Mayor de Blasio may want to freeze rents on rent stabilized housing again, but he wants two percent minimum annual maintenance increases in HDFC low-income co-ops in order to ensure all buildings are “functional in the long run.” The minimum is included in a new proposed regulatory agreement the City is considering…in part to deal with deep financial problems in buildings that haven’t increased maintenance regularly.
Emergency rent grants under the Family Eviction Prevention Program will be increased for the first time since 2004 under a settlement reached this week between the State and the Legal Aid Society. The old limit for a family of three was $850 a month, vs. $1515 under the new agreement, but the increased rental assistance is still only triggered after a tenant faces eviction in court.
Crain’s has guesstimated where 90 new homeless shelters proposed by the Mayor will be located. The plan is to try to keep people in their current neighborhoods, and nearly half of the city’s shelter population comes from just six areas: Central Brooklyn, Central Bronx, High Bridge/Morrisania, Bronx Park/Fordham, East New York/New Lots and Hunts Point/Mott Haven. The zip code currently sending the most people to shelters is 10456 in the Bronx.
Michael Hyman , First Deputy Commissioner at the NYC Department of Finance, testified at a budget hearing yesterday that “The Real Property Transfer Tax, which is an indicator of the health of the real estate market, has declined by 15 percent so far this fiscal year, down from an average growth rate of 19 percent in the previous three fiscal years. ”
Aimco, the national apartment REIT, is suing Airbnb in California and Florida for encouraging tenants to break lease provisions and creating safety, noise, and nuisance issues for legal renters.
New York State is offering to pay to test resident water samples for lead under a $1.5 million program announced Wednesday.
Ben Carson was confirmed as the new Secretary of HUD, yesterday, over the opposition of both New York’s U.S. Senators.
Granger MacDonald, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, was invited to the White House, Tuesday, to see President Trump begin rolling back the controversial Waters of the United States regulations that developers opposed in many parts of the country, and managed to touch base with Trump, Vice President Pence, and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt on various environmental and regulatory issues affecting housing. Jerry Howard, CEO of the NAHB, will talk about this and key federal housing policies under the Trump administration at 8:45 a.m. March 21st in the Javits Center to keynote our BuildingsNY trade show. Register today.