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Commentary By Eric Kober

New York Will Receive the Housing Relief It Needs

Cities, Governance Housing, New York, New York City

New Yorkers despairing about the housing-supply crisis can breathe a small sigh of relief thanks to much-needed state legislation passed in April. In a negotiating triumph for Gov. Hochul, the Democratic supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature — previously bent on driving private capital out of the housing sector since taking control in 2018 — showed unexpected flexibility and a measure of common sense. However, while this deal is better than no deal, it is far from a solution — it’s intended as much to appease political stakeholders as to assist New Yorkers. 

At its core, the state housing deal traded a New York City property-tax exemption for new housing, replacing an earlier program that expired in 2022, for rent controls on previously market-rate units. The first was a priority for Hochul, Mayor Adams and the real-estate industry; the latter, known as “good-cause eviction,” was championed by the Legislature and tenant activists.

The new tax exemption, called “485-x,” will help ensure the construction of new privately financed rental housing. Without it, underlying state law places rental housing at a disadvantage compared to cooperatives and condominiums.

Continue reading the entire piece here at the New York Post

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Eric Kober is an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He retired in 2017 as director of housing, economic and infrastructure planning at the New York City Department of City Planning. Follow him on Twitter here. Based on a recent issue brief.

Photo by NicolasMcComber/Getty Images