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Cuomo OKs $300 Million More Tax-Free Bonds For Affordable Housing In NYC
By
Raphael Pope-Sussman
Published Nov 18, 2016
Modified Nov 18, 2016
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By
Raphael Pope-Sussman
Published Nov 18, 2016
Modified Nov 18, 2016
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The city will have the right to issue $300 million more in federally tax-exempt bonds to subsidize the construction of affordable housing, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Friday, allowing the de Blasio Administration to breathe a small sigh of relief for the mayor's affordable housing plan.
Each year, New York State allots municipalities the right to issue a certain amount in federally tax-exempt bonds for housing and economic development, out of a total allotment set for the state by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. State law sets out automatic allotments for municipalities, and the state doles out these allotments at the beginning of the year. Over the course of the year, the state can increase what is known as the "bond cap" for a municipality, depending on how much of the state's total allocation has been used up. These discretionary allotments are generally made once in the spring and once in the fall.
In 2015, the total bond cap set by HUD for New York state was around $2 billion. By statute, New York was entitled to $280 million, and it received an additional $314 million in discretionary allotments. (Taking into account $100 million rolled over from 2014, its total allotment for 2015 was $694 million.)
In years past, the process by which the city has received its allotments has been relatively smooth. But last year, city officials were upset when the city's fall allotment totaled only $90 million, far less than the $230 million they reportedly had expected.
Housing advocates said earlier this year that the disparity prevented projects accounting for 1,200 units of affordable housing from going forward.
This past February, the New York Times reported that the Cuomo Administration wanted to muscle in on a big slice of the discretionary allotments, allegedly to put toward the govenror's own statewide housing plan. This would have thrown a major wrench into de Blasio's affordable housing plan—according to the Times report, almost half of the 40,000 units of affordable housing created under the de Blasio plan (to that point) were subsidized with the federally tax-exempt bonds. (Cuomo publicly denied at the time that he wanted to use the funds for his own plan).
The squabbles between Cuomo and de Blasio over affordable housing and (everything else) have been legion over the years, but in recent weeks the city has won some policy asks related to housing that it's been pushing for. Last week, Cuomo brokered a deal to renew the 421-a tax abatement program, which provides tax breaks (far too generous, some argue) to developers who incorporate below-market housing into development projects.
And on the bond issue, it seems Cuomo and de Blasio were also ultimately able to work out their differences. The $300 million fall allotment, on top of a total of $470 million allotted earlier in the year, pushes the city's total 2016 bond cap to $770 million, an 11 percent increase from 2015. According to the governor's office, this is the second-largest allotment the city has received.
"This funding is critical to keeping our affordable housing engine in high gear," Melissa Grace, deputy press secretary for Mayor de Blasio, told Gothamist. "With so many vital projects lined up—including homes for low-income families and homeless seniors—we are grateful the State is coming forward with this additional $300 million allocation."
Tagged
affordable housing
andrew cuomo
bill de blasio
bonds
hud
Raphael Pope-Sussman
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