PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Bruce Rosen, Former City Planner
1:47:55
·
122 sec
Bruce Rosen, a former city planner, criticizes the proposed City of Yes for Housing Opportunity (CHO) plan, arguing that it will not effectively address affordable housing needs and may instead encourage further real estate speculation. He draws parallels to the art market and emphasizes the impact on comparable property values.
- Rosen highlights historical housing production, noting that in the quarter-century after World War II, New York City added 40,000-50,000 new housing units annually, with peaks of 100,000 units per year.
- He expresses skepticism about the effectiveness of the proposed plan in comparison to past housing initiatives.
- Rosen suggests that the current market-driven approach may not be the best solution for creating affordable housing.
Bruce Rosen
1:47:55
I'm a lifelong New York art.
1:47:57
I was a city planner for the city.
1:47:58
The only reason I'm here is because friends kept nudging me.
1:48:03
I'm trying to be retired from that.
1:48:07
It makes no sense to me that if the goal of this is affordable housing to provide more stimulus to whatever the market will be our system.
1:48:22
Our market will bear system has an expression in the art world, which is actually very important because now we had bids of 8 and 9 figures for certain pieces of art, and we have people on the planet who come here on occasion and they can build for real estate on that.
1:48:44
What happens is a simple principle concept in real estate economics, you change the comparable values.
1:48:53
Comparable values, if you don't know, are what a piece of property is going for to sell or to rent, be it residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, and doing this this way is just encouraging further speculation.
1:49:16
I would like, since people think that there are big numbers of here to know, in the quarter century that followed the 2nd World War.
1:49:24
When all three levels of government were priming the housing market, the city added 40 to 50,000 new units of housing every single year.
1:49:37
And in the last 2 years, the interregnum with the bringing of the 1961 zoning resolution, the city built 100,000 units per year.
1:49:51
So you're doing nothing with this.
1:49:56
Is that it?
Kevin C. Riley
1:49:57
Yes.
