Q&A
Discussion of Sendero Verde and Bronx Point projects and HPD's process for negotiating wage standards
0:28:26
·
3 min
Council Member De La Rosa inquires about Sendero Verde and Bronx Point projects with $40 wage agreements and HPD's process for negotiating wage standards in projects. Ahmed Tigani and Lucy Joffe provide responses.
- Tigani explains that each project is unique with various factors affecting funding and wages
- Joffe clarifies that wage negotiations are about HPD's ability to pay, not developers volunteering higher wages
- Discussion on how HPD balances various factors to maximize public benefit within limited subsidy
- Explanation of how wage standards are considered during neighborhood planning processes and public review
Carmen N. De La Rosa
0:28:26
Okay.
0:28:28
Alright.
0:28:29
Let me ask a question about a project that is currently that has been currently happening.
0:28:35
So in the past few years, Sandero Verde and Bronx Point 200 percent affordable housing projects that receive HPD subsidies were built with a $40 wage agreement that included strong community hiring for residents of the South Bronx And East Harlem.
0:28:51
If these affordable projects could pay $40 an hour to the lowest paid construction laborers, that why can't other city subsidize affordable projects also pay a $40 an hour as this bill would require?
Ahmed Tigani
0:29:05
So thank you for the question.
0:29:07
No project is a complete imprint or copy of any other project.
0:29:11
Mhmm.
0:29:12
Every underwriting pro form a comes with dozens of different particular aspects, different funding sources, could be as specific as the borrowing terms from their lender.
0:29:24
Non city or public funding sources, the rents on-site, the commercial rents, looking at what the operating costs and their ability to pay debt in the future, all of these factors come to play when they think about what kind of loans they can take out for the initial construction and then be able to be in a position to convert to a permanent loan later on.
0:29:45
So there are, you know, there certainly has been projects that have been able to work out different arrangements and partnerships with with regards to wages.
0:29:56
And I know that there's been efforts made by different worker communities and labor to work with these developers to find collaborative ways to work together.
0:30:09
If there are opportunities for that, we always try to make sure that we're we're hearing and being part of those conversations early on.
Carmen N. De La Rosa
0:30:16
Yeah.
0:30:16
I guess my question is sort of like, what triggers HPD to be proactively asking about if that wage standard is doable.
0:30:25
Right?
0:30:25
Because a developer isn't gonna come up and be like, hey, guess what?
0:30:28
I can pay workers $40 an hour.
0:30:30
You know?
0:30:30
I have the Deepak's 2 do so.
0:30:33
It it happens within the process of negotiation.
0:30:36
And so my question is, at what point does the administration say, hey, this is a project where we could we could explore paying workers these wages.
0:30:47
What triggers sort of that conversation in the process.
Lucy Joffe
0:30:49
I think one important piece is this is not about you're right.
0:30:52
This is not about whether a developer shows up and says they're gonna pay for it because it's actually about whether HPD is gonna pay for it.
0:30:56
Right?
0:30:57
So it's in the mix of all of these levers, whether we're going to have the deepest levels of affordability, whether we're going to how we structure which programs we use.
0:31:05
Right?
0:31:07
Those are all things that we're constantly trying to look at in within the context of particular deal, how can we maximize the public benefit?
0:31:15
So this isn't about who, you know, what someone else, you know, is always gonna bring to us.
0:31:19
It's looking at what the options are on the table and trying to maximize the public value, which can both include at times minimum wages for workers as well as what are we getting in terms of the value for our subsidy, and that subsidy is limited.
0:31:35
And so those are trade offs that we take very seriously.
Ahmed Tigani
0:31:39
Then the only thing I would add is through, like, the neighborhood planning process to use projects that go through public review and discretionary review.
0:31:46
Mhmm.
0:31:46
Certainly, the question about whether or not there's an opportunity to do different kind of job standards comes up.
0:31:53
So there is this sort of proactive conversation that occurs.
0:31:57
And to Lucy's point, we come back and understand what the trade offs are because the community may ask for 3 or 4 or 5 things, and we are trying to figure out how to make the best consensus workout with the limited subsidy that we have.
