PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Alex Armlovich, Housing Policy Manager at Niskanen Center
8:23:20
·
131 sec
Alex Armlovich, Housing Policy Manager at the Niskanen Center, endorses every component of the City of Yes proposal. He explains that while many constituents perceive the city as a constant construction site, much of the visible construction is actually for gut rehabs that don't add housing units. Armlovich argues that current zoning rules incentivize renovations that reduce housing stock, such as converting multi-unit buildings into single-family homes.
- Armlovich points out that many construction projects don't require ULURP approval, leading to a misconception about the amount of new housing being built.
- He suggests that council members request statistics from the Department of City Planning on how many blocks in their districts have actually lost housing units since the 1961 downzoning.
- While acknowledging that zoning changes are not a silver bullet, Armlovich emphasizes that zoning reform is a fundamental tool necessary for implementing other housing solutions like vouchers or LIHTC programs.
Alex Armlovich
8:23:20
Hi.
8:23:21
I'm Alex Amlovich, housing policy manager at the Niscan in center.
8:23:25
A think tank that advocates for strong markets, strong social insurance, and a liberalism that builds.
8:23:30
Though I lead a DC based housing team, I'm also a co op owner in the Jackson Heights historic district.
8:23:36
I'm here to endorse every component of the city of yes for all the reasons.
8:23:40
That you've heard today from affordability, climate, income and growth, ably summarized by DCP staff, my fellow commenters.
8:23:49
But I wanted to explain, you've you've heard today from many constituents that the whole city, it's already a construction site.
8:23:58
And aren't we already building a lot?
8:24:01
Now the tragedy of that is that it's not it's not wrong in the way that you might think.
8:24:06
Under current rules, There's a huge incentive for remodeling that doesn't add housing.
8:24:14
You don't need to go through Ulerp to gut rehab a 3 unit brownstone to turn it into a mansion in Brooklyn.
8:24:20
You don't need Ulerp to buy and merge your neighbor's unit in larger coop.
8:24:26
You can just do that all by right.
8:24:29
And so we have contractors swinging hammers everywhere, fooling many people into believing that there's construction everywhere, even that we're building a lot.
8:24:39
But in in many many cases, it's for it's for gut rehabs that don't add housing.
8:24:45
So I don't want to say that your constituents other your other constituents lived experience is wrong about what they're hearing.
8:24:51
It's just that they're not counting the permitting stats for the construction that they see.
8:24:55
They see this scaffolding.
8:24:56
They see the equipment, but they don't realize that these are guttery heads that don't add housing.
8:25:01
You can ask DC you can ask city planning for stats on how many blocks in your districts.
8:25:05
Actually lost units since 1961 down zoning.
8:25:08
So it's really it's an unfortunate misunderstanding.
8:25:12
Now zoning is not a silver bullet.
8:25:14
I agree with that, but zoning is the gun.
8:25:18
If you will.
8:25:19
It it's the tool that you need to do everything else.
8:25:23
It's so if you want to do vouchers, if you wanna do LiTech, you gotta have the zoning.
8:25:27
So not a silver bullet, but it is the tool on which you build everything else.
8:25:30
Thank you.
