Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine.
Picture by Dean Moses
If elected as the following metropolis Comptroller, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine needs to transcend the fundamentals of the fiscal watchdog submit together with his personal plan to sort out town’s sprawling inexpensive housing disaster.
Levine’s proposal, which his marketing campaign shared completely with New York News Metro forward of its Wednesday launch, would use the municipal pension fund system, which is managed by the comptroller’s workplace, to assist finance constructing and preserving as many as 75,000 inexpensive models over the following decade.
The plan is certainly one of many put ahead by Democratic major candidates this yr who’re pledging to handle a housing scarcity that has despatched rents hovering and left solely about 1.4% of residences throughout town accessible.
“New York’s housing crisis is a moral and economic emergency,’ Levine said. “We cannot let our city’s working families, seniors, and municipal employees be pushed out of the very neighborhoods they help sustain. As Comptroller, I will put our pension fund to work for affordable housing, ensuring that thousands of New Yorkers can finally access the housing they need and deserve.”
Views of the Gowanus neighborhood, the place dozens of enormous inexpensive housing building initiatives alongside the Gowanus Canal on Dec. 24, 2024 in Brooklyn.Picture by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis through Getty Pictures
The Manhattan beep’s four-part plan is constructed on establishing what he has dubbed the “NYC Affordability Fund,” which might be run by way of town pension methods’ already present Economically Focused Investments fund.
The ETI makes up 2% of town pension funds’ investments, however based on Levine’s marketing campaign, solely about half of the fund has truly been allotted. That leaves roughly $2.5 billion remaining unused.
Levine’s proposed new fund would basically create a automobile for permitting builders to faucet these {dollars} to finance their inexpensive housing initiatives, which may velocity up the speed of improvement, Levine’s marketing campaign says. The fund is exclusive as a result of it will enable builders to transform the debt they take out into fairness in a constructing as soon as it’s accomplished.
“Across New York City, there are thousands of homes waiting to be built — the plans are approved, but developers lack the financing to get it done,” Levine stated. “The NYC Affordability Fund unlocks those dollars for us to invest directly in creating and preserving up to 75,000 affordable homes.”
In accordance with his marketing campaign, the brand new fund could be complimented by the second a part of Levine’s plan. That piece of the proposal requires altering inside comptroller workplace coverage to reclassify inexpensive housing as a “core” space of actual property funding, which might make it cheaper for builders to entry the financing.
The plan’s third part entails pushing for the state to take away a restrict on how a lot town pension funds can spend money on inexpensive housing manufacturing. Its fourth prong envisions working with the state and federal governments to elevate a cap on the federal Low-Revenue Housing Tax Credit score, which may additionally assist initiatives get constructed extra rapidly.
Levine, who launched his comptroller bid final summer time, is in a decent Democratic major battle with Brooklyn Metropolis Council Member Justin Brannan. Each candidates launched campaigns for the place after present metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander jumped into the race to unseat Mayor Eric Adams final yr.
Though the race is aggressive, Levine has emerged because the early frontrunner. He has a large record of endorsements from elected officers and political organizations.
Brannan has additionally acquired assist, most not too long ago from the left-leaning New York Working Households Celebration.
Levine has additionally far outraised Brannan by unlocking practically $1.9 million in public matching funds. In accordance with metropolis Marketing campaign Finance Board data, he presently has over $2.3 million at his disposal.
