Churches to Get Help Building Affordable Housing

Mayor and non-profit community development financial institution announce new program to help religious non-profits build affordable housing. On August 23, 2017, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation NYC, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Mayor’s Office announced the launch of a new initiative to aid non-profits in the construction of new affordable housing. The initiative, called the New York Land Opportunity Program, is a joint venture with the goal of helping faith-based institutions … <Read More>


Comptroller Audit Finds that HPD Review of Affordable Housing Sponsors Was Effective

Comptroller audit finds that HPD’s controls to ensure that housing incentives were rewarded to qualified applicants were largely effective. On June 27, 2017, the Office of the city Comptroller Scott Stringer released a report of an audit of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The audit sought to evaluate whether HPD had adequate controls to ensure that its housing incentive projects were properly awarded to property owners and developers that qualified for the program, … <Read More>


City Council Hears Testimony on Inclusionary Housing Transparency

City Council Committee heard testimony on legislation to codify reporting requirements for the Department of Housing Preservation and Development regarding inclusionary housing and affordable units. On June 19, 2017, the City Council’s Committee on Housing and Building held a hearing on a package of five bills. Four of the bills concerned the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s reporting requirements for affordable housing developments. The fifth bill concerned the definition of residency in the City’s … <Read More>


Three-Quarter Housing: Council Seeks to Address Blight [UPDATE: City Council Approves Legislation]

UPDATE: On February 1, 2017, the City Council voted 47-0 to approve four bills that would help protect tenants of three-quarter houses in New York City. During the vote, Council Member Donovan Richards called three-quarter houses a wide spread problem that would not be cured by the bills and that the City would need to track progress on the issue to determine future responses. Council Member Ritchie Torres called predatory operators of three-quarter houses the … <Read More>


City Housing Commissioner Steps Down After Three Years of Progress

Vicki Been stepped down as Commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to return to academia. On January 17, 2017, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that Commissioner Vicki Been would step down to return to teaching at New York University as the Boxer Family Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Furman Center. Prior to her appointment, Been served as the Director of NYU’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, … <Read More>


CPC Holds Hearings on Four New Affordable Housing Developments

The City Planning Commission heard testimony on four developments, containing 224 units, to be 100 percent affordable housing for at least 30 years. On January 10, 2017, the City Planning Commission held hearings on four Department of Housing Preservation and Development applications to dispose of city-owned properties in order to facilitate four new housing developments. Each development—three in Harlem and one in Sunset Park—will contain varying levels of affordability under HPD loan structures.