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Q&A
Addressing HPD financing delays to speed up housing projects
0:32:02
·
4 min
Commissioner Shams DaBaron asks Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers for suggestions on speeding up the housing process, given her assertion that the council review period isn't the primary delay.
Brooks-Powers reiterates that bottlenecks occur in the HPD financing pipeline after ULURP approval, citing projects in her district waiting years for closing.
She mentions discussing staffing and budget issues with HPD and offers to provide specific recommendations to the commission on improving this part of the process.
Shams DaBaron
0:32:02
I got a question.
0:32:05
So I wanted to know, in your testimony, whether you submit it, like, are you do you have ways, especially from this council standpoint, of being able to sort of, like, find suggestions to how to speed up that process?
0:32:25
If definitely it's not a a situation where the the council is is sort of, like, creating the delays, but are there ways to speed up that process?
0:32:36
Just because I think the objective is really to find ways to get more housing done quicker in the city and in communities throughout the city and not necessarily to eliminate community input, council input, etcetera.
0:34:34
Yes.
0:34:35
Well, So sometimes I think that perhaps, there may be capacity issues at HPD and but I think probably and I I wanna know from you, do you think that it's also a question of the budget that they're working with and perhaps we need to put significant funding behind HPD?
0:34:59
And and
Selvena Brooks-Powers
0:33:00
Thank you for the question.
0:33:01
Like I said before, many of my colleagues, including myself, feel that our fifty day review period is not nearly enough to have some of the comprehensive conversations that a ULURP process really requires when you're talking about transforming parts of your community.
0:33:22
But in order to speed up the the process when you're looking at it holistically, a part of it also is how do we move these projects through the HPD pipeline sooner?
0:33:34
There are projects that I have, approved in my first term.
0:33:39
I'm now entering preparing to enter my fourth term four years later, and those projects have still not been put on the list to go to closing.
0:33:51
And so we need to understand what that bottleneck is to be able to move these projects along because oftentimes when the developers comes to us, they have an idea of where their financing is coming from and what they need.
0:34:07
What this also does is it increase it increases the cost of the development as well because as we know, every day the price of construction goes up.
0:34:18
And so sometimes it makes it that much less unattainable, to see it through because of now you have a gap that has been presented, and then the developer has to go and find other funding sources as a result.
0:35:02
And, again, thank you for that.
0:35:04
We have had this conversation with HPD trying to drill down to understand what the bottlenecks are that exists.
0:35:13
I know that it's a mixed bag.
0:35:15
It there's an element of needing to staff up the agency because, again, when I first got elected, it was, you know, in the midst of the pandemic.
0:35:23
So there was, staffing challenges there.
0:35:26
But then also having to prioritize all of the housing across the city, everyone can't go at the same time.
0:35:34
And so to your point, the the the funding is always gonna be important, and this council has prioritized that, whether it be in the budget or different negotiations to try and support the work of HPD as well.
0:35:51
But we can con definitely work with the Land Use team to provide some additional recommendations if the the commission is open to receiving that.
0:36:03
But to your point, this this is, an area that really needs some focus and attention, which could help to move along a lot of these housing projects much sooner.
0:36:17
Because right now, I can count at least four projects off the top of my head in my district that have been approved for several years since I've been a council member that have not been sent to closing yet.