Do As I Say…

Historic low rent guidelines of 1 and 2.75 percent for one and two year renewal leases were approved Monday night, as previously reported. Mayor deBlasio said he was disappointed that the one year guideline was not zero, but apparently has mixed feelings on the need for increases: Capital New York reported yesterday that he has frozen one rent in the two family house he owns since 2006 and socked the other tenant. The overall rent roll went up about 9.5 percent from 2011 to 2013 while cumulative one year guidelines, by contrast, went up about 6 percent. Planning Commission Chairman Carl Weisbrod named Purnima Kapur as Executive Director of the Commission this week, citing her experience developing the East New York plan that will lead off the Mayor’s zoning changes to encourage affordable housing. Kyle Kimball spoke to the ABO luncheon Wednesday about Economic Development Corporation efforts to promote projects ranging from Willets Point to Cornell Technion, but the first question was about getting ferry service to the Upper West Side. Kimball explained that longer routes were expensive. The Rockaway fast ferry requires a $36 subsidy per passenger on top of the fare. Not totally housing related, but interesting. The National Association of Home Builders scored a Supreme Court victory for multifamily developers this week in Utility Air Regulatory Group vs. EPA.  The Court held that EPA did not have the authority under the Clean Air Act to require preconstruction permits from apartment buildings for greenhouse gas emissions. The agency was trying to treat apartment  buildings like power plants. A $60,000 permit fee and $200,000 in project delay costs were predicted for a typical 50 unit building had the EPA rule gone into effect. And our State organization, the New York State Builders Association, lobbied successfully in Albany for legislation requiring notices to new single family home buyers that they could buy sprinkler systems as an option. Sprinkler manufacturers have been pushing for a building code requirement to install sprinklers in all new homes at builder expense. The bill now goes to the Governor.