Speaker Menin and more than a dozen other members of the City Council want to get to the bottom of the Mitchell-Lama cost conundrum.
A hearing on affordability across an aging tranche of subsidized housing drew pointed questions from Council members to Housing Preservation and Development Department officials overseeing a portion of the city’s Mitchell-Lama portfolio.
Lawmakers including Speaker Julie Menin and Finance Committee Chair Linda Lee underscored that they weren’t trying to challenge the viability of Mitchell-Lama properties.
“This hearing is not about questioning whether Mitchell-Lama developments need financial support. They do,” Menin said. “We should be asking whether renovation financing, capital investments, operating subsidies, insurance reforms, refinancing opportunities and stronger oversight of management practices can reduce the need for significant rent increases.”
HPD’s oversight role includes approving proposed rent hikes and carrying cost increases for Mitchell-Lama co-ops, while working with private owners, managers or shareholders to maintain balanced budgets.
A recent flash point in the Mitchell-Lama affordability debate, the 30 percent rent increase at the 871-unit Tracey Towers complex in the Bronx over the next four years, was top of mind for lawmakers at the Wednesday hearing.
Several Tracey Towers tenants also attended the hearing to testify about their situation, sporting shirts emblazoned with a new spin on an old slogan: “Zohran Mamdani Raised My Rent.”
Eye-catching slogans notwithstanding, proposed increases for Mitchell-Lama tenants and shareholders went well beyond Tracey Towers, with 37 developments across the city facing an average 29 percent hike as of 2025, according to HPD data.
Out of HPD’s portfolio of 90 Mitchell-Lama developments, more than a dozen have closed on Multifamily Housing Rehabilitation Loans offered through the agency for cases when capital needs couldn’t be financed through other sources. Some Mitchell-Lamas are getting creative to raise needed revenue, including one East Village co-op putting its parking lot up for sale despite pushback from shareholders who claim the board cut them out of the process.
The city agency’s approach to runaway costs starts with connecting more eligible Mitchell-Lama residents with Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption and Disability Rent Increase Exemption programs, along with advocacy for additional rental subsidies like Section 8 at the federal level.
Department of Finance data estimates that some 8,000 Mitchell-Lama households are eligible for SCRIE or DRIE rent-freeze programs, but not all of those households would be eligible if they are enrolled in any other rental subsidy program. HPD’s Mitchell-Lama portfolio has approximately 5,500 Section 8 voucher households and 6,000 households on SCRIE, according to First Deputy Commissioner Adam Phillips.
“For the residents of Mitchell-Lamas — residents of Tracey, Cannon, Kingsbridge Arms, some in my district or near my district — 31 percent, 40 percent, 50 percent … is a big increase,” Council member Eric Dinowitz said. “But it’s not only big; it is in the face of an administration who has made affordability a centerpiece of their campaign and who campaigned on zero percent rent increases.”
What we’re thinking about: Are city, state or federal subsidies enough to make Mitchell-Lamas pencil out for owners and tenants? What’s a better model for the aging middle-income portfolio? Let me know at ben.miller@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: Research from the Yale School of the Environment found that 38 percent of the carbon emissions added by suburbanization comes from street design. Though people often blame the environmental cost of suburbanization on the suburbs’ distance from cities, research shows that windy roads and cul-de-sacs enforce car dependency, accounting for almost half the greenhouse gas emissions added by suburbanization.
— Spencer Davis
Elsewhere…
— Air quality is getting worse in New York City as smoke rolled in from an Ontario, Canada, wildfire, reports Gothamist. Libraries and subway stations are giving out free KN95 masks to anyone struggling to breathe.
— City Comptroller Mark Levine launched an audit of $243 million in no-bid migrant shelter contracts the city awarded to nonprofit group BHRAGS Home Care, writes The City Reporter. The group’s former president, Ronald Tirelus, and its former executive director, Roberto Samedy, were federally charged with embezzling more than $1 million from the group in March.
— A $6 billion transmission line from Canada that was supposed to power New York City during the summer heatwave will likely be offline for the rest of the month, writes Gothamist. No power flowed through the 339-mile line for more than 10 days this month as New York’s energy grid struggles with demand caused by increasing air conditioning use.
— Spencer Davis
Closing time
Residential: The most expensive residential sale recorded Wednesday was $13.3 million for 157 Chambers Street, PH. The Tribeca penthouse condo unit is 3,400 square feet. It last sold in 2017 for $12.5 million.
Commercial: The most expensive commercial transaction was $2.7 million for 39-20 24th Street. The industrial warehouse building is in Long Island City and has a gross floor area of 6,200 square feet.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $9.9 million for 45 Walker Street, Unit 4. The Tribeca condo is 4,800 square feet. Compass’ Hudson Advisory Team has the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building permit filed was for a proposed 112,279-square-foot, eight-story, mixed-use building at 103 Empire Boulevard in Crown Heights. Kao Hwa Lee Architects is the applicant of record.
— Joseph Jungermann