The Daily Dirt: Housing plans face challenges

Housing plans abound, but budget cuts loom large.

Mayor Eric Adams announced this month that he is asking city agencies to identify 15 percent in cuts to their budgets between now and April. A hiring freeze goes into effect Oct. 1. 

Though staffing levels have improved at the Department of Housing Preservation and Development since last year, hiring and retention remain a problem, City & State reports. 

During a hearing on Tuesday, City Council member Raphael Salamanca said there are some projects in his district that were approved through the city’s land use review process five to seven years ago, and are still awaiting closings on city financings. 

“These cuts will slow down the development process even more and lead to less affordable housing,” he said. 

More than 700 projects are in HPD’s queue, HPD commissioner Adolfo Carrión Jr. noted. He mentioned a long-sought change to Low Income Housing Tax Credits, which would lower the threshold for as-of-right credits that require that at least 50 percent of a project be funded by private activity bonds. Carrión said a federal proposal to reduce that requirement to 25 percent would significantly boost the city’s housing production. (Those tax credits, 4 percent, are approved as-of-right, unlike the 9 percent credits that are limited by annual allocations.) 

He also noted that if the agency had more resources, it could work its way through its project queue more efficiently. 

Tuesday’s hearing was focused on City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams’ Fair Housing Framework, a bill that would require HPD to put together a plan every five years that, among other things, would assess the city’s housing needs and lay out policy initiatives to meet them. 

Discussion of the framework comes a week after the mayor unveiled a series of significant zoning changes as part of his Zoning for Housing Opportunity Text amendment. 

The effectiveness of both proposals will rely on the resources available to the city’s housing agencies, both in terms of workforce and the tools used to finance housing projects. The need for a 421a-like tax break came up a number of times during Tuesday’s hearing. 

What we’re thinking about: Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com. 

A thing we’ve learned: Some Democratic leaders want New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy to challenge Sen. Robert Menendez in 2024, NJ Advance Media reports. Rep. Andy Kim has already said that he plans to run against Menendez, who was indicted last week, in the primary.  

Elsewhere in New York…

— A state court ruled that former President Donald Trump and his companies inflated the value of their properties to secure loans and repeatedly violated state fraud laws, according to CBS News. The ruling means the civil trial against Trump will focus on other allegations brought by Attorney General Letitia James. The judge also 

— The City Council is expected to consider a package of bills next month that seek to reduce noise pollution, Gothamist reports. The measures would change noise standards for commercial establishments and construction sites. Another idea is to introduce “noise cameras,” which are activated by sounds of 85 A-weighted decibels or more from about 50 feet away. 

— Gov. Kathy Hochul says the state is covering roughly 45 percent of the cost of housing migrants in the city, the Times-Union reports. She expects next year’s budget to include “substantial” funding for handing the crisis. 

“We know that we’ll have to hit at least a baseline of what we’ve done before,” Hochul said. “We’re estimating those estimates right now. It’ll be substantial.”

Closing Time

Residential: The priciest residential closing Tuesday was $22.5 million for a condo at 432 Park Avenue in Midtown.

Commercial: The most expensive commercial closing of the day was $19.5 million for a warehouse at 130 Third Street in Brooklyn.

New to the Market: The priciest residence to hit the market Tuesday was a co-op at 955 Fifth Avenue in Lenox Hill asking $11.25 million. Sotheby’s International has the listing.

Breaking Ground: The largest new building filing of the day was for a 9,900 square-foot, six-story residential building at 1682 Weeks Avenue, in the Bronx. Fred Gremia, Architects & Planners filed the permit application.