NY Times-OPINION: The Rent Is Too High; Mayor's report on housing affordability

[Scott Baker]

Hello Common Groundlings:

The Mayor's new Housing Report is attached.  As de Blasio points out, housing affordability is at historic lows.  While rents have climbed 11% from 2005-2012, people in the low and moderate income have seen no increase, adjusted for inflation.  There are also less than half as many housing units as needed for low income people in the 5 boroughs.

On our issue, there is no mention of "land rent" or land value tax in the document, but there is this paragraph, too vague, about vacant land:

Because taxes on vacant lots, underused lots, and shuttered residential buildings
can serve as a deterrent or an impetus to develop on vacant land, tax policy must
be aligned with the goal of encouraging development. In addition, to further
encourage development on vacant land in zoning districts zoned for moderate or
high-density residential use, the City will proactively reach out to the owners
and target incentives (brownfield remediation and others) based on the site
conditions. Finally, landlords in transitional neighborhoods often keep under-
occupied buildings partially vacant in order to preserve the possibility for
development in the future. Tax policy for these buildings will be reexamined to
determine whether it is providing the appropriate incentives for redevelopment.

It remains to be seen what this "reexamination" will entail, and this is a less aggressive commitment than we've seen in the past from de Blasio, following a similarly watered down commitment from Comptroller Scott Stringer.  It is up to us to call, write, or otherwise encourage the Administration to collect the Land Rent for the common good.  Givebacks and subsidies may be what the Real Estate industry prefers, but history shows this does not produce affordable housing nor collect the revenues the city needs to run.  It also encourages land hoarding and useless speculation.

Below is an excerpt from an NYU Furman Center Report too.  A summary is attached, after a NY Times editorial.

Until next time, Happy Landings, and please remember to send in your ballots if you haven't already done so.  The deadline is May 12.

 

Scott Baker - President: Common Ground - NYC; NY State Coordinator, Public Banking Institute; Opednews Blogger/Senior Editor; Huffington Post Blogger; Author

Petitions:
-- Commemorate President Lincoln's Assassination with 1 Billion Debt-Free Lincoln $5 Bills
-- Replace Property Tax with Ground Rent in New York State
-- Assess NYC buildings using comparative properties
-- California Dreaming: Set up a State Bank with abundant CAFR funds
-- Complete the East Side Manhattan Greenway from 38-61 Streets and save bikers, help the environment, and clear up traffic
-- Tax Vacant & Unused Land to Return its value to the Community
-- Untax Production and Wages while taxing the use/abuse of natural resources. Polluters pay while workers and entrepreneurs profit from true production
-- Close New York State's budget Gap with money from its own agencies by setting up a State Bank
-- Defend the Clean Air Act
-- Produce debt-free United States Notes
-- Reclassify the FED's account, from private to public

On Tuesday, May 6, 2014 12:45 AM, Succession And NYCHA <contact.succe...@gmail.com> wrote:

FYI!

Furman Center report is below  and Press Release is attached

The Opinion Pages

Taking Note

The Rent Is Too High

http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/30/the-rent-is-too-high/

============

The Rent Is Too High

By BRENT STAPLES

April 30, 2014, 11:43 am

New York City stands at the epicenter of a national housing crisis that has placed low-income people at a steadily greater risk of homelessness. As Mireya Navarro and Vivian Yee of the Times reminded us on Tuesday, that risk is increasingly apparent to elderly New Yorkers who hoped to retire in the city, but who now find that their modest incomes will not cover the cost of decent housing in even marginal areas.

The developments that got us here are outlined in a new study carried out by the NYU Furman Center, which studies housing and urban policy. The center reports that the median rent in New York City rose by 11 percent from 2005 to 2012, while the median household income rose by just 2 percent. During that same period, rents rose in four of New York City’s five boroughs, with the largest increase — 19 percent — coming in Manhattan.

Rents are moving beyond the reach of people who have what once were considered decent-paying jobs. In 2000, a family made up of a rookie firefighter, a substitute teacher and one child could afford more than 70 percent of the units offered for rent during the five previous years. By 2012, that same family saw the pool of apartments that it could afford shrink to less than 50 percent of the available units.

Not surprisingly, many people now skimp on food, medical care and other essentials to pay for shelter. More than half of the city’s renters are “rent burdened,’’ meaning they pay 30 percent or more of their pretax incomes on rent. About 600,000 households  are defined by the federal government as “severely rent burdened,” meaning they spend half or  more of their pretax incomes on rent.

Mayor Bill de Blasio is about to release the details of a plan for building and preserving affordable housing units. But the crisis that has laid siege to New York is part of a deepening national problem that cries out for a national solution as well.

FURMAN STUDY

About the Affordable Rental Housing Landscape Research Study
The Affordable Rental Housing Landscape, commissioned by Capital One and conducted by the NYU Furman Center, analyzes rental housing affordability trends in New York City from 2000 to 2012 with a focus on changes since 2005. The Furman Center's past research has shown that over half of renter households in New York City are rent burdened, paying more than 30 percent of their gross income on rent and utilities. This study delves more deeply into recent trends in rent levels, rent burdens, affordable units, and the gap between the number of low-income households in need of affordable housing and the number of existing affordable units. This analysis is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, including data from the American Community Survey from 2005 through 2012.

For more, see our press release. Media inquiries can be directed to Shannon Moriarty at sm4...@nyu.edu.

Peace,

SAN

--

Succession And NYCHA

In a battle all you need to make you fight is a little hot blood and the knowledge that it's more dangerous to lose than to win. 

--George Bernard Shaw

[Jeffery J. Smith]

How could rent ever be too high? That's your common wealth. The more the merrier! The problem is not height but concentration, flowing to few instead of all -- that's what you need to fix.

Best,

FYI!

Furman Center report is below <AF9.gif><AF9.gif><AF9.gif><AF9.gif><AF9.gif> and Press Release is attached

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<NYUFurmanCenter_NYCRentalLandscape_23APR2014.pdf><Mayor de Blasio's Housing-Plan 2014.pdf>

SMITH, Jeffery J.

Outreach/Website, CommonGroundOrWa.org

President, Forum on Geonomics

Editor, www.progress.org

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