Williamsburg

Out of the 1,345 affordable homes that the city vowed to develop on municipal land in North Brooklyn following the 2005 rezoning, only 19 have been finished, DNAinfo reported. The reason, city officials told the publication, is that the city ran into unexpected roadblocks. But local residents are calling foul.

“Some sites have presented unique challenges that we are committed to working through with the community and local leaders,” a Department of Housing Preservation and Development spokesperson told DNAinfo. [more]

Christine Quinn

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s affordable housing proposal – a key component of her mayoral pitch – is being supported by a nonprofit housing advocate group that Quinn granted funds to for three consecutive years, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Quinn’s plan calls for 80,000 new low-cost apartments that could remain permanently below market-rate. [more]

Mario Procida

A Bronx contractor of affordable housing for seniors is set to pay nearly $1 million who were underpaid during the construction, the New York Daily News reported. Procida Construction Corp. will pay dozens of underpaid workers between $10,000 and $30,000 for work done in Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood between 2007 and 2012, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Monday.  [more]

Affordable housing advocate Mary Simkhovitch

From the February issue: Plans to create what would become the New York City Housing Authority were unveiled 80 years ago this month in 1933. Indeed, the New York State Housing Board sought to create the new city agency that would have broad powers to construct apartment buildings in poor areas of the five boroughs. The redevelopment effort was known as “slum clearance” at the time. Mary Simkhovitch, the founder of the National Public Housing Conference, a leading affordable housing organization, backed the plan, giving it instant credibility. [more]

Scott Stringer and brownstones with basement entrances

With New York’s incredibly tight supply of affordable housing, illegal basement rentals are on the rise, especially in the outer boroughs. But some industry experts see the illegal rentals as a boon — not a hazard — to the city and are pushing to change the rules governing what are known as accessory dwelling units, according to Crain’s. [more]

Christine Quinn

Mayoral candidate Christine Quinn’s affordable housing plan was bound to face criticism. But her plan is especially susceptible since it prominently features a tax subsidy twice proposed and rejected by the Bloomberg administration as unacceptably generous to the real estate industry, according to the New York Times. Aides to Quinn acknowledged the similarities to the previous affordable housing plans and that the idea had come from the city’s real estate industry — who have been some of Quinn’s biggest campaign donors. However they also said that Quinn had altered the plan in significant ways…. [more]

Christine Quinn

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn today in her State of the City address vowed to construct 40,000 affordable housing units for the middle class over the next 10 years, DNAinfo reported. “We face an affordability crisis in our city,” Quinn said. “We need to make sure that the people who want to stay in our great city can afford to stay.” Quinn’s definition of “middle class,” at least when it comes to housing development, is unclear. According to her Middle Class Squeeze report, issued today, it lies “between 100 percent and 300 percent of area median income.” [more]

A rendering of 625 West 57th Street

Final City Council approval for Durst Fetner Residential’s development at 625 West 57th Street is being stymied by a dispute over an affordable housing provision, Crain’s reported. The council was expected to vote Tuesday on the fate of the 32-story, 753-unit pyramid-shaped development in Hell’s Kitchen near the Hudson River, which had received approval from the City Planning Commission in December. But the affordable housing issue pushed the meeting to today. As part of the city’s 80/20 program, 150 units are slated to be affordable, a provision for which Durst Fetner received tax abatements…. [more]

Omni New York, a developer and landlord that specializes in revitalizing affordable housing units, has paid more than $137 million for a massive residential complex in the Bronx. The property is located at 16 Richman Plaza in the borough’s Morris Heights section and is composed of 1,654 below-market-rate rentals. Omni plans substantial revitalization, but emphasized that the units—which range from studios to 4-bedroom apartments–would remain under the Mitchell-Lama affordable housing program. … [more]

Borough President Scott Stringer

New York needs to curb its housing costs if it wants to keep attracting young tech talent and grow Silicon Alley, a new report released today by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer states. The report, titled “Start-Up City,” outlines 11 ways to keep New York’s tech boom booming, including investments in education, such as financial aid for engineering students who agree to work for the city after completing their degree, increasing diversity in the tech sector and designing a new class of affordable housing, according to the reported, cited by Crain’s. [more]