City Planning Approves New Through-Block Building, Without Affordable Housing

City Planning Commission declined to apply Mandatory Inclusionary Housing to proposed West Side development, despite strong support from community. On August 15, 2016, the City Planning Commission approved a special permit to construct a new mixed-use development located at 38–42 West 18th Street in Midtown Manhattan on the West Side. This proposal is the third development project approved by the City for the site. The first approval was in 2001 and the second in 2008; … <Read More>


City Planning Commission Approves Modified Affordable Housing Proposals

Despite expressing broad support for proposals, City Planning calls on City Council to make further modifications.  On February 3, 2016, the City Planning Commission voted to approve the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing and Zoning for Quality and Affordability proposals, which are two of the major programs to be implemented under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Housing New York plan.  This was the first opportunity for City Planning to present its modified versions of the MIH and ZQA … <Read More>


City Planning Holds Thirteen-Hour Hearing on Citywide Affordable Housing Proposals

CPC held the hearing at the National Museum of the American Indian in an attempt to accommodate the large number of guests, however an overflow of testifiers waited on lines outside as the hearing began. On December 16, 2015, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing, and Zoning for Quality and Affordability proposals, which are two components of the Mayor’s Housing: New York plan. The public … <Read More>


Weisbrod Discusses the de Blasio Administration’s Affordable Housing Program, Now in Its “Toddler” Stage

At the CityLaw breakfast on August 28, 2015, Carl Weisbrod provided an update on the de Blasio Administration’s housing plan, which Weisbrod described as now in its “toddler” stage. The de Blasio program is the most ambitious of its kind in the country, and the biggest in New York since the Koch Administration.  Today, the City is managing the problems of success: continued growth and a shortage of housing.  Conversely, in the Koch era, … <Read More>


CPC Approves New Affordable Housing Building in The Bronx

The building will be targeted to low-income and homeless individuals or families.  On April 1, 2015 the City Planning Commission voted to approve an application by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development facilitating construction of a new affordable housing building in The Bronx.  The building will be located at 1561 Walton Avenue in West Concourse, and feature sixty units of rental housing for low-income and homeless individuals and families.


Weisbrod Highlights East New York as Test for Affordable Housing

At the CityLaw Breakfast on September 5, 2014, Carl Weisbrod laid out the De Blasio Administration’s housing policy. As was widely reported, the City will look to implement mandatory inclusionary housing on all City-sponsored rezonings. One of the first tests of this new policy is the privately sponsored Astoria Cove development in Queens, where an affordable component will likely be required if approved under ULURP.