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More than 25,000 affordable apartments were financed last year
The de Blasio administration is once again touting its affordable housing accomplishments for the past year: According to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the city financed 25,889 affordable apartments in 2019. That figure includes 10,197 new units created, a figure that HPD says is “record-breaking” (the previous record was in 2018, with 10,099). The total number of apartments financed, however, is a dip from 2018, when the city created or preserved more than 34,000 affordable apartments.
To date, the de Blasio administration has created or preserved 147,933 affordable apartments through the Housing New York plan. With just two years left of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tenure, it’s unclear if his administration can, or will, hit its ultimate goal of creating or preserving 300,000 affordable homes—especially given recent challenges to things like neighborhood-wide rezonings, which the administration has counted on to boost its total below-market housing numbers.
Major projects that were financed last year include the redevelopment of the former Spofford Juvenile Detention Center in the Bronx—which will become the Peninsula, a mixed-use project with 740 below-market-rate apartments—and Sendero Verde, a huge East Harlem development with more than 655 affordable units.
And in other news…
- Another day, another meltdown at Penn Station—this time for NJ Transit riders.
- In the wake of a tragic suicide at Hudson Yards’s Vessel, the Real Deal looks at how other attractions have adjusted their designs to prevent suicides.
- This headline: “Behind Amazon’s HQ2 Fiasco: Jeff Bezos Was Jealous of Elon Musk.”
- The City Council wants to create a comprehensive planning framework for New York City.
- In pursuit of Andy “Train Daddy” Byford’s resignation letter to the MTA, which reportedly excoriated Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s sidelining tactics that may have led to the transit chief’s departure.
- A deep dive into the massive portfolio of Brookfield, the city’s largest commercial property owner.
- Councilmember Ritchie Torres is not pleased about the fee structure at the Bryant Park ice skating rink, which advertises itself as “free admission,” but offer skate rentals for upwards of $18. (If you bring your own skates, you can get in for free.)
- And finally, artist JR created a massive mural in Domino Park, situated against a stack of shipping containers, that features New York City scenes.
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