Albany’s failure to renew controversial subsidies for housing projects with apartments set aside for low-income New Yorkers could cost the Big Apple thousands of desperately needed apartments, the Adams administration has warned.
The numbers from City Hall come as Mayor Eric Adams plans to tout a new initiative Tuesday — the At-Risk Housing Task Force — that expedites permits and other approvals for an estimated 17,000 units so they qualify for the existing program before it expires. .
“With tens of thousands of New Yorkers applying for new affordable housing, a drop in new construction permits and a boom in demand for our ‘At Risk Housing Task Force,’ the data is clear: we need Albany to act this session,” Adams told The Post in a statement.
The controversial state incentive program, known as 421-a, offers developers large discounts on property taxes for new buildings in exchange for putting a percentage of newly built apartment sets into rent stabilization.
City housing officials say the new program increases:
- 30 projects in Brooklyn that will have more than 9,700 apartments;
- Nine developments in Queens that will contain 4,700 apartments;
- 11 developments in Manhattan that could contain as many as 2,540 apartments;
- Two projects in The Bronx worth 310 units;
- A development in Staten Island with 393 units
Mayor Eric Adams plans to tout a new initiative to expedite permits and other approvals for an estimated 17,000 units. Andrew Schwartz/SplashNews.com
Some of the Brooklyn developments are part of a larger controversial rezoning of the Gowanus neighborhood, which Gov. Kathy Hochul is using the state’s economic development authority to help get off the ground amid ongoing debate over reviving 421-a.
Officials declined to name other projects because many are still seeking funding.
City Planning Department data shows that applications for new housing developments declined more than 80 percent when comparing the first six months of 2022 to the same period in 2023 — with more than 62,000 unit permits requested then compared to just 10,000 now. Typically, the city builds about 20,000-25,000 new housing units in any given year.
Approval for an estimated 17,000 units will be used to qualify for existing programs before expiration. Michael Appleton/Office of the Mayor Photography
City officials and developers noted the dramatic jumps and falls as developers raced to get their projects in the pipeline before the 421-a program officially ended last year.
Those projects would then have to meet a second deadline — getting shovels in the ground — to be eligible for credits by 2026, unless the program is renewed.
Experts say that higher interest rates have also contributed to the massive fall.
City housing officials say the program will enhance and contribute to a project in Brooklyn that will have more than 9,700 apartments. Christopher Sadowski
Albany lawmakers let the 421-a program expire in 2022, rejecting a push by City Hall to continue the program and Hochul’s efforts to reform it by imposing stricter rules on developers about what types of units qualify.
Progressives have slammed the program, which essentially trades property tax rebates for subsidized housing, as a gift to developers and celebrated its demise at the time.
Dampness in construction couldn’t have come at a worse time. New York’s housing crisis across its five boroughs and suburbs is worsening — pushing rents into the stratosphere and driving families and longtime residents to New Jersey or elsewhere.
A study from the respected RAND Corporation revealed that New York will need to build an additional 100,000 units in 2010 to meet demand — as its housing shortage increases from about 245,000 to 342,000 houses and apartments.
The deficit deepened even as some 250,000 new homes and apartments were built, suggesting that 350,000 are needed to keep the crisis from worsening – and more will be needed to reverse the crisis.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
