A state Supreme Court judge starting tomorrow is scheduled to rule on a motion to block the city from rezoning the so-called Broadway Triangle urban renewal area in Brooklyn, a 31-acre site that activists say has favored politically connected members of the Hasidic community in Williamsburg over African American residents of Bedford Stuyvesant.

The Broadway Triangle Community Coalition will present expert testimony before Judge Emily Goodwin over what they claim to be long-standing housing segregation that has given members of the Hasidic community preferential treatment in public housing, despite a waiting list that is overwhelmingly black and Latino.

“Their goal an intention has always been to accommodate the political connected Hasidic Jewish community,” said attorney Marty Needelman of the Brooklyn Legal Services, representing the coalition. “Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg has totally given in to whatever they can come with.” [more]

Funding has run dry for more than 120 legal aid agencies across New York state that provide counsel to distressed homeowners, the New York Times reported. A federal stimulus program has financed the agencies since 2009, but by the end of this year that money will be completely spent. Some Democrats tried to ensure the survival of these agencies by allocating $4 million of the state budget towards foreclosure-prevention spending for the three months between the end of the federal financing and the beginning of the state’s next fiscal year. But their proposal was unsuccessful, and so too was a $1.5 million budget earmark proposed by Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito Lopez that was vetoed by Governor Andrew Cuomo. [more]

With New York’s rent-regulation laws set to expire June 15, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has released a new report that supports their extension. Entitled, “The New Housing Emergency,” the report (in full after the jump) says loopholes in the city’s current rent-stabilization rules — like vacancy decontrol and rent increases due to renovations — result in the loss of more than 10,000 rent-regulated apartments per year. The median income for tenants of the 1.02 million rent-regulated apartments in New York City is $38,000, according to the report. TRD  [more]

The laws that cap rent increases on 1 million city apartments expire in June, and landlord groups, tenant advocates and politicians all agree that they should be extended, according to the Daily News. Last time the laws were up for a renewal, in 2003, Senate Republicans threatened to let them expire and ended up forcing the Democrats to accept a simple renewal. Now the Democrats think they have a better chance of getting a good deal for tenants. The real estate industry is desperate to renew a tax break known as 421-a, which spurs new apartment building development, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver says developers won’t get that renewed unless they agree to change the rent laws. [more]

Pharmaceutical company Pfizer has unloaded eight of 13 acres at its shuttered Flushing Avenue manufacturing plant in South Williamsburg to Long Island City-based Acumen Capital Partners, which plans to revive the site, according to the Post. The complex, which is where the 162-year-old pharma giant got its start, had been previously eyed for redevelopment into a mixed-use complex with more than 1,000 apartments, including affordable housing. But Pfizer abandoned those plans two years ago because of the recession, and it doesn’t look like the Acumen deal will involve housing. [more]

A state Supreme Court judge ruled against the city in the controversial Broadway Triangle rezoning case in which a coalition of community groups allege that the Bloomberg administration steered affordable housing deals to members of the Hasidic community and two non-profit groups linked to Brooklyn party boss Vito Lopez.

The Bloomberg administration filed an October 2010 motion asking Judge Emily Goodwin to lift a stay on development of three sites near the Williamsburg location of Broadway Triangle. Several other affordable housing projects are on hold pending an investigation into possible civil rights violations by Brooklyn-based U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch.

City officials said the ruling will not have any impact on the case, as the development still remains on hold until the investigation moves forward. [more]

From left: Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver, Assemblyman Vito Lopez and Gov. Andrew CuomoDemocratic leaders in the State Assembly are indicating that they are ready to throw their support behind a cap on local property taxes, according to the New York Times. The cap, which already has backing from the Republican-led Senate, is popular with voters in New York’s suburbs, who pay some of the highest property taxes in the country. But in return for their support, Democrats are requesting stricter rent regulations for New York City, a measure which is strongly opposed by Republicans and the real estate interests that helped Governor Andrew Cuomo get elected. [more]

Juan Ramos and other worshippers at the Our Lady of Montserrat Church in Bedford-Stuyvesant say that the Brooklyn diocese decision to shut down their church by the end of January is “payback” for crossing Brooklyn Democratic Assemblyman Vito Lopez and publicly opposing the Broadway Triangle housing project. Parishioners at the Brooklyn church, on Vernon Avenue, also say that someone doctored their financial documents to show that the church was in the red. However, Diocese of Brooklyn spokesperson Shane Kavanaugh, maintains that the church is being closed because it’s a money pit and “the decision wasn’t politically motivated.” [Post]

The New York State Assembly has voted to extend New York’s rent stabilization and rent control laws in their current form through June 15, 2018, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Housing Committee Chair Vito Lopez announced today. The bill, said Lopez, is “a step towards creating certainty for the thousands of tenants of rent-stabilized apartments.” Rent regulations are intended to address vacancy rates of lower than 5 percent, below which point housing is legally considered to be in a state of emergency. New York City’s residential vacancy rate has been recently reported at less than 3 percent. “Affordable housing is a necessity, not a luxury,” Silver said. “We must continue addressing the needs of middle-income families during this economic crisis.” TRD

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The New York State Assembly has voted to extend New York’s rent stabilization and rent control laws in their current form through June 15, 2018, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Housing Committee Chair Vito Lopez announced today. The bill, said Lopez, is “a step towards creating certainty for the thousands of tenants of rent-stabilized apartments.” Rent regulations are intended to address vacancy rates of lower than 5 percent, below which point housing is legally considered to be in a state of emergency. New York City’s residential vacancy rate has been recently reported at less than 3 percent. “Affordable housing is a necessity, not a luxury,” Silver said. “We must continue addressing the needs of middle-income families during this economic crisis.” TRD

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