New York Has New Leaders. Can They Solve the City’s Housing Problems?
We ask a respected scholar of housing policy to weigh in on early moves by Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul, and assess aspects of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s legacy.
Urban Matters: Now that he has his housing team largely in place, what do you think we can expect concerning housing from Mayor Adams?
Alex Schwartz: The people Mayor Adams has appointed to lead the City’s housing efforts are all experienced and talented. The appointment of Jessica Katz to the new position of chief housing officer, overseeing several housing-related agencies, including the New York City Housing Authority [responsible for federally funded and subsidized housing in the five boroughs], is a very welcome move.
That said, I would also have liked to see a clearer connection made between HPD [Housing Preservation and Development] and NYCHA with Homeless Services. Although housing and homelessness are inextricably linked, the City’s housing agencies and the Department of Homeless Services operate in separate silos and are overseen by different deputy mayors. Improving conditions in public housing must be a top priority, along with reducing homelessness.
Mayor Adams’s preliminary budget, released in February, was disappointing in several respects. It did not increase capital funding for affordable housing, it cut the Department of Homeless Services’ operating budget, and it subjects HPD to budget cuts even though the agency has lost many staff over the past few years. The preliminary budget is not the final word on the City’s funding for housing in the coming year. We will see what happens as the budget process plays out. I hope that we continue to see large investments in affordable housing, along with creative land use and other regulatory measures to allow for more residential construction.
UM: The tail end of Mayor de Blasio’s tenure saw major commitments to affordable housing in the completed rezonings of SoHo and Gowanus, on de Blasio’s Brooklyn home turf. How significant were these actions, and when are we likely to see the effects in affordable housing construction (and in the case of Gowanus, upgrades to neighboring public housing, too)?
Schwartz: The significance of the SoHo and Gowanus rezonings is that they will yield affordable housing in affluent, predominantly white neighborhoods. Most other rezonings have been in low-income, mostly minority neighborhoods.
However, the amount of affordable housing produced as a result of their mandatory inclusion in the rezonings will depend largely on the vigor of the private housing market. To date, Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning is responsible for a small share of the new housing produced under Mayor de Blasio’s plan. In total, the plan produced about 67,000 new units through the end of 2021 and preserved about 136,000 existing units, but only about 2,000 or so units were generated through Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning. Instead, the vast majority of the new affordable housing was directly subsidized through various city programs along with the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit.
That said, Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning will generate increasing amounts of affordable housing over time, as private developers build housing in rezoned neighborhoods, and obtain zoning variances elsewhere.
UM: Such upzonings in wealthier neighborhoods formed a major plank in Mayor Adams’s campaign platform last year. So did a proposal to convert hotels and office spaces emptied by pandemic-induced lockdowns and social distancing to housing. Governor Hochul gave that a plug in her State of the State in January, too. But does this idea have legs?
Schwartz: The city has converted office space to residential uses before (think Wall Street after 9/11), and there is no reason to think that this can’t be done now, especially if Covid causes a fundamental long-term reduction in demand for office space. There may be technical and design challenges in converting newer office buildings with large floor plates to apartments, but I doubt they are insurmountable.
Hotels can probably be converted more readily to apartment buildings, given the right regulatory changes. Here, I think the issue is how quickly hotel owners and operators expect tourism and business travel to rebound in New York, and relatedly, their willingness to sell their properties. If they don’t see hotel occupancy rates bouncing back any time soon, I suspect they would be willing to sell or convert their properties for residential use.
UM: Governor Hochul also made a $25 billion commitment to affordable housing in her January budget and financial plan – and we’re likely to hear more about it as the gubernatorial election campaign proceeds this year. How much difference is that likely to make in a state that’s got a 650,000-unit affordable housing deficit?
Schwartz: It will certainly help, although I don’t know how much of these funds will end up in New York City as opposed to other parts of the state.
UM: New York State’s pandemic-inspired eviction moratorium expired on January 16th. Many people expected that to create a flood of Housing Court eviction proceedings. Has it? Are lots of New Yorkers about to lose their homes?
Schwartz: I don’t know. There are about 200,000 residential eviction cases pending right now in the city, a number that has been increasing steadily since last March, although relatively few people have been evicted during this time.
The Federal Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program, which took an agonizingly long time to roll out in New York State, protects all recipients from eviction for at least 12 months, and people with pending applications for assistance are also protected from eviction. The State has now just about maxed out its ERA funding. Governor Hochul has requested $1.6 billion more, but the State has so far received less than $15 million.
The Association for Housing and Neighborhood Development estimates that, statewide, 595,000 households are behind on rent and at risk of eviction – nearly four times the number who have received, or been approved for, rental assistance.
The City now provides free legal counsel in Housing Court for low-income renters. This is likely to prevent some evictions and delay the process in other cases, but won’t prevent it altogether if tenants are way behind on their rent.
UM: Finally, let’s talk about some unfinished business from the de Blasio years: basement apartments. When Tropical Storm Ida flash-flooded city streets last September, 11 people drowned in their basement homes. What can and should City officials be doing?
Schwartz: De Blasio instituted a pilot program to upgrade and legalize basement apartments. But the program has languished. It needs to be reinvigorated and brought to scale, as many thousand New Yorkers live in basement apartments. It would also help if the State provides funding to regularize such housing, as the Governor suggested in her initial budget proposal in January.