City housing plans rely on Albany

By JANAKI CHADHA

06/05/2023 10:01 AM EDT

New York City Mayor Eric Adams testifies before the New York State Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means Committees in Albany on Wednesday, February 15, 2023. | Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

City Hall officials have been pushing hard in Albany this session for a suite of reforms that would help advance Mayor Eric Adams’ housing agenda. If they don't succeed — unlikely with just four session days left — several housing goals and plans the mayor has laid out in his first year and a half in office will be much harder to achieve. Here are three of them:

— Transforming Midtown: In his State of the City speech in January, Adams announced plans to rezone the area for new housing, which would rely on office-to-residential conversions.

The mayor has been pushing for regulatory changes in Albany that would ease logistical barriers to turning office space into apartments, and for a new tax incentive to encourage affordable housing in conversions. The absence of those state changes would significantly limit a plan to spur conversions in Midtown.

— Boosting housing in affluent neighborhoods: Adams has made a point of boosting private development projects and stressing the need for wealthy neighborhoods — where residents often have more resources to fight projects — to contribute to the city's housing needs. But the lack of certain tools from Albany, like the elimination of a cap on residential density in the city, makes that more challenging. Proponents of lifting that density cap, City Hall among them, have noted it would help spur more affordable housing in affluent neighborhoods.

Neighborhood rezonings in wealthier, majority-white areas at the end of the de Blasio administration — specifically in Soho and Gowanus — will also be limited without state action on the expired 421-a tax break. A new version of the incentive is not seriously on the table at this point, but City Hall is pushing to extend a completion deadline for projects that are covered under the old program, and may not get built without additional construction time.

— Legalizing basement apartments: Adams’ housing plan last June called improving conditions in basement units a "top priority" for his administration.

But the plan noted that efforts to legalize these apartments — which are often vulnerable to flooding and other serious safety risks — require action in Albany. "It has become clear that we cannot meet our goals for basement conversions without statutory changes at the state level," the plan said.

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Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins both suggested that addressing the state's housing needs is a long-term conversation that probably can't get wrapped up in any form before the six-month session wraps. | Joseph Spector/POLITICO

HOUSING DEAL REMAINS ELUSIVE — POLITICO's Joseph Spector: Legislative leaders were not optimistic Wednesday that a last-minute deal could be reached to address some of the housing needs in New York City before the session ends. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins both suggested that addressing the state's housing needs is a long-term conversation that probably can't get wrapped up in any form before the six-month session wraps.

"Everyone is acknowledging the issue," Heastie told reporters. "I think when you want to do transformational change, I think there really needs to be time for collective buy-in, and I’m just not sure that that was able to happen with the housing program."

Stewart-Cousins said it appears difficult to peel off certain parts of the housing agenda without taking a holistic look at the state's need for new construction and affordable homes, as well as stronger tenant protections. "This was not a different conversation, it was the same conversation in the budget," Stewart-Cousins told reporters in a separate briefing after meeting Wednesday with Gov. Kathy Hochul, whose plan for new housing in the suburbs was nixed in the budget.

‘CENTER OF GRAVITY’ SHIFTING FOR CITIES — Wall Street Journal's Konrad Putzier: "While office towers sit empty and nearby businesses struggle to pay their bills, residential neighborhoods in America's biggest cities are bustling again. The pandemic and remote work have done little to dent the overall appeal of cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, foot-traffic and rent data show. Instead, the pandemic has shifted the urban center of gravity, moving away from often sterile office districts to neighborhoods with apartments, bars and restaurants.

"‘We’re now back to what cities really are—they’re not containers for working,’ said Richard Florida, a specialist in city planning at the University of Toronto. ‘They’re places for people to live and connect with others.’"

AT LAST, A DEPUTY MAYOR FOR HOUSING — POLITICO's Janaki Chadha: Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer will take over the city's housing agencies following the departure of Chief Housing Officer Jessica Katz.

Torres-Springer, who is currently deputy mayor for economic and workforce development, will assume an expanded role that will include oversight of the New York City Housing Authority, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Housing Development Corp. The arrangement mirrors the position as it was under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, with one deputy mayor overseeing both housing and economic development….

At the start of his administration, housing advocates had pushed for Adams to appoint one deputy mayor overseeing both housing and homelessness to improve coordination between the two issues. The newly created chief housing officer position did not end up including the Department of Homeless Services — and the fact that Katz was not a deputy mayor led some to worry housing would have a diminished role in the administration.

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A bus carrying migrants from Texas arrives at Port Authority Bus Terminal on August 10, 2022, in New York. | Yuki Iwamura/AFP/Getty Images

RIGHT TO SHELTER FIGHT HEATS UP — POLITICO's Janaki Chadha: The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless are fighting the Adams administration's attempt to suspend a longstanding mandate to provide shelter beds to anyone who needs one — warning of "a risk of grave harm to vulnerable human beings" if the city succeeds in the rollback.

A STEAL IN GREENWICH VILLAGE, WITH A BIG CATCH — Gothamist's David Brand: "An empty third-floor apartment on West 11th Street in Greenwich Village keeps going viral on social media — and it could be yours for $2,350 a month.

"That's a lot less than the Manhattan median rent of around $4,100 a month and about half of the asking price for one-bedroom apartments in the exclusive Greenwich Village neighborhood. You’ll just have to get used to the size: less than 7 feet wide and 11 feet long. Knicks 6’8" all-star Julius Randle could stand in the center of the room, stretch out his arms and easily touch the walls on either side. Then there's the bathroom situation: There isn't one."

NEW REQUIREMENTS FOR FLOODPLAINS — The City's Samantha Maldonado: "Starting June 21, rental leases across New York State must include information on whether a property is in a floodplain or has experienced damage due to flooding in the past, along with the typical details about subletting, lead-based paint and security deposits.

"The requirement stems from a bill Gov. Kathy Hochul signed last year that aims to provide renters with more transparency before they sign a lease. The disclosure law could be of particular significance in New York City, where about two-thirds of households rent and developers continue to build housing in floodplains."

— The developer Sedesco has filed demolition permits for a property along Billionaires Row, advancing plans for a long-awaited development.

— Municipal employees will get a remote work option under a new pilot program.

— Tenant groups are protesting the lack of funding for a city law guaranteeing free lawyers to low-income renters facing eviction.