Carl Weisbrod, chairman of the City Planning Commission, says every request for a zoning variance will trigger an affordable housing mandate. Weisbrod told an audience at New York Law School that the administration will propose formal requirements by the end of the year, but that they will apply “interim mandates” on a project basis. “You can’t build one unit unless you build your share of affordable housing,” he said.
The difficulty of building anything new may partially explain the surge in alterations and renovations reported this week by the NY Building Congress. New York City’s private and public building owners initiated $5.7 billion worth of alteration and renovation projects in 2013, a 5 percent increase from 2012, when A&R starts totaled $5.4 billion, and a 25 percent increase from 2011 ($4.6 billion). Residential work totaled $870 million in 2013, and residential A&R spending in the first half of 2014 equaled the total for all of 2012.
The New York Times reported this morning that HPD is rescinding Section 8 vouchers because of a $37 million shortfall in federal aid.
City Comptroller Scott Stringer issued a report, Monday, finding that public housing had a lot of maintenance deficiencies, regulated housing had fewer, market rate housing fewer still, and owner occupied housing the fewest overall. Duh. The numbers also show that the percentage of units with problems in each category hasn’t changed much over time.
There was a primary election, Tuesday, but not much changed for incumbents. The clear winner in New York State was Jeff Klein, leader of the Independent Democratic Conference who will likely be the kingmaker for State Senate leadership in January.
Is the tech bubble in real estate over? Zillow is buying Trulia for $3.5 billion and start-ups Cozy, Floored, and Honest Buildings have raised millions in venture capital. But one analysis shows 100 such companies getting funding in 2012 and only about 25 in 2013.