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From City Limits:
The council approved a rezoning of Staten Island’s Bay Street, the sixth under De Blasio’s housing plan. There were 44 votes in favor of the rezoning plan and two votes, by Staten Island Republican Councilmembers Steve Matteo and Joseph Borelli, against the plan. Read more
The rent guidelines board approved 1.5% increases. They will affect leases signed after October 1. Read more
A year and a half after it won City Council approval, a Staten Island development project is stalled thanks to an unsuspecting turtle. Read More
The federal settlement is in place. A plan to convert thousands of units to Section 8 is in the works. And for now NYCHA’s long-term budget gap remains unaddressed. Read More
Development on a tricky Bronx parcel raises the question: if they’re building on steep hillsides now, where will the Bronx’s development boom go next? Read More
A reader living in a basement apartment faces a difficult situation—their apartment is poorly maintained but it might be an illegal unit. Can they report violations to the city without jeopardizing their living situation.
From Around the City:
New York State’s pension funds often provide investment to private equity firms that invest in predatory housing. The fund has recently committed to divesting from private prisons and demanded fair wages on real estate projects it supports. Could it also adopt tenant-friendly investment guidelines? Via Gothamist.
While the bulk of the new rent regulations apply to the city’s 1 million stabilized tenants, there are key provisions in the laws that will affect all tenants, the Times reports. They include limits on security deposits, new rules requiring notice of lease changes and new eviction protections.
“No one will loose their apartment,” says the incoming New York City Housing Authority chair regarding his support for the Rental Assistance Demonstration, a program to transfer NYCHA properties to private management, the City reports.
In the last three years, NYCHA has shelled out more than $5.5 million to settle claims with staff who say they were shortchanged on overtime payments, NBC reports.
With tighter rent regulations, both values and sales of multi-family buildings are expected to decline, since landlords have fewer ways to raise rents. Several major landlords lamented their losses speaking to the Wall Street Journal.
Two groups representing landlords will file a suit in New York federal court seeking to overturn the new rent laws, the Post reports. The case will argue that the new rent law violates owners’ constitutional right against the “unlawful taking of property.”
A notorious predatory landlord will pay $3 million to former tenants and hire an independent management company for his properties as part of a new settlement, Gothamist reports. The deal comes after a four-year investigation into the landlord.
Luxury development in the hot seat: A city board upheld the building permit for a controversial Upper West Side tower, the West Side Rag reports. The building, which will include mechanical voids, has faced ongoing community opposition.
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