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Q&A
Council Member Brannan questions HPD Acting Commissioner on rising housing costs and agency's role
0:41:06
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4 min
Council Member Justin Brannan engages in a Q&A session with HPD Acting Commissioner Ahmed Tigani, focusing on the rising costs of rental housing in New York City over the past fifty years and HPD's role in addressing this issue. Tigani provides detailed explanations on factors contributing to increased housing costs and outlines HPD's strategies to create more affordable housing options.
- Tigani cites factors such as rising interest rates, increased operational costs, and land costs as contributors to housing cost increases.
- HPD's role includes developing 100% affordable housing, creating housing for vulnerable communities, and pursuing mixed-income housing projects.
- Strategies mentioned include conversion of non-residential buildings, advancing public lot development, and improving rental assistance programs.
Justin Brannan
0:41:06
Why do you think the cost of rental housing has increased so much higher than inflation in the city over the past fifty years?
0:42:01
What do you believe is HPD's role in decreasing the excessive cost of rental housing in the city?
0:45:14
Okay last question from me.
Ahmed Tigani
0:41:15
I mean, I can just offer a couple of thoughts on this.
0:41:18
Again, the costs have accelerated dramatically since just COVID.
0:41:25
We have seen interest rates go up and not come down.
0:41:29
And I think those who follow, I'm not an expert in this, are not hearing about rate cuts anytime soon.
0:41:34
We have seen that the actual management and operation of housing internally, OpEx costs have gone up.
0:41:42
There are a number of costs that contribute to making it more difficult to not only build the housing and get it up, but then also operating the housing and borrowing has gone up in cost as well.
0:41:56
So all of those have contributed plus land costs are where they are and they continue to go up.
0:42:08
I think it's a couple of things.
0:42:09
I think one is making sure that we're contributing to creating housing on multiple work streams.
0:42:14
So we've talked about the 100% affordable housing.
0:42:17
We've also talked about housing for particular communities, vulnerable communities, ensuring that we're developing affordable housing and multiple income streams.
0:42:27
If you look at our fiscal year twenty four numbers, 96% of our housing was for households at 80% AMI lower.
0:42:34
That's for a family of three, know two adults and a child, 110,000 a year.
0:42:40
69% when you look at 50% AMI and lower.
0:42:44
That's in the 70s for a family of three.
0:42:46
That's new construction of 100% subsidy on private.
0:42:50
And then on public sites just continuing to move forward and get those projects advanced just through EULRP, through the entitlement, and then work on how to finance them after the fact.
0:43:01
I think part of it also is that we can't just build housing on public sites alone.
0:43:05
We need to also look at the ways that we could advance mixed income housing in the city of New York.
0:43:11
Sir, you've been a champion for conversion of non residential buildings.
0:43:17
So we have a number of really great projects in commercial buildings now becoming residential, moving through 25.
0:43:26
That's going be hundreds of affordable in a project that isn't using city subsidy, but we are having a tax abatement that's requiring affordable housing.
0:43:35
As part of it.
0:43:35
395 Flatbush, 12 Hundred units.
0:43:38
That 300 of which will be affordable housing, the largest amount of affordable housing that district will see in ten years.
0:43:45
One hundred Gold, our own flagship building expected to maybe be up to 2,000 units.
0:43:52
500 units of affordable housing without subsidy, the largest amount of affordable housing that that neighborhood has seen by 10 times in the last ten years.
0:44:00
So fully subsidized, looking on private and public lots, advancing public lots, getting them through entitlement to make sure that we get those costs out of the way and focus on how to finance it.
0:44:13
Moving on every track to get mixed income housing so that we're using non subsidy solutions to make that happen.
0:44:21
The conversion of underutilized non residential buildings to get those units.
0:44:26
And then on the rental assistance side and the housing navigation side, when we have rental assistance, working with owners, giving them confidence that this is a program that we can commit with them and looking for opportunities to place people in homes I think is really important.
0:44:42
And lastly, we're a client like other developers in the regulatory environment that constructs housing.
0:44:48
We talk regularly with our colleagues at DOB, DEP, etcetera in what we could do together both as a regulator on the tax abatement side and a user of the permitting process to work together.
0:45:02
So we were really excited to be part of Get Stuff Done.
0:45:05
We really think a lot of the innovations there whether we are directly leading it or contributing as a partner to it will help advance housing in New York City.