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De Blasio, Cuomo resolve federal housing bond dispute
City receiving another $90M in federally tax-exempt financing for low-income housing
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo don’t see eye-to-eye on much these days, but they have resolved a fight over federally tax-exempt housing bonds.
The de Blasio administration received $90 million from the state in the form of bonds for low-income housing projects, Housing Development Corp. president Gary Rodgney told city board members Wednesday.
The city plans to close financing on the projects this month, according to Politico, and has another $46 million remaining from an earlier batch of housing bonds intends to issue before the end of the year.
In addition, a housing project connected to Forest City Ratner’s Pacific Park development in Downtown Brooklyn will get its expected allotment of almost $24 million – taking the city’s total allocation through the “volume cap” program to $160 million for the second half of this year.
The mayor’s administration has been negotiating the city’s allocation with Albany in recent weeks – talks complicated by the fact that de Blasio and Cuomo have fought over everything from affordable housing to homelessness to mass transit funding.
The state was reportedly threatening to cancel the city’s bonds altogether for the second half of 2015, though a spokesperson for the governor denied that was ever an option. [Politico] – Rey Mashayekhi