Thompson Reuters Foundation News published an Op-Ed by New York Conference’s Brendan Cheney on the need to address the city’s and the nation’s housing crisis to keep people safe. The flooding caused by Hurricane Ida highlighted how people are living in unsafe housing, including deadly basement apartments, because they cannot afford safe housing. The destruction […] Read More
Last week, President Joe Biden announced that he is reviving the partnership between the Department of Treasury’s Federal Financing Bank (FFB) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Risk Sharing Program. The program provides low-cost capital in cooperation with state housing finance agencies for affordable housing development. HUD estimates 20,000 affordable housing units can be created […] Read More
A New York Housing Conference policy brief shows how a simple legislative change to tax-exempt private activity bond “PAB” rules can spur the creation of more than 100,000 new affordable homes in New York over the next ten years. Private Activity Bonds have a “50 percent test”, which requires that 50 percent of a development‘s […] Read More
New York Housing Conference joined with 11 other housing groups to express concern about the rollout of the state’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) and calling for changes and improvements. The groups welcomed the administration’s announcement of a more streamlined application process, there are still significant barriers to the application process, fund distribution remains intolerably […] Read More
Over the weekend, Rachel Fee and Rep. Ritchie Torres published an op-ed in the New York Daily News, “A home for every American: Congress Must Act Boldly on Housing Now,” calling on Congress to take this opportunity to make a historic investment in housing. They argue that it is possible to end homelessness, housing poverty, […] Read More
New York Housing Conference and five partner organizations sent a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo calling on him to sign legislation establishing an affordable housing five-year capital plan (A3807A / S2193A). The bill would require that the administration create a statewide comprehensive five-year capital affordable housing plan every five years, which would allow developers to […] Read More
On Thursday, July 22nd, the New York Housing Conference hosted the second installment of our summer seminar series, produced by our Rising Leaders Network. Thursday’s webinar focused on the opportunity for Commercial to Residential Conversions. The discussion was moderated by Wendi Shafran (FXCollaborative) and the panelists included Mark Ginsberg (Curtis + Ginsberg LLP), Thehbia Hiwot […] Read More
On Friday, House Financial Services Committee Chair Rep. Maxine Waters, along with New York City Congressman Rep. Ritchie Torres and Rep Emanual Cleaver, introduced The Ending Homelessness Act of 2021, to phase in universal rental assistance, one of NYHC’s top policy priorities. If passed, this legislation would significantly reduce homelessness and housing poverty in America by transforming the Housing Choice Voucher […] Read More
The New York Housing Conference is supporting the Gowanus rezoning, called the Gowanus Neighborhood Plan. Last week we testified in support of the plan at the review by the Brooklyn Borough President’s office and you can read our testimony here. Last month we testified in support of the plan at the Community Board here and […] Read More
The New York Housing Conference sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to encourage them to make bold change and a lasting impact in the infrastructure bill. As you well know, housing is infrastructure and therefore should be included in the infrastructure bill. Housing benefits the families who […] Read More
