U.S. Public Housing Needs Exceed $21 Billion

Following the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) recent award of $1.9 billion to public housing, a capital-needs assessment released today by Recap Real Estate Advisors finds that public housing needs in the United States exceed $21 billion. On-Site Insight, a Recap company, conducted the fieldwork along with Abt Associates, representing the most comprehensive capital-needs assessment of the nation’s public housing stock in more than 20 years. [ Read more...]

NYC Reaches Major Milestone in its Affordable Housing Plan

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert K. Steel, Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Mathew M. Wambua and New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC) President Marc Jahr announced today the City has reached a major milestone in its affordable housing plan, the New Housing Marketplace Plan.  New York City is now three-quarters of the way towards completing Mayor Bloomberg’s goal of creating and preserving 165,000 units of affordable housing by the end of 2014. The City invested $1.3 billion and financed 15,827 units of affordable housing for middle-class and low-income New Yorkers in Fiscal Year 2011, which ended June 30th.

[Continue reading...]

Consolidate Energy - NYC Benchmarking Information

Attached below is an information sheet in Q&A format describing the details of the NYC Local Law 84 – Benchmarking Compliance. This ordinance was passed in 2009 and requires that any building (commercial or residential) over 50,000 square feet must be “benchmarked” for energy usage and space attributes starting in calendar year 2010 and every year thereafter by May 1.

A property is subject to NYC Local Law 84 if it includes:

1 building more than 50,000 gross square feet

2 or more buildings on the same tax lot that together total more than 100,000 gross square feet

2 or more buildings held in condominium ownership that are governed by the same board of managers and that together exceed 100,000 gross square feet

Using the online tool, Portfolio Manager (managed by the EPA), a property owner is responsible for inputting the whole building’s energy usage for the prior calendar year.  The usage has to be reported by type of energy (electric, gas, etc.).  The owner will also have to provide the building’s gross square area and a breakdown of the square area by space use type.  If a non-residential tenant has its own utility meter, the owner must send them a “Benchmarking Non-Residential Tenant Information Collection Form” to fill out.

Owners have until August 1, 2011 to comply and every May 1^st thereafter.

  

If owners or property managers have questions, they can go to the PlaNYC site - http://www.nyc.gov/html/planyc2030/html/about/ggbp.shtml#know – or contact DOB’s Benchmarking Help Center by calling 311 or emailing sustainability@buildings.nyc.gov.  The Benchmarking Help Center can help to set up an account with Portfolio Manager.

[Benchmarking Factsheet]

Important Changes to New York City Tax Lien Sale Statute

Beginning January 1, 2012, the City will have the authority to sell tax liens on HDFC rental properties.

[ Read full letter from Department of Housing Preservation & Development and Department of Finance]

421-a Extended without Prevailing Wage

The Senate and Assembly passed and the Governor signed into law, the omnibus housing bill, Chapter 97 of the Laws of 2011. In addition to extending rent regulation, and capping property taxes, the bill extends 421-a for four years - without the prevailing wage requirement first proposed in January this year. The final bill can be viewed at: http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?default_fld=&bn=A08518&term=2011&Summary=Y&Actions=Y&Text=Y.  The 421-a provisions can be found beginning on page 40.

[Source: NYSAFAH]

Update on HPD HDFC Directive

As you may be aware, the HPD Commissioner issued a letter on October 4^th, 2010 which set forth HPD’s position on several issues related to the operation of HDFCs (see enclosed “HPD HDFC Letter”).  This letter caused a great deal of confusion within the legal community which compelled our office, along with a small group of attorneys, to meet with HPD to confirm and clarify their position.

As a result of the meeting with HPD, we produced the enclosed presentation (see enclosed “Legal Interpretation”) which highlights Goldstein Hall’s interpretation of the central points in the HPD Commissioner’s Letter.

Further, we are pleased to announce the formation of our HDFC Practice Group, staffed with attorneys who are focused on serving the needs of the HDFC community.  The Practice Group offers services covering virtually all matters involving HDFCs, including corporate governance and litigation issues.    

If you have any questions about the letter or any other HDFC-related matter, please call me or Matthew Hall at 212-461-2338.  Or, send an e-mail to dgoldstein@goldsteinhall.com or mhall@goldsteinhall.com.

Goldstein Hall's Legal Interpretation of Letter from HPD Commissioner

1,400 Bronx housing units saved

More than 1,400 housing units in the Bronx will remain affordable, thanks in part to Enterprise Community Partners, a Maryland-based affordable housing nonprofit that recently helped to close the preservation deals.
One deal involves eight buildings with 526 units located in the West Farms section of the Bronx. The buildings are Section 8 affordable housing complexes which were built in 1973. In that case, property owner West Farms Square HDFC, an affiliate of the Catholic Archdiocese, partnered with Fordham Bedford Housing Corp. and University Neighborhood Housing Program to obtain more than $20.7 million in a tax credits to help rehab the buildings, said Enterprise, which is a partner in the deal. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. was also involved in the deal.

[ Read More...]

Industrial And Commercial Abatement Program (ICAP)

CAP legislation that expired on March 1, 2011 was extended on May 18, 2011 and remains in effect until March 1, 2015.

Please note: The Industrial and Commercial Exemption Program (ICIP) ended in 2008 and was replaced with ICAP. Previously approved ICIP benefits were not affected. Applicants that successfully submitted their preliminary application within the ICIP timeframe can use the combined Final ICIP/ICAP application which you can link to on this page.

Otherwise, all documents and information below are in reference to ICAP unless specifically noted.

ICAP provides abatements for real property taxes for varying periods up to 25 years. Eligible industrial and commercial buildings must be built, modernized, expanded, or otherwise physically improved.

One of the most important things to note regarding the application process for an ICAP benefit is that the final application must be filed no later than one year after the effective date of eligibility. The effective date of eligibility is the date of the first building permit that allowed construction to proceed, or if no permit is required, no later than one year from the date that construction started. Construction does not need to be complete to submit a final application, so there are no exceptions. If a final application is submitted after one year, the application will be automatically denied.

Source: NYC Finance

Westchester's Housing Efforts Faulted in Lawsuit

A New York City nonprofit housing group on Tuesday asked a district court in Manhattan to step in and enforce a 2009 consent decree that settled a lawsuit over Westchester County's alleged failure to enforce federal fair-housing laws.

The Anti-Discrimination Center—which as part of the 2009 settlement received $7.5 million from the county and was subsequently dismissed from overseeing the settlement's implementation—now wants to jump back in the fray.

It claims Westchester County is skirting its obligations to enforce fair-housing laws, pointing to missed deadlines and a failure to provide sufficient planning documents. (Read more...)

Budget Threatens 'Affordable' Goal

The Bloomberg administration is proposing to cut $285 million from its housing department's capital budget, raising questions over whether the city will be able to meet the goals of a signature program to create or preserve 165,000 "affordable" units by 2014.

The initiative has been one of the more ambitious and costly of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's tenure. If the cut is finalized, the overall cost would be reduced to about $8.2 billion from $8.5 billion.

[ Read full story...]

Rent or Buy, a Matter of Lifestyle

Real estate agents across the country are aggressively making the case that now is a good time to buy a house. Mortgage rates are near record lows and will probably rise in coming years. Home prices may not be done falling, but they probably don’t have much further to go in most places either. Rents, on the other hand, seem set to increase, thanks to low vacancy rates.

“Renters beware,” warned a newsletter that I recently received from a real estate agents’ group.
Individually, each of these points is unobjectionable. But it’s important to remember the source. Real estate agents, like mortgage brokers and home builders, have a big financial stake in persuading people to buy homes. That’s why many agents are always pushing home buying, whatever the rationale of the moment happens to be. [Continue Reading]

Federal Retreat on Bigger Loans Rattles Housing

MONTEREY, Calif. — By summer’s end, buyers and sellers in some of the country’s most upscale housing markets are slated to lose one their biggest benefactors: the deep pockets of the federal government. In this seaside community of pricey homes, the dread of yet another housing shock is already spreading. [ Read More]

Life In A Landmark: Pioneering Public Housing Site Shows Its Age

First-generation New Yorkers are more likely to reside in rent-regulated housing than the rest of us. So as Albany weighs weakening or strengthening rent rules, some immigrants are raising their voices.

Read more...

Multigenerational Housing Is a Real Estate Growth Niche

Taylor Morrison, a housing developer based in Arizona, was set to break ground on a 304-unit condominium development in Sunnyvale, near San Jose, when the bottom fell out of the housing market in 2007.


The company went back to the drawing board, and last month it gained approval for a drastically different plan: a town house project aimed at extended families, where children, parents and grandparents can all live comfortably under one roof.

Such multigenerational housing is specifically aimed at the booming immigrant population in the Bay Area, and is emerging as one of the few growth niches in a moribund housing market.

(Full Story,,,,)

Community Agriculture Goes Global With Coffee

Rather than buy produce at a store, members of community-supported agriculture programs, known as C.S.A.’s, pick up their vegetables in a neighbor’s garage, right where a local farmer leaves them. This direct grower-to-consumer relationship has become so popular that it has inspired meat and egg C.S.A.’s among Northern California ranchers and farmers, as well as grain C.S.A.’s and even C.S.F.’s — community- supported fisheries — elsewhere.  (Read Full Story...)

Penn South Votes Yes on Financing Deal

Free market be damned.
That was the overwhelming sentiment at the Penn South co-ops, the low-priced complex in Chelsea where highly coveted apartments can be had for $30,000. Residents voted on Thursday whether to accept a city financing deal that would extend the complex’s affordability by eight years, keeping units out of private hands until at least 2030. According to Brendan Keany, the site’s general manager, 87 percent of people voted to accept the deal, while 13 percent voted no. (Continue reading...)

Developers Scale Back Ambitions

DENSITY is often the deal-breaker. Planners and developers emphasize the need for it; residents and zoning boards balk at the prospect of a more urbanized suburbia. Which may be why some developers who have failed to win long-sought approvals for megaprojects are scaling back their ambitions.

In Plainview, Michael Dubb, the principal and founder of the Beechwood Organization, is working on a site plan for Country Pointe, a residential enclave with a mix of mid-$400,000s to $800,000-plus single- and multifamily units. It features a clubhouse with indoor and outdoor pools, a sports bar, a movie theater, a beauty salon, a spa and a gym. Additionally, 54 of Country Pointe’s 140 acres will be set aside for ball fields, walking trails and open space.  

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Record number of New Yorkers sleep in homeless shelters

A record number of New Yorkers were forced into city homeless shelters last year, a new report says.
The Coalition for the Homeless says that in the 12 months ending last June 30, 113,553 New Yorkers slept in city shelters.

That's a 37% increase since 2002 when Mayor Bloomberg took office.
"A big part of this problem is caused by the failed policies of this administration," said Patrick Markee, a senior policy analyst at the coalition.

Although the annual figure is 10 months old, the coalition says the problem hasn't gotten better: In February, the number of people in homeless shelters in a single night hit an all-time high of 39,542.

Full Story...

Identifying City’s Worst Landlords via Craigslist, and Trying to Penalize Them

It is almost second nature for some New York City tenants to suspect their landlords of cutting corners when it comes to fixing a balky heater or securing dangling light fixtures.


But now tenants can find out a lot more about any landlord’s portfolio by clicking a link, “NYC’s worst landlords,” on the apartment search pages on Craigslist. It provides information that highlights, with the help of Google Maps, landlords with the worst inspection records.

Continue reading...

Deal on Stalled Condo Project Is First Under a City Program

In the summer of 2009, city officials began a $20 million program that would allow developers to convert stalled condominium sites into moderate-income housing. The initial response was tepid, as many developers and investors clung to the hope that the New York housing market would rebound. [ Read More...]