Public funds must benefit regular New Yorkers, not developers

By any measure, the gains made in affordable housing in New York City over the past four years are remarkable. They are the direct result of tough choices Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration makes every day to stretch our tax dollars to benefit New Yorkers — not developers.

Creating and preserving affordability is why we’ve invested $2.1 billion to help fix NYCHA. That includes $200 million to upgrade the authority’s heating systems and $11 million, plus $9 million in federal funds, to replace aging boilers, improve hot water and install monitors to provide better heating at Astoria Houses.

It’s why we’ve invested billions more to create affordable housing in the much larger private housing market.

Every day, decisions are made by the City’s housing agencies on where to allocate public funds in exchange for affordable housing. Last fall, the City decided that a request by the Durst Organization for $43 million in limited tax-exempt bonds for a single affordable building at Hallets Point — and at a time when these very bonds were under threat of elimination by federal tax reform — was not the best use of this valuable resource.

Simply put, every public dollar counts and every public dollar offered to this project is one that cannot be used to support affordable housing for low-income New Yorkers in other neighborhoods.

We are open to using some public financing for Durst’s affordable project next to the Astoria Houses, just not as much as the company is demanding, and we have asked the developer to come back with a more competitive proposal.

There have been suggestions, including by the Durst Organization, in the wake of significant heating outages at NYCHA this winter that the City’s refusal to offer bonds to the private development project means the City doesn’t care about keeping NYCHA residents warm.

That suggestion is because Durst agreed to make upgrades to the Astoria Houses, including $550,000 for work to make its boilers more efficient. But, the efficiency upgrade is needed for Durst to get environmental permits for the proposed residential tower, which is adjacent to and taller than the Astoria boiler stack. Without the upgrades, people living on the upper floors of the new building would be left breathing dirty air, and for that reason it could not be built.

In short, these upgrades are not charity and they are not to replace the boilers — $20 million in public funds will do that.

They also are not a fair trade for $43 million in tax-exempt bonds. We aren’t going to be bullied into making a deal that benefits rich developers and not poor and working class New Yorkers. We are paying for needed heating upgrades at NYCHA and holding out for a better deal for New York City.

— Melissa Grace, Deputy Press Secretary for Housing and Economic Development, Mayor’s Office.