Dear New Yorker,
We hope you're enjoying the last few days of summer.
There've been some promising new developments on the affordable housing front that we wanted to share with you.
If you any questions about the initiatives described below, please feel free to contact Carlos Carino in the City Council's Community Outreach Unit at (212) 788-9121 or ccarino@council.nyc.gov . Or you can email us directly at speakerquinn@council.nyc.gov .
Thanks and have a wonderful weekend.
Sincerely,
Christine C. Quinn
Speaker
NYC Council
Erik Martin Dilan
Chair, Housing and Buildings Committee
NYC Council
City Council Passes Legislation to Increase Efficiency & Enforcement of Housing Violations
This past week the City Council passed legislation that will make it easier for tenants to file and resolve housing complaints relating to window guards.
Under the City's Health Code, property owners are required to install and maintain window guards on windows in public areas of apartment buildings, in units where children 10 and under live, and in any unit where a tenant submits a written request for installation.
Right now, complaints about window guards are investigated by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) and then forwarded to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) if a violation is found.
Although enforcement of this requirement has contributed to a significant decrease in the number of window falls in New York City, this two-tiered enforcement process can be time-consuming and result in unexpected delays.
Int. No. 531-A , sponsored by Council Member Dilan, adds window guard installation requirements to the City's Housing Maintenance Code, giving HPD the authority to issue violations. (DOHMH will retain authority to investigate falls from windows and issue violations as appropriate.) This will simplify the enforcement process for both tenants and property owners by bringing an issue that's clearly related to housing maintenance into the existing enforcement process for other housing maintenance conditions.
Property owners who don't comply with the window guard requirements will have 21 days from issuance of a notice of violation to correct conditions. After 21 days, owners may be liable for civil penalties ranging from $50 per day in residences with five or fewer units and up to $150 per day in buildings with more than five units.
We'd like to thank our Council colleagues and the Administration for all their vital work on this bill, which we expect Mayor Bloomberg to sign into law shortly.
Int. No. 531-A is a prime of example making city government more efficient. By giving HPD the authority to enforce the laws regulating window guards, the agency will be able to deploy its inspectors during the slower summer months (when windows are typically open) to ensure that window guards are properly installed.
Launch of the Subsidized Housing Information Project
As we've learned from CouncilStat , the program that the City Council uses to track constituent complaints across Council districts, the need for more subsidized housing in New York is a concern that cuts across economic and geographic lines and unifies people as they seek to keep their homes affordable.
Last week's launch of the NYU Furman Center's Subsidized Housing Information Project (SHIP) database is an important step forward in making sure tenants have the information they need to anticipate and prepare for when their affordable housing subsidies are set to run out.
Created in partnership with the City Council and government agencies using data from multiple housing sources, the SHIP database will provide tenants, advocates and community-based organizations with financial and physical information on nearly 235,000 units of privately-owned subsidized rental housing across the city.
The data is accessible through the user-friendly, interactive Data Search Tool and can be used to track at-risk subsidized housing units and identify new opportunities for preserving affordability. Subsidy program expiration dates are also available free of charge to anyone who creates an account.
We'd like to thank everyone, especially the Furman Center and our partners in city and state government, who contributed to the creation of this database.
Before SHIP was developed there was no official system for tracking affordable housing in New York City.
With this database, we'll be able to bring a more proactive approach to how we identify affordable housing units at-risk of losing their subsidies. More importantly, we'll be able to empower tenants with the essential knowledge they need to keep their homes affordable.
To learn more about this unique resource and tool, click here or visit the Furman Center's website at http://www.furmancenter.org .
City Council, HPD Release First List of Buildings Targeted for Increased Enforcement
Last month, the City Council joined HPD Commissioner Mathew Wambua to release a list of the first 49 buildings targeted for increased enforcement action under our new Proactive Preservation Initiative (PPI).
Launched earlier this year, PPI has served as a critical tool in our efforts to identify and fix deteriorating housing conditions in at-risk buildings before they reach a state that endangers the health and safety of residents.
Of the 49 buildings on the list, 34 have already been referred to HPD's newly-established Proactive Enforcement Bureau (PEB), which is responsible for performing top-to-bottom inspections and monitoring the progress of the specific course of action HPD determines to be appropriate based on PEB's findings.
Any building whose violation counts have dropped at least 80 percent and are found to be in fair condition by HPD surveyors will be removed from any subsequent lists, which are planned to be updated every six months. Buildings that have been surveyed but whose conditions, fortunately, do not yet warrant litigation or the involvement of PEB are placed on an internal HPD watch list and are subject to ongoing monitoring and if needed, agency assistance.
We'd like to thank Mayor Bloomberg, Commissioner Wambua, and Council Members Inez Dickens, Annabel Palma and Fernando Cabrera for their hard work and on-going involvement in this important initiative.
To learn more about PPI and how it works, click here or visit HPD's website at http://www.nyc.gov/hpd .