State, City Enter Stalled Project Discussion
Momentum has been gathering in the discussion about using stalled or empty luxury condo developments for affordable housing: as we mentioned earlier, at least one building downtown is already in talks with the city about unloading its unsold units as below-market housing, and Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries is working on others. Now The New York Times…
Momentum has been gathering in the discussion about using stalled or empty luxury condo developments for affordable housing: as we mentioned earlier, at least one building downtown is already in talks with the city about unloading its unsold units as below-market housing, and Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries is working on others. Now The New York Times reports that the city and state definitely have proposals in development for possible uses of troubled luxury buildings. But there are definite obstacles for these kinds of programs: “With budgets tighter than ever, there are few financial incentives to entice developers and lenders. And there are the practical challenges of selling apartments to buyers for far less than what their neighbors paid, not least among them possible complications for market-rent buyers, whose mortgages often depend on the building’s financial status.” The New York State Housing Finance Agency is working on a program that would offer buyers state-financed mortgages for units in buildings partially occupied by market-rate buyers, while developers would simultaneously decrease prices. Another possibility the agency is considering is to allot $5 million for $40,000 grants to 125 homebuyers. Mr. Jeffries also proposed his plan on Tuesday, to “help developers refinance troubled loans worth up to $150 million and make it easier to turn troubled condo and rental projects at all stages of construction into moderate-income rental units.”
City Considers Stalled Projects for Moderate-income Housing [NY Times]
Mystery Downtown Development Going Affordable [Brownstoner]
ID’ing Troubled Condos [Brownstoner]
More Plans Surface to Make Luxury Leftovers Affordable [Curbed]
joe- a lot of the big developers are friends and acquaintances. Not saying anything shady is going on, but there is a lot of looking the other way. I do agree- what’s so wonderful about income homogeneous neighborhoods? I don’t care about that -I care if poor and low income neighborhoods get their fair share of services. To my way of thinking, that must seem a cheaper fix” than adding bus lines, fixing streets, improving garbage pick up or planting trees in neighborhoods that have been shorted.
bxgirl — it’s true there have been too many fat deals. I don’t have any problem with luxury condos going in as long as developers of luxury condos are paying market rate for the land and selling their units at market rate (and respecting architectural context). in fact I have a big issue with jamming low-income housing projects into nice neigborhoods in pursuit of perfect income homogeneity across the city.
and in bloomie’s defense, there are other middle income housing developments going in, notably a large one in queens near the river.
but I am disappointed that he hasn’t put an end to all of the developer goodies — since he’s already a billionaire and doesn’t need the campaign contributions, I thought he’d be harder on developers.
Someone just posted in the OT that Be@ is now returning deposits. Waiting on a link to that story.
I agree with you two. Why should the politicians jump now to make housing more affordable? It looks like it is happening already. At this point all subsidies would achieve would be 1- prop up prices artificially and 2- give a handout to failed developers. It reeks of patronage.
For what it’s worth, I’ve heard that Be@schemerhorn would the first building made “affordable” through this scheme.
Here’s my question (and please forgive my ignorance): Are there any politicians out there running for seats who believe in this and would be likely to effectuate such a policy?
Gotta say, I’m with Grandpa and joe here, too.
joe- the city is too busy selling land to developers of luxury apartments, and finding creative ways to make it easy for them. Bloomberg at his “best.”
I agree we need more housing. but setting an income cap and holding a lottery for it never made much sense to me as a way to accomplish that. All the city needs to do is simply build housing and sell it. It’s justifiable as a public program if the market is failing to supply buildings without pools, cabanas and granite kitchens. selling it to the highest bidder lets them do it more cheaply, and they can build more of it. Supply is supply, and more is still needed if it is to be affordable and fairly distributed at the same time. These “programs” like 421A and this new HARP thing create expensive solutions that are neither fish nor foul, and redistribute wealth in the wrong direction.
City: use our money to simply build housing, wherever you can find cheap land.
I’ll agree with that too. Much as I know we need affordable housing, rewarding developers for overbuilding and overpricing is outrageous. Let them wise up and realize lower price sales are better than no sales and s*ck it up.