Dear New Yorker,
There have been some promising, new developments in our fight to protect tenants and keep housing in our city affordable.
First, this past month we announced a major agreement with the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to double the standard term of affordability required in many new projects from 30 to 60 years.
But we won't stop there.
Our goal is to create a new kind of deal with developers, so that as long as the City keeps renewing their benefits, they will have to keep their housing truly affordable.
We're very grateful to HPD for agreeing to work with us to develop a strategy for permanent affordability. It's an idea that's long overdue, and we look forward to working with HPD to help make permanent affordability in NYC a reality.
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In another positive development, more of the City's worst apartment buildings are now being fixed, thanks to the improvements we made last year to the City's Alternative Enforcement Program (AEP).
The AEP was established in 2007 with the passage of the NYC Safe Housing Act and has served as a critical tool in our fight to protect tenants from hazardous housing conditions.
Working together with HPD, we expanded the program last year to include buildings with serious cases of mold and vermin infestation - known asthma triggers. We also revised the program's building selection criteria to help increase the number of units captured by this innovative program.
As a result, more than 1,800 additional units were captured in the latest round of buildings selected by HPD for clean-up and repairs through AEP. In addition, more buildings are being discharged from the program: of the 200 buildings in Round Four, 101 buildings have been discharged, 29,519 violations have been corrected, and the City has directly recovered more than $1.57 million in Emergency Repair Program charges, AEP fees and liens.
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We are using AEP effectively to target many of the City's worst buildings, but there are other buildings where tenants face repeated violations because the underlying condition isn't fixed.
To help make sure we're fixing these buildings before they require AEP, Council Member Brewer will be introducing legislation to give HPD the ability to issue orders to correct underlying conditions on all buildings it inspects.
Under this legislation, HPD could require owners to fix a plumbing line if it's causing repeated violations for mold or plaster damage. They could also require owners to replace a roof if it's leading to repeated leaks and water damage. And they could require the owner to replace a boiler if there have been repeated heat and hot water violations.
Everyone in our city deserves a safe place to live, and we'll continue to use every tool at our disposal to help provide all New Yorkers with safe and healthy housing.
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Finally, in other good news, yesterday Mayor Bloomberg signed into law Intro. 501 .
This legislation, introduced by Council Member Dilan, requires banks to notify the City within 15 days of when properties will be foreclosed upon.
With this new law, we will be better able to ensure that these buildings are being taken care of since many still have people living in them.
You can read more about our new foreclosure notification law on NY 1 at http://www.ny1.com/content/news_beats/political_news/156096/mayor-expected-to-sign-foreclosure-notification-bill-into-law .
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We'd like to thank all of our colleagues, especially Council Members Brewer, Mendez and James, for helping us take these critical new steps in our fight to protect tenants and keep housing in our city affordable.
We still have a lot more work to do. But by taking these steps, we'll be better able to meet our city's affordable housing needs now - and well into the future.
For more information about our permanent affordability plan and AEP initiatives, please click here or visit us online at www.council.nyc.gov .
Thanks and have a wonderful weekend.
Sincerely,
Christine C. Quinn
Speaker
NYC Council
Erik Martin-Dilan
Chair, Housing & Buildings Committee
NYC Council