required to
set aside at least 25 percent of its units or
the fl oor area, whichever is greater, for
permanent low-income aff ordable housing.
“Th is is the housing that helps families
that are one paycheck away from losing
their homes,” said Stringer. “Th is is
the housing that gets New Yorkers out of
shelters. Th is is the housing that empowers
folks to climb the economic ladder to
security and stability. Th is is the housing
we need.”
According to the Department of
Finance, the current 421-a program, also
known as Aff ordable Housing New York,
is currently the largest subsidy that generates
aff ordable housing with an annual
cost of $1.6 billion in foregone property
tax revenues. However, the units that were
created do not stay aff ordable and can rent
for as much as $3,100 a month.
Stringer’s plan would put an end to
421-a by providing subsidies on a discretionary
basis strictly to fi ll in fi nancing
gaps where there is demonstrated,
documented need in order to meet the
new mandate for aff ordability, deepen the
aff ordability levels, increase the amount
of aff ordability or provide good-paying
jobs. Th e city would give more discretion
to tailor subsidies including property tax
abatements and capital subsidies; however,
it would be mandated that the aff ordable
housing that is built remains permanently
aff ordable.
Finally, Stringer’s plan to increase
homeownership across the city will
includes expanding the Department of
Housing Preservation & Development’s
Homefi rst and Homefi x programs to provide
qualifi ed moderate- and middle-income
homeowners with up to $40,000
toward down payments and loans for
home repairs and waiving real property
transfer and mortgage recording taxes for
qualifi ed fi rst-time homebuyers. Tenants
would also be granted the right of fi rst
refusal to buy their buildings should their
building go up for sale or foreclosure, as
well as leveraging banks and land trusts
to build aff ordable co-ops and condominiums
on city-owned land, and building
more limited equity housing for middle
class families.
“If we’re going to allow more New
Yorkers to climb the economic ladder,
and to thrive in communities they’ve lived
in for years, we need a bold new approach
to housing,” said Afua Atta-Mensah, Esq.
Executive Director, Community Voices
Heard.
Photo by Todd Maisel
City workers pump out homes to remove sewage after a massive sewer backup in South Jamaica last year.
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
link
link
link
