AA's "Fat Flier" Got Whole Row
Ashley Dupre On Tiger Woods' Babes: "At Least I Kept My Mouth Shut"
Same-Sex Marriage Blame Game Aims at Paterson, Addabbo
Wife Tries To Abort And Poison Husband's Lovechild
Rihanna's Random Airport Search
The city and state have worked out their differences and will move forward on overhauling the 421-a tax abatement program for new development. The City Council had passed a version last year that would have increased the amount of affordable housing and limited how much of the subsidy could go towards luxury housing, but then the Legislature's version, passed in June, included more neighborhoods, more units available to people with even lower incomes, and $300 million in breaks to Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner Companies. The city wasn't sure about those additions and wanted changes.
The Times reports that the new version will include the neighborhoods mentioned in the Legislature's bill, plus this breakdown of how the benefit would work
20 percent of the units in most rental buildings receiving the tax break would have to be affordable to people making on average no more than 90 percent of median income for the area, or $64,000 for a family of four. That could include some apartments for households making as much as 120 percent of the median income and some making as little as 60 percent or less, as long as the average for the lower-priced units was 90 percent.As for affordable housing at the Atlantic Yards, the affordable units will have to be built at the same time as market rate ones, and 20% of any building must be affordable to get the full benefit from 421-a.In co-ops and condominiums, 20 percent of all units would have to be affordable to people making no more than 125 percent of median income, or just under $90,000 for a family of four.
The bill will go to Governor Spitzer (and, for what it's worth, State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno thinks the bill is fine with the changes). If Spitzer signs it, it would go into effect next summer.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Can someone tell me if there is a registry of these set-aside units in apartment buildings? Is it centralized or building by building? Who makes the decision? Does it help to contact an elected official's office? When the rare vacancy occurs, how is the unit reassigned? Or does a tenant pass it on to a friend or relative? In short, is this a fair system, or have we created a new landed aristocracy, just like rent control (and eventually rent stabilization) did?
The 'reform' is complete bullshit , and really just marks a difference between high-end and low-end luxury apartments.
The bill is just a PR piece to make it seem like the city is trying to preserve low and middle income housing.
In reality the law means that the poltician's biggest contributers ( area developers ) can raze 100 homes where the average family makes $60k a year, and construct 200 apartments in its place - 160 of which are high end luxury, 40 of which are aimed at people who make $90k a year.
Laws like this don't save or ensure middle class housing, they lessen it.
Isn't it wonderful that Jen Chung knows absolutely nothing about housing. Guest at 1:49 is much more on the ball on the 421(a) issue, which combined with triple tax-free muni bonds, pays for about 50% of the cost of construction, and results in mostly luxury housing.
The idea behind 421's are to allow politicians appears as if they are doing something.
Of course the Vito Lopez piece was a poison pill intended to fail, so that Quinn and Bloomberg could pay back developers.