Mayor de Blasio this week acknowledged “instructing” the Rent Guidelines Board members who froze rents the past two years. There are two vacancies on the Board that he is expected to fill shortly, and a preliminary guidelines vote for next year has been scheduled April 25th.

President Trump’s proposed 2018 budget, released yesterday, would cut Housing Choice Section 8 vouchers statewide by about 9 percent, according to the New York Housing Conference. Elimination of the Community Development Block Grant program would gut the City Housing Department budget, where federal funds pay nearly half the staff, and the plan would also eliminate the HOME Investment Partnership and Choice Neighborhoods programs.

Jerry Howard, CEO of the National Association of Home Builders, will talk about this and other key housing policies under the Trump administration at 8:45 a.m. this coming Tuesday, March 21st in the Javits Center to keynote our BuildingsNY trade show. Register today.

Multifamily building permits issued in January and February tripled from the prior year, but an analysis by the Real Deal found many were additional permits for units that got foundation permits prior to the expiration of the 421a tax incentive program the year before.

Meanwhile, the 421a debate continues in Albany. The State Senate introduced a “one house” budget bill expanding on the Governor’s latest proposal by adding benefits for new homeownership projects up to 80 units (from 35) and with assessed values up to $85,000 (from $65,000). The State Assembly staked out its position with a one house bill that didn’t include any 421a program.

Any architects, engineers or developers with opinions on New York City’s building, plumbing, and mechanical codes have until March 30th to volunteer for official Department of Buildings advisory committees conducting a triennial code review.

The Electrical Code is not up for review, but the City Council, yesterday, passed legislation doubling fines for performing unlicensed electrical work

Governor Cuomo told the Building and Construction Trades Council last week that “421a is not about an affordable housing program, 421a is about the principle (of protecting union labor).” Surprise.

Cuomo,  yesterday, trumpeted a $1.4 billion plan to revitalize central Brooklyn with healthcare, housing, parks, and jobs programs, concentrating funds already included in his 2017 budget proposal.

The Governor was silent, however, on the appointment of RuthAnne Visnauskas as Commissioner for Housing and Community Renewal. The announcement was made by her predecessor, James Rubin.

Catch 22. The New York Law Journal reported this week that a Brooklyn Housing Court Judge dismissed a nuisance holdover in 757 Miller Owners LLC vs. Smith, because the owner offered a stabilized renewal lease during the pendency of the case, as required by law. The decision implied that the owner should have made the offer conditional.

CHIP is challenging the latest State Department of Labor minimum wage order that says the value of an apartment’s rent in 1975 has to be used in determining the cash value of free rent today. Jerrold Goldberg of Greenberg Traurig made our case to the Industrial Board of Appeals last week, and a decision is expected by the end of the month.

Federally assisted housing, including Section 8 voucher units, will have to do lead paint risk assessments of the unit and common areas when a child is found to have blood lead levels of just 5 micrograms per deciliter under a new HUD rule adopted one week before Trump was sworn in as President, and effective in July. The old trigger was 10 ug/dl. This is separate from local abatement and investigation requirements.

Federal funding for housing is in play with reports this week that the New York City Housing Authority will get $35 million less this year than anticipated from Washington under cuts already in the works, and HPD Section 8 will be cut $23 million more. President Trump is also considering slashing 14% or $6 billion from HUD programs overall. Jerry Howard, CEO of the National Association of Home Builders, will talk about this and other key 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.

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.

Renovation and development just got harder between Amsterdam Avenue and Riverside Drive from 109th to 119th Streets with the creation, Tuesday, of a Morningside Heights Historic District.

The value of residential construction citywide fell from $19.5 billion in 2015 to $11.5 billion in 2016, although it was still higher than the five year average, the Building Congress reported yesterday. Commercial construction increased slightly.

New offices may not be as much in demand, however, according to a report from Green Street Advisors that said New York City added only 21,700 office jobs last year, compared to 44,900 in 2015, and that only small increases are predicted through 2018.

A Manhattan Supreme Court Judge yesterday rejected property owner Kamran Hakim’s challenge to the Worst Landlords list, saying that even though the buildings cited were vacant, they might still be dangerous to potential squatters.

Federal immigration policy is a housing issue too. Twenty-two percent of construction workers are estimated to be foreign born; and legal and illegal immigrants have created  450,000 households needing housing a year–most of it rental–for the past 20 years. Jerry Howard, President of the National Association of Home Builders, will talk about this and other 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.

The Appellate Division, First Department, yesterday agreed that water rates for 2016-17 should continue to be frozen for all, rather than increased for multifamily customers so that single family homeowners could get a credit. The Mayor’s plan for the homeowner credit at other ratepayer’s expense was arbitrary and capricious, according to the decision in Prometheus Realty vs. NYC Water Board.

The Mayor plans to spend $93 million more in tax dollars over the next five years for lawyers for tenants in Housing Court.

Meanwhile, the City Council, Wednesday, passed a package of bills intended to make it harder for the Police to evict tenants committing nuisances such as drug dealing. The Mayor is expected to sign them.

Another bill passed Wednesday would require building address numbers to be put on all public entrances to a building. If a building has addresses on two streets, the appropriate number for that street will be required. If the address is only on one street, a public entrance from the other street would need both the number and street name from the official entrance. The Mayor is expected to sign the bill which would take effect for existing buildings in one year.

State Department of Environmental Conservation inspectors are reportedly out enforcing new rules adopted more than a year ago that changed the definition of “underground storage tank” to a tank that “has ten

percent or more of its volume beneath the surface of the ground or is covered by materials.” This apparently includes many tanks previously thought to be above ground, so check with your oil company if you have any question.

Jamie Rubin, Commissioner of the State Division of Homes and Community Renewal, has been tapped by the Governor as the new Director of State Operations. A new DHCR Commissioner hasn’t been named yet.

State Senator Bill Perkins is resigning his seat after winning a special election for City Council, Tuesday, altering the Democrat-Republican balance in the State Senate at least through budget season.

The Court, this week, awarded apartment owners damages for the unconstitutional taking of their property by rent regulation. The Court was the European Court of Human Rights and the constitution was the Czech Republic’s.

The Post reported this week that  the average price for air rights in Manhattan in 2016 was $292 per square foot, up from $277 in 2015. The City wants a piece of the piece over Broadway theaters, proposing that it get 20% of any air right sales and that theaters be required to charge a minimum $346 per foot. That contrasts with the $78.60 per square foot  minimum the City proposed for midtown east, where 20% would also be claimed for City coffers. Apparently, air prices may change with the wind.

The Furman Center came out, Wednesday, with a report saying the Governor’s new 421a proposal would cost the City up to $5.7 million more for a 300 unit affordable building in downtown Brooklyn than the 421a program that was adopted for 2016, but suspended until a wage agreement could be worked out, for any property contact professionals to make your space more approachable and add more value to it, look at Aluminium Window Installers Near Me to get beautiful and durable products for your home. By implication, the new proposal is also more costly to the City than the old program that expired in 2015. The report, however, doesn’t even attempt to analyze which of the plans would produce more affordable units or more units overall.

It is time to register for BuildingsNY, sponsored by CHIP and ABO, March 21-22. We’ve arranged a keynote presentation at 8:45 a.m. on the 21st by Jerry Howard, CEO of the National Association of Home Builders, giving us the latest news and projections on Trump administration policy that will affect housing.

Con Edison rates will be going up less this month than requested thanks, in part, to CHIP’s intervention in the State Public Service Commission rate setting proceeding. This was the first time CHIP took part in the process. Con Ed had sought an 8.2% gas rate increase and 4.5% electric increase. First year increases under the approved tariff will instead be 2.3% for gas and 1.6% for electricity. Con Ed will also be required to provide automatic upload of benchmarking data by the end of the year, without charge.

Because of the higher purchase prices for condos receiving 421-a benefits, condo buyers in Manhattan spend on average 53 cents to 61 cents for each $1 of tax savings, according to the City Independent Budget Office. Condo owners in the rest of the city spend on average 42 cents to 50 cents for each $1 of tax savings, the IBO said in a new report. Somehow, the IBO concluded that the difference between the tax savings and the premium was a “wasted” benefit instead of part of the incentive value for developers to risk building in the first place.

The IBO’s argument, however, meshes neatly with Mayor de Blasio’s argument against continuing 421-a benefits for condos and his call for a new “mansion tax” on apartment sales over $2 million to support affordable rental development.

Class 2 billable assessments will go up 10.5% for fiscal 2018, beginning in July, under the Mayor’s latest financial plan released Tuesday. Estimates are that almost one quarter of that might be due to new construction and improvements, but look for close to an 8% tax hike on existing apartment buildings.

DHCR published 2017 fuel adjustments for rent controlled apartments, Monday, with decreases for National Grid firm gas customers and increases for other fuel and billing types. Owners with National Grid  firm gas have to file the RA 33.10 forms and serve tenants within 60 days or lose their entire fuel adjustment…but, typically, as of this morning, the new numbers and online forms weren’t online. They will be here, eventually.

DHCR has published updated Forms  HRVD-N – Notice of Apartment Deregulation Pursuant to High Rent Vacancy and  RA-93 CF – Income Certification Form to reflect the 2017 Deregulation Rent Thresholds. The threshold remains $2700 in New York City, but varies in ETPA counties. Still, even in New York City, the new forms should be used.

The poor developer’s Hudson Yards? The Economic Development Corporation  has issued an RFP for a mixed use project  including housing on a 58,000 square foot site over rail yards in Long Island City.

Maria Torres-Springer will take over from Vicki Been as commissioner of HPD, February 6th. Torres-Springer was president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation. Been goes back to NYU. James Patchett, chief of staff for Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, will take over the reins at the EDC.

Tentative 2018 assessments released this week show a 10.5 percent citywide increase for Class 2 properties. Brooklyn buildings had the biggest increases with Class 2 assessments soaring 15.71 percent. The Department of Finance reported that about 25 percent of the Class 2 market value increases came from new construction and improvements. Apartment buildings owners have until March 1st to file challenges with the Tax Commission.

More new housing construction is the goal of the Governor’s latest 421-a tax incentive bill, introduced early this week. REBNY and the Construction Trades Council reportedly agreed on the terms, which set minimum wages for projects over 300 units in core Manhattan and the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront but provide deeper benefits than the old program for all projects citywide. However, neither Senate nor Assembly leaders have signed off yet, and the Governor did not wrap the issue into the budget bill, also introduced this week, that they may focus on first.

Construction safety is also in the news, with the City Council reacting to recent accidents and union pressure with a package of bills.  A spate of articles feeding the debate highlighted reduced federal enforcement, increased city enforcement, and debate over causes and solutions ranging from simply increased construction to the effects of project size.

Five large property owners and managers were charged with source of income discrimination by the City Department of Human Rights, Tuesday. The cases involve alleged refusal to accept testers with Section 8 or LINC, although all the properties appear to have subsidized tenants.

Seven National Grid employees and 26 building owners or managers were among 37 people indicted yesterday by the Brooklyn District Attorney in a scheme allegedly involving $1300-$2500 payoffs to get gas meters installed in new or renovated apartments without completing required Buildings Department inspections and safety sign-offs.

Feeling the pain? Commercial property taxes, not including taxes on single family homes, co-ops or condos, rose 24.4% from fiscal 2013 to fiscal 2016 according to a report issued this week by REBNY, and the Wall Street Journal calculated the 2013-2017 hike at 29.3% — but the Mayor’s office is happy that the tax rate hasn’t increased, just assessments and revenues.

Governor Cuomo delivered six regional State of the State speeches this week, but never once mentioned dealing with the 421-a tax incentive for new housing that filled headlines all last year.

Did you forget all Mayor de Blasio’s proposed rezonings for higher density development? City Limits published a wrap up with the status of the twelve announced so far.