From the NY Times:Mayor Bill de Blasio, who made the shortage of housing for lower-income New Yorkers a top campaign issue, is promising to build or preserve 200,000 affordable units over 10 years. In setting such a goal, Mr. de Blasio is seeking to do more than either Mr. Koch, whose effort yielded more than 190,000 units over 13 years, or Mr. Bloomberg, whose push saved or added 165,000 units over 12 years.
It is a lofty goal, experts said, and Mr. de Blasio and his aides said it must be, given the pace of change washing over the city. Apartments affordable to people with low or moderate incomes are being lost to deregulation faster than units can be created or preserved. With federal housing funds diminishing, the city housing authority is struggling to maintain many of its 334 projects, and it has no plans to add more. And much of the new residential construction in the city is not being built with poor New Yorkers in mind.
Housing was central to Mr. de Blasio’s tale-of-two-cities electoral campaign, and he has promised aggressive measures. He said he wanted to steer $1 billion of city pension funds to the construction of lower-rent units. He said he would raise taxes on vacant land to close a tax loophole and spur development. He favors legalizing some illegal basement and cellar apartments.
And in one of the biggest departures from his predecessor’s approach, Mr. de Blasio said he would require, rather than encourage, developers to set aside new units for low- and moderate-income renters in major residential construction projects.
This is more about allowing his scummy landlord supporters to profit by destroying low-density neighborhoods than it is about creating affordable housing. "Affordable housing" is a smokescreen for allowing overdevelopment.
I'd like to hear his plan for improving infrastructure to support all these additional units.
22 comments:
"He said he wanted to steer $1 billion of city pension funds to the construction of lower-rent units. He said he would raise taxes on vacant land to close a tax loophole and spur development. He favors legalizing some illegal basement and cellar apartments."
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Well if you are going to do that de Blasio, you can start in your own community of Park Slope and then Manhattan, then Long Island City. Let's just see how well that all goes over before you come out to other parts of Queens and destroy what little is left here. Then every council member and assembly member can have one of these right on the same block as where they live.
You all want to talk about helping the lower economic folks, but as long as they are not in your community and not living right next to you, then it is okay.
This is pretty much FUCK THE MIDDLE CLASS.
How about deporting the illegals? If he does that, then I am sure we will have alot more housing available. This city is an illegal safe haven - it's quite sickening. ...then they wonder why our school systems are failing and why the ny debt is so huge.....300 billion dollars and counting.
regarding the infrastructure. The units are already being occupied illegally and as we read over and over again people are killed because the units are not built with second means of egress etc etc. I agree this should not be broad brushed and allowed to happen everywhere, but I can concede allowing it to happen to legal 2 family buildings+ What is the difference if we legalize the basement? chances are someone is already living there...
Crappy, re infrastructure: they're already living in these units. Legalizing not only makes them safer, but also makes ignoring them impossible - so funds must be allocated to infrastructure, and zoning requirements must be followed. Of course, the big question is where's the $ going to come from?
DeBlasio makes sense..All those illegals need a place to live, don't they?
Forewarned is forearmed.
The NRA near you.
Not everyone has an extra apartment in their house. Legalizing them means a lot more will be added. Plus, people have illegal units too make tax free money. They aren't going to apply to legalize them and they'll still be unsafe. In addition, an extra unit is going to make their property assessment higher.
Let's just see how well that all goes over before you come out to other parts of Queens and destroy what little is left here.
Not to worry. Our elected officials in the borough of Queens would NEVER let that happen.
They will justify our faith in them as demonstrated by the Roman Triumph we give them each November.
So there are all theses infrastructure issues and illegal overcrowding?
Why don't you form civics with teeth, learn to work together,
and plague the community boards, letters to the editor, and those listening sessions that your elected officials ceaselessly chair for your benefit.
Speak up or shut up people!
What he is not telling you is that after the legalization he will raise property taxes as well.
He will screw up all the nice neighborhoods in North Flushing as well. Thank God I didn't voted for this schmuck.
We'll after he drives every last business away from the city by taxing all us evil "rich", we'll all need to live somewhere. And welfare is only going to cover a piece of a basement apartment, right? So I guess he's on track for his plan.
Koch did not prosecute basement apartments also
Well, at least then the politicians could stop pretending they have any inclination whatsoever about enforcing such laws.
He favors legalizing some illegal basement and cellar apartments.
It's all fun and games until there's another Happy Land incident:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Land_fire
Basement and cellar apartments!
Vibrant!
Diverse!
"He said he would raise taxes on vacant land to close a tax loophole"
The diBlasios are gonna "open things up" then go after private homeowners with "underutilized space.
(as have a single mom of 5 brought to your door or pay a huge tax if you don't have a tenant)
Don't think it wont happen these progressive SOB's will find a way. The Governor has even warned if your a conservative your not welcome in his New York GTF OUT !!
The Mayor should go after the "rogue" developers/owners, and general contractors and others who have racked up massive amounts of DOB and ECB violations.
Let him collect the monies that the Huangs and others like them owe for violating the building code and laws.
What is the point in issuing the violations and doubling and tripling the fines, if you don't collect them?
The Bloomberg administration held a blind eye towards the millions of building code violations ON PURPOSE. That way they can RAISE real estate taxes on middle class home owners in order to pay for the tax abatements given to obverdevelopers in Queens and Brooklyn for doing so. Now, the damage is done. Di Blasio is just inheriting the whole mess. If you were born and raised in Western Queens you would have witnessed the damage close up these last 12 years and in fact, Koch was the one who started the mess, so you can in fact go backwards more than 20 years with this illegal activity.
You make it sound like it's all his fault now. That's seriously erroneous and NO ONE who owns a two family house in Queens that has witnessed their tax bills go up while millionaires pay NO real estate tax for their luxury condo crap for the next 20 years is going to believe these comments.
Give em a break, pa - leeeze!!!!!!
Then there's gold in them there hills if he goes after the thousands of oversized McMansions throughout the outer boroughs. Start in Forest Hills near the Grand Central Parkway.
In 1879, 135 years ago, laws were passed in New York to require "legal" apartments to have windows, natural light, egress in the event of a fire...
Now they are getting rolled back.
Isn't the progressive?
Progressive = tweeding in overdrive
I like how the party hacks try to scare us like we are semi-addled seniors or immigrants with little or no knowledge on how things really go down in this country.
"ITS DA MAYA'S FAULT" they holler.
The mayor can do nothing - and will do nothing - if he knows that your city council rep is up in arms, the local press will put his head on a pole, and the civics in your community will raise holy hell - all 3 that will not happen in Queens.
So if he does damage, thank your representative, community media, and civic for letting it happen.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2543442/Loving-son-takes-paralysed-dad-Chinese-university-rigs-special-bed-stay-term.html
Vibrant and diverse! Just keep repeating it!
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