City Will Put $10M Gained From Fining Bad Landlords Toward Building Affordable Housing
Just as Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration fires up the PR machine around its inclusionary zoning proposal, the mayor said on Thursday that the city will put $10M gained through settlements with landlords it fined for violations toward building almost 600 units of affordable housing.
A joint investigation spanning two years between the Attorney General’s office and the city found that 23 landlords across the city had violated tenants’ rights laws. The $9.8M the landlords were fined as up to what it would take to finance more than 1,000 affordable apartments in the city, according to Crain’s.
The administration’s been catching flak from affordable housing advocates for the inclusionary zoning plan on the grounds that it doesn’t require enough units of affordable housing to be set aside in new developments. Others have criticized from the other side, saying a blanket, city-wide requirement of its kind would slow development and undermine the incentive for building new housing. The deadline for a vote on the bill is the end of March. [Crain’s]
