“I’m surprised, I’m baffled, I’m angry,” said City Councilmember Sandy Nurse, who represents East New York, where the city ran an earlier basement conversion pilot in 2019. The area is excluded from the new program, which will only apply to 15 of the city’s 59 community districts.
As state budget negotiations drag nearly two weeks late, a housing deal seems likely to coalesce—but it’s not there yet, as consequential details remain fluid.
With the state’s annual spending plan due in less than three weeks, the Senate and Assembly are calling for a housing plan that both incentivizes development and protects tenants from eviction.
State lawmakers passed two bills last year intended to help New York City tenants root out—and undo—illegal rent hikes, but only one received Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signature.
The state Senate and Assembly passed a duo of bills in June aimed at helping rent stabilized tenants dig deeper into their rent histories to challenge suspicious increases. The governor has yet to act on them.
The 400 income-restricted units at 5WTC, the only residential project planned for the World Trade Center site, mark an increase from prior proposals but fall short of the 100 percent affordability some advocates had sought.
Bills aimed at helping rent stabilized tenants dig deeper into their rent histories to challenge suspicious increases sailed through the State Assembly, capping off an anticlimactic year for housing policy in Albany. One bill also amends rent regulation rules, limiting how much landlords can charge when they combine, or “frankenstein” apartments.
While Albany leaders failed to pass a comprehensive package of housing legislation this week, some advocates and high-ranking lawmakers have been working on a pair of bills they say could strengthen protections for tenants across New York City’s stock of roughly 1 million rent stabilized apartments.
With six weeks left until the end of the legislative session, Hochul is already looking ahead, insisting that she will work with Senate and Assembly leaders to address New York’s shortage of affordable homes—a conversation that could carry over into next year.
A medida que se acerca la fecha límite del presupuesto del estado, los legisladores demócratas de Queens están en desacuerdo sobre si debe incluir una vía para legalizar los apartamentos en sótanos y subterráneos de la ciudad.
City Limits uses investigative journalism through the prism of New York City to identify urban problems, examine their causes, explore solutions, and equip communities to take action.
Founded in 1976 in the midst of New York’s fiscal crisis, City Limits exists to inform democracy and equip citizens to create a more just city. The organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit funded by foundation support, ad sponsorship and donations from readers.
Support local, investigative journalism that has informed and empowered New Yorkers for 45 years.
Support local, investigative journalism that has informed and empowered New Yorkers for 45 years.
