Rent Regulations, 421-a Extended Under Tentative Deal in Albany
Gov. Cuomo and legislative leaders announced Tuesday a framework deal that extends NYC rent regulations for four years and the 421-a tax credit for six months, according to reports.
The Democratic governor (whom we snapped at REBNY with Bisnow's Miles Bloom and Fran Decamilli) unveiled the agreement during a press briefing at the Capitol on Tuesday afternoon, insisting that lawmakers continue to get work done despite recent upheaval that has resulted in both houses of the Legislature being led by different leaders than at the start of the session. NYC’s rent regulations, which keep more than 1 million units well below market rate, were slated to expire Tuesday following a five-day extension that was brokered last week.
Lawmakers were due to wrap up the session last week and break until January, but extended their time in Albany to hammer out compromises on a host of outstanding matters, including mayoral control of schools, which was renewed for a year. Mayor de Blasio had pushed for mayoral control to be made permanent. State lawmakers also dealt the mayor a defeat on his position on rent regulations. He had pushed for reform of vacancy decontrol, a provision that allows a rent-regulated unit to be removed from the program and listed at market rate after its rent eclipses the $2,500 threshold. Democrats wanted greater protection for the city’s rent-regulated housing stock. But the Republicans who control the Senate refused to go along with such a move, preserving the program but upping the threshold by $200. The framework measure has yet to be approved by lawmakers. Votes were expected later Tuesday.
Cuomo told reporters that the extension to the 421-a affordable housing program was to allow for negotiations aimed at applying a prevailing wage for construction workers laboring on buildings built through the program, according to NY1. The negotiations over the Legislature’s unresolved end-of-session matters were conducted amid ongoing fallout from the tumult that brought to power Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (above), Democrat of Brooklyn, and State Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, Republican from Suffolk County. Earlier in the current legislative session, federal corruption investigations led to charges being filed against former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, and former State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, Republican of Long Island. Both have pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing; they chose to relinquish their leadership posts.
Cuomo gave kudos to Heastie and Flanagan (above) for helping to create a “very robust agenda,” according to the New York Times. The tentative deal includes $250M in funding for non-public schools and a pledge by Cuomo to appoint State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to oversee all investigations of killings involving cops.
