Spinola, council members disagree on 421a

Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, tells NY1 the elimination of the 421a program needs to be revisited because it puts luxury and affordable housing projects in jeopardy, and developers who rushed to break ground before the program expired have stopped work because of the credit crisis. However, not everyone agrees that bringing back the program will fix the housing woes. City Council member Erik Dilan, chair of the City Council Housing and Buildings Committee, said there are larger fundamentals affecting the housing market nationwide. And Assembly member Vito Lopez said he is not interested in bringing the program back because a new system will bring a mix of market-rate and affordable housing together within the same developments.