
City Planning Chairman Carl Weisbrod & HPD Commissioner Vicki Been are sworn in before the Council’s oversight hearing. Image credit: William Alatriste, NYC Council
HPD, City Planning, NYCHA among those who answered questions on the results and direction of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan. On November 17, 2014, the City Council Committee on Housing and Buildings, joined by the Committee on Land Use and Committee on Community Development, held an oversight hearing on Housing New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s affordable housing plan. The Council heard testimony over the course of seven hours from Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Vicki Been, City Planning Commission Chairman Carl Weisbrod, along with representatives from the New York City Housing Authority, the Housing Development Corporation, labor unions, tenant advocacy groups, and other stakeholders.
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HPD Commissioner Vicki Been addresses the annual luncheon of Women in Housing and Finance. At right: WHF board member Arianna Sacks Rosenberg. Image credit: Women in Housing and Finance
HPD will permit architect self-certification and expand M/WBE developer opportunities. On October 7, 2014, Commissioner Vicki Been of the NYC Housing Preservation and Development gave the keynote address to the annual luncheon of Women in Housing and Finance. Commissioner Been elaborated on and announced new HPD initiatives to advance Mayor Bill de Blasio’s affordable housing plan.
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The property tax exemptions will affect seven buildings in Brooklyn Community Board 16. Image credit: Department of City Planning
Dean Atlantic HDFC received property tax exemption for seven buildings. On August 21, 2014, the City Council voted 47-0 to approve an Article XI property tax exemption on seven buildings owned by the Dean Atlantic Housing Development Finance Corporation. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development requested the exemption from the City Council on Dean Atlantic’s behalf. The buildings are all in Brooklyn Community Board 16, covering the Ocean Hill and Brownsville communities. Six of the buildings are located in an area bounded by Atlantic Avenue to the north, Dean Street to the south, Rockaway Avenue to the west and Eastern Parkway to the east. The seventh building is located further south at the corner of Park Place and Saratoga Avenue. The buildings are either two-or three-stories for a total of twelve residential units, with five of the buildings featuring a commercial space on the ground floor. The residences are two- and three-bedroom units.
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Date: 08/28/2014
Comments Off on City Council Approves Tax Exemption to Preserve Affordable Housing
HDC approves the financing to fund 2,226 units of affordable housing. On June 16, 2014, the Board of Directors of the New York City Housing Development Corporation approved the financing for projects in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn which will consist of $2756 million in bonds and $88.7 million in subordinate financing for HDC. The money will be used to construct eleven new buildings with 1,259 affordable housing units and preserve and protect seven projects with 967 units of existing affordable housing. (more…)

- Courtlandt Crescent/Melrose Commons. Image: Courtesy of HPD.
Project will include two connected buildings and more than 200 units of low- and moderate-income housing. The City Council approved the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s proposal to allow Phipps Houses to build a 217-unit affordable housing project in the Melrose section of the Bronx. The two-building development, known as Courtlandt Crescent, will wrap around the northeast portion of a block bounded by East 161st and East 162nd Streets and Melrose and Courtlandt Avenues.
The project will include 22 studios, 59 one-bedroom apartments, 115 two-bedroom apartments, and 21 three-bedroom apartments. The apartments will be marketed to families earning up to 60 percent of the area median income. Phipps will provide an underground parking garage and space for a 10,000 sq.ft. early childhood center administered by the City’s Administration for Children’s Services. HPD requested that the City replace the site’s R7-2 zoning with R7A and R8/C1-4 districts and amend the height and setback rules of the Melrose Commons Urban Renewal Plan. (more…)