The New York City Council’s Committee on General Welfare held an oversight hearing on unsheltered homelessness this week, asking for more information about Mayor Eric Adams’s policies for people that are unsheltered on public transportation or living in encampments in public spaces. Brendan Cheney testified for the New York Housing Conference about the importance of […]
While tax-exempt Private Activity Bonds (PABs) are one of New York State’s primary financial tools to build and preserve affordable housing, a federal limit on those bonds is also a significant barrier to expanding its overall affordable housing supply. By reforming the system to exempt affordable housing from the volume cap, New York could build […]
Mayor Eric Adams increased capital funding for housing by $5 billion over ten years in his fiscal year 2023 executive budget. While this does represent historic funding for housing, this increase is less than the Mayor promised and less than is needed. This new funding will bring total housing capital spending up to roughly $2.5 […]
Governor Hochul and the Legislature reached an agreement last week on the FY2023 Budget, representing $220B in spending. We are pleased that the budget includes a new $25B, 5-year statewide affordable housing plan, some funding for NYCHA, and much-needed aid to renters still facing the financial instability brought by the Covid-19 pandemic. The state’s new […]
In their FY 2023 Budget Response the City Council called on Mayor Eric Adams to honor his campaign promise to allocate $4 billion for affordable housing capital per year, including $2.5 billion for HPD and $1.5 billion for NYCHA. The Council’s proposal is worth reading in full: “Mayor Adams signed a campaign pledge to commit $4 billion […]
President Biden released his FY2023 Budget Proposal requesting $71.9 billion for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), about $6.2 billion more than what was enacted in the FY2022 spending bill. The administration seeks significant increases in funding to expand rental assistance and increase affordable housing supply and opportunity for homeownership. However, it also proposes funding levels for some […]
New York Housing Conference executive director Rachel Fee wrote an Op-Ed in LoHud calling on the state to pass and fund the Housing Access Voucher Program. The rental assistance program, modeled after Section 8 where tenants pay no more than 30 percent of their income on rent and the government pays the difference, is supported […]
The New York Housing Conference submitted testimony to the Committee on Housing and Buildings on the preliminary budget, calling on the city to double housing capital investment to $4 billion per year, including $2.5 billion per year for HPD and $1.5 billion per year for NYCHA. We also expressed our concern over staffing levels at HPD and […]
Mayor Eric Adams has inherited a staffing crisis across many agencies but if he does not act quickly it will slow down housing production and other housing-related services. The Mayor must get creative and allow agencies to hire up quickly. Make no mistake, the staffing shortage is inefficient and hurting the government. While there may […]
In two letters sent to state legislative leadership on Monday, March 7th, the New York Housing Conference led calls for the support of two policies that will create vital housing opportunities in New York City. The first letter asks for the inclusion of a proposal to lift the residential FAR Cap in the State’s Multiple Dwelling […]