De Blasio hesitant to take position on 421a tax break

Mayor promised more details and analysis about the program's fate in the near future

From left: Mayor Bill de Blasio and tenant advocates protesting 421a last week
From left: Mayor Bill de Blasio and tenant advocates protesting 421a last week

Mayor Bill de Blasio did not take a firm stand on the future of the 421a tax abatement during his testimony in Albany yesterday.

The mayor said that he’d release more information as well as a detailed proposal and analysis in coming weeks, the New York Observer reported.

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De Blasio is caught in the middle between tenant advocates who’d like to see the program, which offers tax breaks to developers who build multi-family housing, repealed and developers who are in favor of it and see it as a key part of realizing the mayor’s goal of building and preserving 200,000 affordable units within 10 years.

Real Estate Board of New York President Steven Spinola also discussed the subject during mini-lobby day in Albany. [NYO] — Claire Moses