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City Tells Developers Getting Tax Breaks to Set Aside Apartments for Homeless

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Vicki Been, the city’s housing commissioner said, “Addressing homelessness is a moral imperative. We must find ways to stabilize hard-hit families, especially those with children, whose education and future trajectories are disrupted tragically by homelessness and displacement.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio has informed real estate developers receiving 421-a tax breaks, that they must now make room in their buildings for the homeless. Under the affordable housing initiative, to qualify for the tax breaks, landlords must set aside 20% of a building’s units for low and moderate income tenants. Of those apartments, half would be allotted through lotteries. The other half distributed to those covered by “community preferences”, which may include local residents, older men and women, military veterans, or disabled people. As reported by the New York Times, under the new policy, which de Blasio’s administration quietly presented, up to half of all community-preference units are now to be set aside for people living in homeless shelters. In a building with 300 units, that would potentially mean that up to 15 apartments would be reserved for people who were previously homeless. By the city’s estimates, the change would affect about 750 apartments in total.

Upon hearing the news, many developers panicked worrying that they would be forced to accept tenants with drug or alcohol problems or tenants in need of mental health services. They worried about their building’s reputation and how their other tenants will react to the influx of people who were previously homeless. City officials have tried to reassure developers, saying that the apartments would not be given to people in need of extensive social services, but rather to those who were employed but who had been priced out of New York’s housing market. “They are the working poor, not that different from households already served by the 421-a program,” said Vicki Been, the city’s housing commissioner. “Addressing homelessness is a moral imperative. We must find ways to stabilize hard-hit families, especially those with children, whose education and future trajectories are disrupted tragically by homelessness and displacement.”

The number of people living in NYC’s homeless service agency’s shelters has increased roughly 17% over the past three years, from about 51,000 to approximately 60,000 becoming a growing concern. Some builders were more open to the change, reasoning that as building owners they retained their right to interview all renters, and screen tenants for criminal records. The city itself screens any prospective tenants thoroughly before making the referrals. Still, some argue that the sudden change in policy does not disclose the fate of low and moderate income people who may be awaiting those same affordable housing units through a community preference.

By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh

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