Government Briefs

Mortgage lenders seek disclosure rule delay
Mortgage lenders are lobbying the federal government for a nearly two-year delay in the enforcement of new consumer protection rules. The Truth in Lending and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, which was created by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as part of the regulatory response to the mortgage crisis, requires lenders to provide borrowers two sets of disclosures, at the beginning and end of the process, simplifying the current four-set system. The rules were slated to go into effect Aug 1. But the American Bankers Association said its members aren’t prepared for the change, blaming key software providers for dragging their feet, the New York Times reported. The bankers are supporting legislation that would prohibit the enforcement of TILA-RESPA until Jan. 1, 2016. More than 20 consumer groups have signed a letter opposing a new law. CFPB director Richard Cordray has acknowledged the banks’ difficulties but so far is sticking to the Aug. 1 deadline.

Michael Kelly

NYCHA may sell some public housing land
The New York City Housing Authority is considering selling public land to developers as part of its effort to balance its finances. NYCHA’s chronic deficit is projected to reach $200 million a year by 2020, and the agency has $17 billion in unfunded capital needs. To address this, Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYCHA CEO Shola Olatoye proposed the 10-year “Next Generation NYCHA” plan, which if enacted, would close the deficit and cover $7 billion of the funding gap. One key plank would have NYCHA lease parcels of public housing land to private developers who agree to make 50 percent of the units built there affordable. The agency’s general manager, Michael Kelly, told the City Council that for the first time, the agency might also sell land outright, according to Capital New York. Kelly declined to further clarify the agency’s plans.

Bushwick Inlet Park

City won’t purchase Williamsburg waterfront site
City officials admitted there’s no room in the budget for a prime Williamsburg site the city has sought since 2005. The 11-acre East-River-front plot between North 10th and North 12th streets, known as CitiStorage for the owners of the warehouse that occupies it, was selected by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration in the 2005 rezoning of Williamsburg to become the core of the planned Bushwick Inlet Park. Instead, steep price increases in the area have prevented the purchase. The city has already spent $300 million to acquire the rest of the sites for the park, rid them of pollution, and develop them, more than double the original amount targeted for spending on the entire park, according to Crain’s.

Parkway Hospital

Conversion of Forest Hills hospital to school nixed
The former Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills, empty since 2008, will remain that way for the time being. The abandoned 70,000-square-foot medical facility at 70-35 11th Street, built in 1963, was for a few years the city’s only privately owned hospital, until it was closed by the New York State Commission on Healthcare and Facilities, despite the vehement objections of its owners, Parkway Hospital Associates. The building has since decayed, with boarded-up windows and graffiti on the ground floor. Several attempts to auction the property have failed to gain traction. Area parents hatched a scheme in May to convert the former hospital into a school, according to DNAinfo, but those plans were quashed by the Department of Education, which rejected the idea without detailing its reasoning.