Council's Proposal Creates More Affordable Housing Than Mayor's
BY JOHN TOSCANO
Abill was introduced in the City Council last week which supporters

Councilmember Hiram Monserrate (D-Corona) commented: "In every corner of my district, we are seeing condominiums go up that working families could never afford..."

say, would lead to

construction of more affordable housing units for middle and low-income families while still giving tax breaks to developers.

The bill, introduced last Wednesday by 20 councilmembers, differs from a measure that has been introduced by the Bloomberg mayoral administration which scales back tax breaks for housing developers who include affordable housing units when they build market rate housing.

The councilmembers introducing their own bill say the administration's bill does not reduce the tax break enough for developers. They want the tax break eliminated completely.

Under the council bill, the tax break would be given only to developers who include at least 30 percent of affordable housing units in any market rate development they build.

These units would be authorized for families earning no more than 50 percent of the median income for the area where the new development is being built. This means annual income of about $35,000, according to the plan's supporters.

No names were issued with the announcement of the new council bill, perhaps because Council Speaker Christine Quinn is introducing her own bill on the issue this week.

The flurry of bills was set off when Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced he was submitting legislation to change the 421-a program under which housing developers are presently eligible for a 10- to 15-year exemption from the tax increase resulting from the construction of new housing in most areas of the city.

To get the exemption in Central Manhattan, parts of Harlem, the Dumbo section of Brooklyn and the Queens waterfront, developers must include lower priced affordable housing units in their project, either onsite or nearby.

In October, the administration proposed expanding those areas to include Lower Manhattan, parts of Harlem, Brooklyn Heights and other parts of the Brooklyn and Queens waterfronts. This was done to spur construction of more affordable housing units. Many housing advocates complained it was still not enough to provide greater numbers of affordable housing units.

To achieve the housing advocates' objective, the bill introduced by the councilmembers raised the bar for developers by requiring that their projects must produce at least 30 percent of affordable housing units to receive the tax break.

One housing advocate's group came out strongly in favor of the bill introduced by the council. The organization, Queens for Affordable Housing (QFAH) said in a statement, "The biggest problem with the mayor's plan is the paltry extension of the exclusion zone in which developers must include affordable housing. Outside of the zone-which includes all of the Borough of Queens-developers would still receive a substantial tax break for building only market-rate housing."

The QFAH statement pointed out that areas of Queens, such as Astoria, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Corona, Flushing and Forest Hills, were not included in the mayor's proposed expansion of the 421-a program to new areas where affordable housing must be included in new developments in order to get the tax break.

Councilmember Hiram Monserrate (D-Corona) commented: "In every corner of my district, we are seeing condominiums go up that working families could never afford. We should not be giving away city tax dollars to wealthy investors who refuse to provide any affordable housing."

Another affordable housing advocate, Brad Lander, from the Pratt Center for Community Development, stated that the council's legislative proposal is "the only proposal that would stop giving multi-million-dollar tax breaks to luxury development across New York City, including in most Queens neighborhoods. Now, after 30 years, we have the chance to comprehensively reform this program, and bring more much-needed affordable housing to this borough".