Categories: Press
09.04.2013
Piece includes quote from Network Executive Director Ted Houghton
The lack of affordable housing remains a perennial problem in New York City. Though the issue hasn't seen much discussion at NYC's mayoral debates, most candidates have released plans for how they'd increase affordable housing (and affordability overall) in NYC as mayor. Yesterday, Capital New York's Dana Rubenstein published a detailed piece on those policy proposals. The piece, available here, offers a rundown of the housing plans proposed by Bill de Blasio, John Catsimatidis, Joe Lhota, Christine Quinn and Bill Thompson. It also includes a quote from Network Executive Director Ted Houghton:
"Used judiciously, tax incentives can be an effective tool to preserve affordability in privately-owned housing. The trick is to structure it effectively—you don't want to give too much for too little, provide tax breaks for something landlords would do anyway, or give so little that no one takes you up on your offer. Certainly, all indications are that she and her staff are trying to structure it so as to hit that sweet spot where it preserves a significant number of units, but it's by no means a giveaway."
We're especially pleased to see a reference to the Housing First! coalition in this Capital New York piece. The Housing First! plan calls on New York's next mayor to build 60,000 affordable housing units -- including 10,000 units of supportive housing -- and preserve 90,000 units of at-risk affordable housing over the next eight years. We hope to see a lot more press like this during the remainder of this election season!