NYC foreclosures up 30 percent
New York City’s foreclosures were up 30 percent in August, according to research firm RealtyTrac. Brooklyn took the biggest hit with 1,032 foreclosures, up from 822 in August 2006. Manhattan had 79 foreclosures this August, compared to 62 a year ago.
City Council approves Jamaica rezoning
The City Council last month approved, by a 45-3 count, the Bloomberg administration’s big plans to rezone and transform Jamaica in Queens. The administration’s Jamaica plan called for rezoning 368 blocks for new office, retail and housing developments. The council’s approval comes after two years of extensive negotiations and public hearings and decades of planning. The rezoning is part of the administration’s land-use strategy, outlined in its 2001 “Group of 35” report, which calls for creating thriving around-the-clock, mixed-use centers in all five boroughs through land-use changes (see Jamaica debates downzoning downside).
Crackdown vowed for illegal hotels
The Imperial Court, at 307 West 79th Street, is among several Upper West Side apartment buildings under scrutiny by officials and tenant advocates for allegedly operating as illegal hotels, violating a city law that single-occupancy rooms in residential buildings must lease for a minimum of 30 days. The Illegal Hotels Task Force, a group of city and state officials investigating these violations, received complaints from tenants at more than 100 buildings citywide, the New York Times reported.
HUD late on payments to landlords of 4,000 units
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has delayed payments on Section 8 housing subsidies because of a temporary deficit, the New York Daily News reported. The agency will be late on payments to the landlords of nearly 4,000 city apartments in 43 buildings, Senator Chuck Schumer announced last month. One source estimates that HUD is $1 billion to $3 billion short of its budget.
Trump fears more downzoning
Donald Trump, reacting to neighborhood opposition to Trump Soho and citywide outcries against tall buildings, especially in the outer boroughs, said he fears more downzoning, the New York Observer reported. He said, “Eventually, they’re going to downzone the whole city, and you’re not going to be able to build in New York City anymore, so you’ll have to go to China. You literally aren’t going to be able to build in New York. They’re going to downzone everything, because nobody wants to have a building that’s above 15 feet high. And the city’s got to be very careful of that.”
Pols oppose Fordham campus tripling in size
Rep. Jerrold Nadler and other politicians have written a letter to Fordham University stating their opposition to its expansion plans. Fordham wants to triple the size of its Lincoln Center campus but plans to stay within its current footprint, between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues and 60th and 62nd streets. It plans to build more than 2 million square feet over the next 25 years, the New York Sun reported.
NJ, NY have highest property taxes
A Tax Foundation report shows that New York and New Jersey had the highest property taxes in the U.S. in 2006. Residents paid up to $6,500 more than the national median in property taxes. The county with the highest property tax was Hunterdon County, N.J. Every county in the top 10 was in New York or New Jersey, the Post reported.
Housing agency slammed over affordable rentals
The state inspector general said in a report that the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal’s “deep and systemic failure” has led to crumbling buildings, higher rents and wasted government spending on subsidized housing. At the Bronx’s Co-op City, 40 of 47 contracts violated the rules of the Mitchell-Lama affordable housing program between 2002 and 2006. The agency was also criticized for allowing renters to exceed income limits and allowing its employees to live in affordable buildings it monitors, the Times reported.