Cuomo sees little progress on 421a

Governor Andrew Cuomo reiterated his support for a temporary extender of 421a on Thursday afternoon, saying he sees little possibility of a solution being reached by next week.

“We’re discussing a number of proposals on 421-a,” said Cuomo, according to Capital New York. “The question is, what do you do? One question—one answer would be, well, to negotiate a whole new plan now. I think that’s unlikely because 421-a is a very complicated beast and it just doesn’t lend itself to throwing together a new program in several hours.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio said this week that if 421a cannot be reformed, he would support ending it entirely.

However, Cuomo said that this alternative “would stop any production of affordable housing.”

“I would not want to see the program expire because then you’d have no construction,” he said. “I would favor a short-term extension so you still have the pressure on people to get a new agreement done, but you don’t actually stop producing affordable housing.”

Cuomo and de Blasio have clashed over their approaches to reforming the tax break program, which expires on Monday. De Blasio does not support a prevailing wage requirement for construction workers, while Cuomo believes it should be included in the package. [Capital NY] — Tess Hofmann