Comptroller Stringer Proposes Sweeping ‘Universal Affordable Housing’ Requirement for All New Construction in the City

Universal Affordable Housing would require 25% permanently low-income affordable housing in all new development with ten or more units

Five-borough housing strategy would end the $1.6 billion 421-a tax subsidy to developers

Urges focusing all City housing capital investment on affordable housing for extremely and very low-income households to pull New Yorkers back from brink of homelessness

Outlines agenda to expand moderate and middle-income homeownership across the five boroughs

 New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer announced ‘Housing We Need,’ a five-borough housing strategy to fundamentally realign New York City’s failed approach to our housing crisis – including a universal requirement for 25% permanently low-income affordable housing in all new as-of-right development with ten or more units.

Comptroller Stringer also proposed an end to the longstanding 421-a tax subsidy program for developers, which costs the city more than $1.6 billion per year and has proven highly inefficient in its production of affordable housing. Comptroller Stringer’s plan further calls for the expansion of affordable homeownership programs, the redirection of existing capital dollars to extremely and very low-income housing construction, and the creation of a New York City land bank that would facilitate the transformation of vacant city-owned properties into affordable housing.

These are the cornerstones of a comprehensive housing strategy that follows six years of analyses, audits and reports on City initiatives that leave behind as many as 435,000 of New York’s lowest-income households, on housing plans that fail to create enough truly affordable housing for working families, on billions of dollars in wasted spending on inscrutable tax subsidies to real estate, on ineffective approaches to homelessness prevention, and on unrealizable paths to homeownership.

Universal Affordable Housing (UAH)

Comptroller Stringer: “The power in this approach lies in its simplicity: if you’re going to build in New York City, you will provide affordability that is sustainable.

“You will be part of the solution. No longer will developers be able to use affordable housing as a bargaining chip with communities.”

The City’s inclusionary zoning program, Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH), has centered the creation of affordable housing in specific neighborhoods and offers developers additional height and/or density in exchange for the construction of a certain percentage of affordable units. However, much of this housing is not affordable to local residents; most of the housing built under the City’s ‘Housing New York’ plan is set at 80% of HUD-defined Area Median Income (AMI), or households making up to approximately $77,000 a year, or higher.

Comptroller Stringer’s proposal for Universal Affordable Housing:

• Every new as-of-right development with ten or more units across New York City will be legally required to set aside a baseline of 25% of its units or the floor area, whichever is greater, for permanent low-income affordable housing.
• All units created under UAH would be set at an average of 60% of Area Median Income (household income of $58,000 a year for a family of three), or two parents making minimum wage and raising a child.

Housing for Extremely Low and Very Low-Income New Yorkers

Comptroller Stringer: “This is the housing that helps families that are one paycheck away from losing their homes. This is the housing that gets New Yorkers out of shelters. This is the housing that empowers folks to climb the economic ladder to security and stability.

“This is the housing we need.”

An analysis by the Comptroller’s Office found that the “affordable” housing created by the Administration’s “Housing New York” is too expensive for as many as 435,000 of the city’s most severely rent-burdened households.  Just one third of the newly-constructed housing units through the end of Fiscal Year 2019 were within the reach of extremely low and very low- income households (defined as households making 30 percent and 50 percent respectively of AMI, or $28,830 and $48,050 respectively for a family of three).  The Comptroller’s analysis found that nearly 565,000 New York households pay over half of their income for rent, are severely overcrowded, or have been in homeless shelter for over a year.

As New York City’s homelessness crisis grows, Comptroller Stringer called on the City to direct all current housing capital investment to benefit the households most affected by the crisis of housing affordability, including:

• Starting immediately, focusing current City capital dollars for new construction on the production of units for extremely and very low-income households.
• Creating a non-profit New York City Land Bank to partner with community-based organizations to build 100 percent permanently affordable housing on nearly 1,000 vacant lots currently owned by the City; these sites can generate tens of thousands of affordable housing units for the lowest-income New Yorkers making 30 percent to 50 percent of AMI.

Ending 421-a

Comptroller Stringer: “We need to fundamentally change the bargain between the city and the real estate industry.  We can’t keep spending billions and billions and getting so little in return.”

The as-of-right 421-a program, also known as Affordable Housing New York, is the largest current subsidy to generate affordable housing, at an annual cost of $1.6 billion in foregone property tax revenues, according to the Department of Finance’s 2019 Tax Expenditure Report. However, the ‘affordable’ units created by the program are not permanently affordable and can rent for as much as $3,100 a month – which is well above market rate in many neighborhoods. The Independent Budget Office estimated that from 2005-2015, the city wasted between $2.5 and $2.8 billion in revenue through the 421-a program by providing more benefit than needed. Furthermore, a report by ProPublica found that two-thirds of the 6,000 rental properties with 421-a abatements did not have approved applications on file, nor were they registered with rent stabilization.

Comptroller Stringer proposed ending the ineffectual 421-a program and instead:

• Providing subsidies only on a discretionary basis strictly to plug financing gaps where there is demonstrated, documented need in order to meet the new mandate for affordability, deepen the affordability levels, increase the amount of affordability or provide good-paying jobs.
• Giving more discretion to the City to tailor subsidies including property tax abatements and capital subsidies.
• Mandating that all affordable housing supported through subsidies must be permanently affordable and ensuring accountability and enforceability by transparently reporting all affordable housing units created through this program.

Making Homeownership an Achievable Dream

Comptroller Stringer: “We also have to do more to make home ownership an achievable dream in New York City, because right now it has become the impossible dream for too many working New Yorkers.

“If New York City becomes a place where only the wealthy can afford to put down roots and own a home, where all we do is build glass towers in the sky that sit half empty – then we should all be ashamed.”

The homeownership rate in New York City is half of what it is in the rest of the country; approximately 32 percent of New Yorkers own their own homes compared to 64 percent nationwide. Black and Hispanic borrowers receive less than 16 percent of home loans citywide, despite constituting a majority of the population.

In response, Comptroller Stringer proposes to expand homeownership across the city by:

• Expanding the Department of Housing Preservation & Development’s Homefirst and Homefix programs to provide qualified moderate- and middle-income homeowners with up to $40,000 toward down payments and loans for home repairs.
• Waiving real property transfer and mortgage recording taxes for qualified first-time homebuyers.
• Giving tenants the right of first refusal to buy their buildings when their building goes up for sale or foreclosure.
• Leveraging Community Land Banks and Land Trusts to build affordable co-ops and condominiums on City-owned land, and building more limited equity housing for middle class families.

VNNA MONTHLY MEETING – MONDAY FEB. 3, 2020 AT 7:00PM – MONSIGNOR FIORENTINO APTS, 1830 AMETHYST STREET, BRONX

Please join VNNA at our first monthly meeting of 2020 on Monday Feb. 3, 2020 – 7:00pm at

Monsignor Fiorentino Apts, 1st floor Community Room

1830 Amethyst Street Bronx, NY 10462

VISION ZERO: DE BLASIO ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES 2020 MAJOR PROJECTED BICYCLE LANE PROJECTS IN BROOKLYN

Part of Green Wave plan to create 30 miles of protected bicycle lanes citywide this year

 The de Blasio Administration today announced the 2020 protected bike lane projects in Brooklyn. This year’s new lanes will include the extension of protected lanes along 4th Avenue north to Barclays Center and along Meeker Avenue in Williamsburg, connecting the Williamsburg Bridge to the new Kosciusko Bridge bike path.  This is part of the Mayor’s Green Wave plan, which will create more than 30 miles of protected bike lanes citywide this year.

“I can’t imagine a better place to kick off this year’s Green Wave than my beloved Brooklyn,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We’re redoubling our efforts to protect cyclists, and New Yorkers can expect to see many more protected bike lanes across the city this year.”

“We are continuing to expand the protected bike lane network across Brooklyn to better accommodate cyclists,” said Deputy Mayor Laura Anglin. “We know protected bike lanes are key to making city streets safer for everyone on the road.”

“Brooklyn had a tough year for Vision Zero in 2019, so that is why we are here at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge to announce our plans for protected bike lanes in this new year,” said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.  “With the Mayor’s leadership, we are bringing a laser focus to this borough, with a record number of protected bike lanes coming to a range of neighborhoods.  Protected bike lanes make streets safer for everyone, and we have heard such great feedback on the work we did creating new protected lanes along 4th Avenue last year.  As a Brooklynite, I am especially pleased to announce that in 2020, we will finish the job.”

As part of the Mayor’s Green Wave plan, the Department of Transportation has committed to building 30 miles of new protected bike lanes citywide in 2020. At least ten of those miles will be in Brooklyn, including the following planned projects:

·         4th Avenue, Park Slope/Gowanus

·         Flatbush Avenue, Prospect Park/Brooklyn Botanic Garden

·         Ft. Hamilton Parkway, Windsor Terrace

·         Franklin Street (Greenway), Greenpoint

·         Meeker Avenue, Williamsburg/Greenpoint

·         Navy Street, Downtown Brooklyn

·         Remsen Avenue, Canarsie

·         Smith Street, Downtown Brooklyn

DOT today released its Vision Zero data about one of its major projects completed in 2018 in Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn. A single mile of Gerritsen Avenue, Gerritsen Beach’s major thoroughfare, had four speeding related fatalities alone from 2007 to 2016.

Starting in 2017, DOT added a two-way protected bicycle lane and installed other major safety improvements, including pedestrian refuge islands, new bus stops and enhanced crossings which have dramatically improved safety. The corridor has had no fatalities since DOT began its transformational work, with the annual number of crashes declining by 54 percent.

“Last year was the deadliest year for cyclists in decades, and unfortunately the epicenter of the crisis was Brooklyn. We need to make aggressive, rapid investments in street safety to stem the tide of deaths and injuries throughout the five boroughs, and ensure all can move around our city safely. I am heartened to see the DOT implementing street safety infrastructure projects our office has long advocated for, including a protected bike lane along Flatbush Avenue in Prospect Park and on Navy Street in Downtown Brooklyn, as well as along other arterial roadways where most injuries and fatalities occur. We must act swiftly to ensure needed public safety measures are equitably deployed in every corner of our city,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. 

About Vision Zero:

Vision Zero is the de Blasio administration’s initiative to use every tool at its disposal to end traffic deaths and injuries on New York City streets. Since the program’s inaugural year in 2014, when New York City became the first American city to adopt Vision Zero, the City’s traffic fatalities have declined more than 25 percent — bucking national fatality trends, which have increased 15 percent over the same period.

For more information about the de Blasio Administration’s Vision Zero initiative, please see www.nyc.gov/visionzero.

Two Men Charged In Manhattan Federal Court With Bronx Murder

  Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Dermot Shea, the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), and Peter C. Fitzhugh, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), announced the unsealing of an Indictment charging DARON GOODMAN and JAMARR SIMMONS with the January 11, 2020, murder of Jason Parris, 36, in the vicinity of East 170th Street and Webster Avenue in the Bronx, New York.  The case has been assigned to United States District Judge George B. Daniels.  SIMMONS was arrested this morning.  GOODMAN was in state custody and was transferred to federal custody.  Both defendants were presented today before Judge Daniels and ordered detained.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “As alleged in the indictment, Daron Goodman and Jamar Simmons murdered Jason Parris earlier this month.  Thanks to the outstanding efforts of the NYPD and HSI, Goodman and Simmons now face federal murder charges for this terrible crime.  We continue our daily work with our law enforcement partners to keep the streets safe, and to vigorously investigate and prosecute those who allegedly engage in acts of violence in our community.”

NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said:  “This indictment illustrates how committed we are to stopping those engaged in gun violence.  The NYPD, together with federal agents and prosecutors, remain vigilant in our fight against violent crime as part of our joint effort to keep the city and its residents safe.”

HSI Special Agent-in-Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh said:  “In a most heinous act, both Goodman and Simmons are alleged to have murdered a man in cold blood.  HSI will remain committed to work closely with our law enforcement partners on murder investigations in order to bring justice, and maybe some solace, for the victim’s family and loved ones.”

As alleged in the Indictment unsealed today in Manhattan federal court[1]:

On January 11, 2020, DARON GOODMAN and JAMARR SIMMONS, shot and killed Jason Parris in the vicinity of 1441 Webster Avenue in the Bronx.  GOODMAN and SIMMONS killed Parris in part to maintain and increase their position in a racketeering enterprise operating in the Southern District of New York.

GOODMAN, 22, and SIMMONS, 32, are each charged with using a firearm to commit murder in aid of racketeering, which carries a maximum sentence of death, or life in prison, and a mandatory minimum term of five years in prison.  The statutory maximum penalties are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants would be determined by the judge.           

Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of the NYPD and HSI.  Mr. Berman also praised the New York City Department of Correction, Correction Intelligence Bureau, for its assistance in the investigation.       

The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Manhattan Doctor Sentenced To Nearly Five Years In Prison For Accepting Bribes And Kickbacks In Exchange For Prescribing Fentanyl Drug

  Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ALEXANDRU BURDUCEA, a doctor who practiced in Manhattan, was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to 57 months in prison for conspiring to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute, in connection with a scheme to prescribe Subsys, a potent fentanyl-based spray, in exchange for bribes and kickbacks from Subsys’s manufacturer, Insys Therapeutics.  BURDUCEA pled guilty on February 14, 2019, and was sentenced by United States District Judge Kimba M. Wood.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “Before September 2014, Alexandru Burducea, a doctor who practiced in Manhattan, had never prescribed Subsys, a potent fentanyl-based spray.  By the second quarter of 2015, however – in exchange for bribes and kickbacks from Subsys’s manufacturer, Insys Therapeutics – Burducea became approximately the 14th-highest prescriber of Subsys in the country. Burducea sacrificed the safety of his patients to satisfy his own greed, and will now spend time in federal prison for his reckless prescribing of this highly addictive and deadly drug.”

According to the allegations contained in the Indictment against BURDUCEA and filings in related proceedings:

The Insys Speakers Bureau

Subsys, which is manufactured by Insys, is a powerful painkiller approximately 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.  The FDA approved Subsys only for the management of breakthrough pain in cancer patients.  Prescriptions of Subsys typically cost thousands of dollars each month, and Medicare and Medicaid, as well as commercial insurers, reimbursed prescriptions written by BURDUCEA.

In or about August 2012, Insys launched a “Speakers Bureau,” a roster of doctors who would conduct programs (“Speaker Programs”) purportedly aimed at educating other practitioners about Subsys.  In reality, Insys used its Speakers Bureau to induce the doctors who served as speakers to prescribe large volumes of Subsys by paying them Speaker Program fees.  Speakers were supposed to conduct an educational slide presentation for other health care practitioners at each Speaker Program.  In reality, many of the Speaker Programs were predominantly social affairs where no educational presentation about Subsys occurred.  Attendance sign-in sheets for the Speaker Programs were frequently forged by adding the names and signatures of health care practitioners who had not actually been present.

BURDUCEA’s Participation in the Scheme

BURDUCEA, a doctor certified in pain management and anesthesiology, was an Assistant Professor of anesthesiology at a large Manhattan hospital.  He also practiced at an anesthesiology and pain management office associated with the hospital.  From in or about September 2014 until in or about June 2015, BURDUCEA received approximately $68,400 in Speaker Program fees from Insys in exchange for prescribing large volumes of Subsys.  In addition, Insys hired BURDUCEA’s then-girlfriend, now wife, to work as BURDUCEA’s sales representative, and the company paid her large commissions based on the volume of Subsys prescribed by her assigned doctors, which included BURDUCEA. 

BURDUCEA, who had never prescribed Subsys before in or about September 2014, became approximately the 14th-highest prescriber of Subsys nationally in the second quarter of 2015, accounting for total net sales of the drug of approximately $621,345 in that quarter.

In addition to the prison sentence, BURDUCEA, 43, of Little Neck, New York, was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $68,400. A restitution order will be entered within 90 days.

BURDUCEA was one of five Manhattan doctors convicted for participating in the Subsys bribery conspiracy.  Todd Schlifstein was convicted upon a guilty plea and sentenced by Judge Wood on October 28, 2019, principally to a term of two years in prison.  Dialecti Voudouris was convicted upon a guilty plea and is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Wood on March 5, 2020.  Jeffrey Goldstein was convicted upon a guilty plea and is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Wood on March 12, 2020.  Gordon Freedman was convicted following a jury trial and is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge Wood on March 19, 2020.

Mr. Berman praised the investigative work of the FBI, and thanked HHS OIG for its participation in the investigation.

RESTAURANT OWNER SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS IN PRISON FOR FATALLY SHOOTING MAN OUTSIDE BRONX ESTABLISHMENT

Defendant Convicted of Killing Former Employee’s Husband in Money Dispute 

 Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Westchester man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for fatally shooting a man outside his restaurant in the Allerton section of the Bronx over a money dispute. 

 District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant, a restaurant owner, shot his former employee’s husband when they went to pick up her paycheck. The defendant took a life because of a disagreement over money. He will now spend many years in prison for his actions.” 

 District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Kenton Connerly, 52, of Port Chester, N.Y., was sentenced today to 20 years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Alvin Yearwood. The defendant was found guilty by a jury of first-degree Manslaughter and two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon on December 13, 2019. 

According to the investigation, on the evening of September 29, 2017, the victim, Lorenzo Daley, 29, went to the defendant’s restaurant, “Simply Seafood” located on 2542B White Plains Road, with his wife, a former employee, to retrieve her paycheck. An altercation erupted between Connerly and Daley, and Daley and his wife stepped outside of the restaurant and the defendant followed with a gun. Connerly pistol-whipped Daley in the head and the firearm went off once, striking the victim in the neck. Daley was taken to Jacobi Medical Center where he was pronounced dead a couple of hours after the incident.

  District Attorney Clark thanked Laura Ramirez, Advocate in her Crime Victims Assistance Unit, and NYPD Detective Robert Cintron of the 49th Precinct for their assistance in the case. 

Jessica Haller Launches Campaign for NY City Council, District 11

Climate Activist Jessica Haller Launches Campaign for New York City Council

BRONX, NY (January 27, 2020) – Jessica Haller, a climate activist, tech entrepreneur and mother of four, has registered a committee with the New York City Campaign Finance Board as a Democratic candidate for the City’s 11th Council District, which includes the neighborhoods of Bedford Park, Kingsbridge, Norwood, Riverdale, Van Cortlandt Village, Wakefield, and Woodlawn in the Bronx. Haller will compete in the Democratic primary, scheduled for June 2021. 

“I am running to bring a fresh local perspective to an array of challenges, from the public-safety threats posed by the sharp increase in hate crimes to the negative effects of climate change impacting our neighborhoods,” said Haller. “We must act now to ensure that our neighborhoods are safe and sustainable for the benefit of our children and grandchildren.” 

Haller has a strong track record as an environmental expert and advocate. She earned an M.P.A. in environmental science and policy from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and the Earth Institute and is a LEED Accredited Professional with the U.S. Green Building Council. She is also a member of The Climate Reality Project, trained and charged by Vice President Al Gore to speak publicly on issues of climate change. And she serves as the vice-chair of Hazon, the largest faith-based environmental organization in the U.S.

Haller is the first female candidate to enter the District 11 Council race. “As someone who strongly supports diversity I find it troubling that in 2020 all of my New York City elected representatives — from the Mayor, to the Public Advocate, to the Comptroller to the City Council — are men,” said Haller. “I believe that diverse organizations — including legislative bodies — are more successful than organizations with uniform memberships. It’s time to break up the old boys club, shatter a few more glass ceilings, and bring people of all genders and backgrounds together to address the serious and life-threatening challenges facing New Yorkers.”

Haller is an active member of 21 in ’21, an initiative launched in 2017 by former City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and former Council Member Elizabeth Crowley in response to the alarmingly low number of women serving on the New York City Council. Today, only 12 out of 51 Council members are women, down from a high of 18 in 2009.

“Our organization is focused on identifying, cultivating, and launching women candidates so they can not only run, but win, with a sisterhood of support behind them,” said 21 in '21 Founder Elizabeth Crowley. “Talented women like Jessica are too often told they must ‘wait their turn’ by the political establishment -- we’re working to change that.”

Haller is a life-long resident of New York City and lives in Riverdale with her husband, Chad, and children Leila, Avery, Chloe, and Mattie.

 

www.JessicaHaller.com