Image Credit: NYC HPD and the Mayor’s Office.

The plan has been updated to reflect the City’s needs following the pandemic. On October 20, 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development, Vicki Been, released the final Where We Live NYC Plan, the City’s plan for fair housing in the five boroughs. (more…)

An organization challenged New York City’s property tax system as unfair, unconstitutional and discriminatory. Tax Equity Now NY LLC, an association of property owners and renters, filed a lawsuit challenging the New York City property tax system. The owners and renters alleged that the City’s property tax system was unfair and results in racial discrimination. The association made several claims: the owners of one-, two- and three-family homes pay too little in taxes as a result of caps and low percentage valuations; condominium and cooperative owners pay too little because the units are valued as if they are rental properties; and that the condominium property tax abatement program is arbitrarily applied. The association also claimed that the New York City property tax system violated the Federal Fair Housing Act because it disproportionately taxes properties in minority communities at higher rates. (more…)

Image Credit: nyc.gov

Tenant alleged that the City’s allocation of the property tax burden violated due process and equal protection. Ernest Robinson sought declaratory and injunctive relief alleging that the City’s property tax classification system created a disparate and adverse impact on African-American and Hispanic residents, deprived them of due process and equal protection of the laws, and violated the Fair Housing Act. Robinson alleged that the Class Two tax burden, heavily made up of rental multiple dwellings, was borne primarily by minority tenants, and that approximately 30 percent of a tenant’s rental payment was attributable to the landlord’s property tax. (more…)

Panel of City Officials and industry leaders discussed NYC zoning and recent developments like Mandatory Inclusionary Housing and Zoning for Quality and Affordability. On November 30, 2016, the Center for Real Estate Studies hosted a the breakfast forum, “Celebrating 100 Years of NYC Zoning: Setting the Future Agenda for Developers and Policy Makers.” Ross Moskowitz, a Partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, moderated a panel consisting of Commissioner Vicki Been, from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, City Council Member David G. Greenfield, Chair of the Committee on Land Use, Andrew Kimball, CEO of Industry City, and Ron Moelis, CEO of L+M Development Partners. (more…)

Comptroller Brad Lander. Image Credit: Office of the Comptroller.

NYCHA miscalculated rent increases for one in five tenants at Red Hook Houses, overcharging some and undercharging others. On June 7, 2023, City Comptroller Brad Lander announced that the New York City Housing Authority (The Authority, or NYCHA) miscalculated sampled rent adjustments at the Red Hook East and Red Hook West developments in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn. (more…)