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>


City Council to Consider Higher Heating Requirements After Committee Passes Bill

Committee on Housing and Buildings voted to raise minimum heating requirements and to uncouple the requirement from outside overnight temperatures. On May 22, 2017, the City Council’s Committee on Housing and Buildings recalled and passed a bill to require owners of residential buildings to maintain a minimum temperature in dwelling units that are occupied. Current law requires a minimum temperature to be maintained during heating season which is defined as the period between October 1 … <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.