PHOTO: State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (at lectern) and Mayor Bill de Blasio (r.) last week announced that the City used money from settlements with property owners who violated the law to pay for nearly 600 new affordable apartments across the five boroughs. Photo Courtesy of Demetrius Freeman/Mayoral Photography Office
By Forum Staff
Initial financing for nearly 600 new affordable apartments across the city has been paid for by $10 million in settlements with property owners who violated the law, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio and State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who made the announcement last Thursday.
The new homes will serve formerly homeless New Yorkers, low-income families, veterans, seniors and people with mental health and substance abuse challenges.
The settlement money results from investigations spearheaded by the attorney general into abuses of tax incentive programs. The $9.8 million includes restitutions paid by owners who failed to provide the rent-regulated leases their tenants deserved, violated tenant rights laws and denied service workers the required prevailing wage.
“The attorney General and the City are cracking down on bad actors, and we’re putting the proceeds to work, building more affordable housing. Today, we’re announcing that hundreds of families in need will have a home they can afford. And our seniors, and people with mental health and substance abuse challenges, will have specialized housing with services to meet their needs,” de Blasio said.
The joint investigations began in 2014, uncovering violations of tax exemption and abatement programs, including illegal deregulation of rent-stabilized units, violations of tenant right laws, and failure to provide rent regulated leases. This included restitution paid by 23 property owners for their failure to register apartments with the State’s Department of Homes and Community Renewal and/or to comply with 421-a prevailing wage requirements for service workers in more than 31 City properties. In addition to the payment of restitution and as part of the legal case against them, the landlords were required to properly register their properties and to provide tenants with proper regulated leases, according to de Blasio and Schneiderman.
“New York has always been, and must remain, a city for working people,” Schneiderman said. “For more than two years, my office has been investigating unscrupulous building owners who have been abusing the law to unfairly take millions in tax exemptions from programs intended to help everyday New Yorkers. Today, we turn the proceeds of those investigations into real housing relief for our communities. I am proud to stand with Mayor de Blasio to announce another important step toward our shared goal of all New Yorkers having a safe, affordable place to call home.”
Ultimately, the settlement funding could help finance more than 1,000 affordable apartments. The total amount for each project will be determined as their financing deals are secured.
The four projects identified so far are: Institute for Community Living, The Bridge, Kenmore Hall, and HANAC, Inc., which has pledged to build a low-income senior development with a total of 68 affordable apartments in Corona. The development will be affordable to seniors earning no more than $30,250 for an individual, and will include intergenerational programming such as an on-site management office and a social service office to assist residents, according to the City.
“HANAC is a worthy partner and has done exceptional work in this project to build homes for seniors in Corona to help keep them in the community they love. Dedicating this restitution pay to speed up the construction of affordable housing and uplift those families having difficulty keeping a roof over their heads is smart use of government resources,” said City Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras-Copeland (D-East Elmhurst).
