Rendering for 4519 White Plains Road. Image Credit: Office of Governor Kathy Hochul.

The new building will be across the street from another affordable housing development recently approved by the City Planning Commission. On May 25, 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul announced the beginning of construction for a new affordable and supportive housing development in the Wakefield section of the Bronx. The Plains will be located at 4519 White Plains Road between East 239th and East 240th Street. The development team consists of the Doe Fund and Robert Sanborn Development.

Rendering of Bridge Rockaway. Image Credit: HPD.

On May 17, 2022, City and State officials joined the development team of non-profit The Bridge, Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center, and Mega Development for the ground breaking of Bridge Rockaway, a new mixed-use affordable housing development in Brownsville, Brooklyn. 

Image credit: New York City Council.

The bills aim to prevent the circumstances that took 17 lives from occurring again in the future. On May 19, 2022, the City Council voted to approve a package of five bills to improve fire safety and prevention measures in residences as part of the City’s response to the tragic Twin Parks high-rise fire which killed 17 people in the Bronx this past January. The fire was a result of a space heater, and the resulting smoke spread up a stairwell after the self-closing door failed to contain the smoke within the unit. All seventeen deaths were from smoke inhalation. After the fire, the Committee on Twin Parks Citywide Taskforce on Fire Prevention was formed by the City Council as a response to the tragedy, and Council Members worked to propose various legislation to improve fire safety. 

Mayor Adams reveals examples of renovations made at nine NYCHA developments across Brooklyn. Image Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.

The project was possible through a conversion to a federally funded Project-Based Section 8 program. On May 20, 2022, Mayor Eric Adams joined U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Regional Administrator Alicka Ampry-Samuel, New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) Chair Greg Russ and NUCHA resident association leaders to announce the completion of renovations and restorations to nine NYCHA developments across Brooklyn.

280 Park Avenue, Manhattan. Image Credit: Google Maps.

Owner installed boiler to support cleaning services without a plumbing permit. In March 2019, the New York City Department of Buildings approved Wassoff Plumbing & Utility Co.’s application to replace a boiler that supported dry cleaning services in a building located at 280 Park Avenue in Manhattan.  After the contractor performed the work, a Buildings inspector issued the contractor a summons for replacing the boiler without a plumbing permit. The inspector alleged that the new classic tubeless steam boiler with backflow prevention had been connected to a new water line without the required plumber’s permit.

Image Credit: NYC HPD

On May 17, 2022, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) released some initial results of the 2021 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey. The survey is the official source of the city’s net rental vacancy rate, which is used to determine the continued need for rent stabilization. From its start in 1965, the survey is the longest running housing survey in the United States.