Hello, let\u2019s get into today\u2019s news at the intersection of real estate and policy:<\/p>\n
Staten Island officials say housing fast-track districts are fresh fuel for secession.<\/p>\n
City Council members are still railing against their loss of power in project reviews.<\/p>\n
Fort Hamilton Mews gets the full Council green light.<\/p>\n
In this edition we mention: Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella, Staten Island Assembly member Sam Pirozzolo, Council members Simcha Felder, Frank Morano and Phil Wong, among others.
We Heard<\/p>\n
Secession fuel: Staten Island Republicans on Thursday blasted City Charter changes designed to spur development in the borough, pointing to voter-approved initiatives to fast-track affordable housing projects as fresh fodder for the borough to secede from New York City.<\/p>\n
Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella pointed to the city\u2019s Affordable Housing Fast Track<\/a> \u2014 of which central and south Staten Island are two of the dozen districts where certain rezonings will bypass City Council review starting next year \u2014 and a shorter review process for modest projects citywide, known as ELURP<\/a>, as \u201ca double-barreled shotgun\u201d to the communities of Staten Island. Fossella was also staunchly opposed to the City of Yes<\/a> zoning changes, which ushered in new housing in neighborhoods where only one-and two-family homes had previously been permitted.<\/p>\n \u201cThe city\u2019s out of touch with most of what Staten Island wants and needs,\u201d said Fossella, \u201cand what they don\u2019t want is their neighborhoods to be destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n Fossella\u2019s office said it is exploring options \u2014 such as a lawsuit \u2014 to fight the policies.<\/p>\n Staten Island Assembly member Sam Pirozzolo argued that the city is unfairly limiting the sway locals have in shaping development in their neighborhoods by removing the City Council from the process for certain proposed projects. The policies are a perfect example of why Staten Island would be better off on its own, said Pirozzolo.<\/p>\n This is another opportunity to say that Staten Island needs to go out on its own,\u201d he said. \u201cIt needs to be separate, and we need to divorce ourselves from these crazy ideas of people who don\u2019t live here.\u201d<\/p>\n The crazy policies that would purportedly destroy Staten Island communities stem from a package of City Charter revisions approved city-wide by voters last year to create new ways for certain housing projects to bypass Council review or appeal a Council rejection.<\/p>\n In the case of the 12 fast-track districts, Staten Island\u2019s Community Districts 2 and 3 created just two and five units of affordable housing, respectively, over the past five years. They\u2019re ranked second and fifth in the city\u2019s bottom dozen of community districts in building affordable homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Just 1 percent of the city\u2019s affordable housing was built in those 12 community districts over five years, according to a city analysis. That amounts to 724 of nearly 66,000 apartments \u2014 an average of just 12 homes per district each year. By comparison, the city\u2019s top 12 districts, most of them in the Bronx, accounted for more than half of all new affordable housing during the same period. In a statement, the mayor argued that every neighborhood needs to do its share to build housing that\u2019s within reach of low- and middle-income New Yorkers.<\/p>\n \u201cNew York\u2019s housing crisis is not going to be solved by asking the same neighborhoods to do all the building,\u201d said Mayor Zohran Mamdani. \u201cEvery New Yorker deserves a home they can afford, and every neighborhood must be part of delivering it.\u201d<\/p>\n Political posturing: Staten Island elected officials are hardly alone in their disdain. In the week since the city released its list of 12 fast-track community districts, some Council members representing those areas \u2014 which span parts of 21 of the 51 Council districts \u2014 have emphasized to constituents that they remain opposed. With their power over certain projects in those districts diminished, public posturing is one of the few levers they have left.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should be working with communities to proactively support new affordable housing development, not taking local voices out of the process,\u201d argued southern Brooklyn Council member Simcha Felder in a statement. Felder represents parts of Borough Park in Community District 12, which is on the list. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen the disastrous results when local input becomes an afterthought and unfortunately that’s what I anticipate,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The fast track is poised to upend a political dynamic that has shaped land-use decisions for nearly 40 years. Under the City Council\u2019s member deference tradition, an informal agreement to defer to the local member on land-use actions, a project\u2019s fate can hinge on the local lawmaker\u2019s support. That will no longer be the case for qualifying projects in the 12 districts. The tradition dates to changes approved to the City Charter in 1989.<\/p>\n The Council opposed the fast track and other charter revisions last year, calling them a power grab by former Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 administration. That opposition has continued, though it remains to be seen how Council members will try to influence project reviews from which they\u2019ve been cut out.<\/p>\n \u201cI support building affordable housing, but I strongly object to a system that treats local review as an obstacle to be engineered around,\u201d Staten Island Council member Frank Morano said in a statement. The Republican\u2019s South Shore district is among the 12 fast-track areas.<\/p>\n Council member Phil Wong, whose central Queens district of Maspeth, Middle Village and Ridgewood is also on the list, said he resents the city\u2019s \u201ccookie-cutter\u201d approach to building housing.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of plans won\u2019t work here,\u201d he argued. \u201cYou cannot shove these developments into my district without looking at the infrastructure. Upgrade the sewers. Upgrade the power lines.\u201d<\/p>\n Rubber stamp: The City Council on Thursday gave BWH Group the final approval it needed to advance its Fort Hamilton Mews<\/a> project.<\/p>\n The 9305 Fifth Avenue development will erect an 11-story building with 292 apartments, of which 88 will be permanently affordable for residents earning 60 percent of the AMI.\u00a0<\/p>\n The City Council\u2019s land use and zoning committees approved the project on Tuesday. It was squeezed onto the City Planning Commission\u2019s calendar for a Wednesday vote to approve last-minute modifications agreed to by Council member Kayla Santosuosso. The full Council approved the project Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n Those include BWH Group committing to affordability levels through option 1<\/a> of the city\u2019s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program for the income-restricted units and agreeing to make nearly half of those apartments family-sized units with two and three bedrooms.<\/p>\n The project is expected to break ground next year, once the Staples that occupies the existing one-story structure vacates the site.<\/p>\n Have a tip or feedback? Reach me at caroline.spivack@therealdeal.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n The Catch-Up HUD has opened an investigation into Wells Fargo\u2019s mortgage programs that aim to boost Black homeownership rates, claiming the initiatives may violate the Fair Housing Act, reports The Wall Street Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n MTA Chair Janno Lieber on Thursday accused Andy Byford of going \u201cfull MAGA\u201d while leading Amtrak\u2019s Penn Station rebuild, reports Gothamist<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Kicker<\/p>\n \u201cIf there weren\u2019t very dramatic federal support, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a particularly viable site. With massive amounts of federal support? Certainly worth the conversation for 12,000 units or more.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
More than half of the Big Apple\u2019s newest affordable housing units were targeted at low-income renters, as the city continues to battle a housing and affordability crisis, reports The Real Deal\u2019s Mary Diduch<\/a>.<\/p>\n