File #: Res 0923-2005    Version: * Name: Modification of the Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning plan to guarantee that 40 percent of new residential housing within the rezoning area be affordable.
Type: Resolution Status: Filed
Committee: Committee on Land Use
On agenda: 4/12/2005
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution calling for modification of the Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning plan to guarantee that 40 percent of new residential housing within the rezoning area be affordable.
Sponsors: Diana Reyna, David Yassky, Hiram Monserrate, Robert Jackson, Miguel Martinez, Sara M. Gonzalez, Albert Vann, Leroy G. Comrie, Jr., Kendall Stewart, Letitia James, Bill De Blasio, Christine C. Quinn, James F. Gennaro, G. Oliver Koppell, Maria Baez, Maria Del Carmen Arroyo, Eva S. Moskowitz, Joel Rivera, David I. Weprin, Michael E. McMahon, James S. Oddo, Andrew J. Lanza, Dennis P. Gallagher, Annabel Palma, Domenic M. Recchia, Jr., Lewis A. Fidler, Vincent J. Gentile, Erik Martin Dilan, John C. Liu, Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr., Helen D. Foster, Yvette D. Clarke, James Sanders, Jr., Tracy L. Boyland, Gale A. Brewer, Alan J. Gerson, Michael C. Nelson
Council Member Sponsors: 37

Res. No. 923

 

By Council Members Reyna, Yassky, Monserrate, Jackson, Martinez, Gonzalez, Vann, Comrie, Stewart, James, de Blasio, Quinn, Gennaro, Koppell, Baez, Arroyo, Moskowitz, Rivera, Weprin, McMahon, Oddo, Lanza, Gallagher, Palma, Recchia Jr., Fidler, Gentile, Dilan, Liu, Addabbo Jr., Foster, Clarke, Sanders Jr., Boyland, Brewer, Gerson and Nelson

 

Resolution calling for modification of the Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning plan to guarantee that 40 percent of new residential housing within the rezoning area be affordable.

 

                     Whereas, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires residents of public housing to pay 30 percent of their net income for rent; and

 

                     Whereas, according to Ingrid Gould Ellen, deputy director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, “this suggests that the federal government deems 30 percent of your income as a reasonable level of expenditure;” and

 

                     Whereas, according to the 2003 American Community Survey, 48 percent of New York City renters pay more than 30 percent of their net income for housing; and

 

                     Whereas, according to the 2002 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey, almost 23 percent of New York City renters pay more than 50 percent of their net income for housing; and

 

                     Whereas, according to the 2002 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey, median monthly rents in New York City increased by 36 percent between 1990 and 2002, while median household incomes increased by only 23 percent during the same period; and

 

Whereas, the surge in rental prices that accompanies redevelopment harms low-income households, minorities, the elderly, single parents, and people living on fixed incomes because of an inability to adapt to quickly rising rents; and

 

Whereas, according to “Reducing the Cost of New Housing Construction in New York City,” a report released by the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy and the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service in February 2005, professional and academic research demonstrates a correlation between “inadequate or unaffordable housing and other outcomes such as educational attainment, birth weight and disease,” probably due to the small amount of money remaining after rent payments for food, clothing, health care, or educational materials; and

 

Whereas, according to the same report, “[e]mployers frequently express the view that the high cost of housing in the New York metropolitan area threatens their competitiveness,” posing a threat to the long-term strength and stability of the city’s economy; and

 

                     Whereas, the rezoning plan approved by the New York City Planning Commission on March 14, 2005, concedes, “displacement of a residential population can occur when an action increases property values and thus rents throughout a study area, making it difficult for some current residents (or residents in the No-Action) to continue to afford to live in the community;” and

 

                     Whereas, the current CPC plan also states, “low- and moderate-income residents living in unprotected housing units in several census tracts within the proposed action and primary study area constitute a ‘population at risk’ that is potentially subject to indirect displacement;” and

 

                     Whereas, the current CPC plan acknowledges, that the possible introduction of approximately 2,060 affordable units would only “partially mitigate the significant adverse indirect residential displacement impact;” and

 

Whereas, the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus of the Council of the City of New York, at its meeting on March 9, 2005, by the unanimous consent of members present, accepted a resolution calling for modification of the Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning plan to guarantee that 40 percent of all new residential housing within the Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning area be affordable housing; therefore be it

 

Resolved, that the Council of the City of New York calls for modification of the Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning plan to guarantee that 40 percent of new residential housing within the rezoning area be affordable.