Pols launch West Bronx Housing Coalition

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With the state’s rent regulation laws set to expire in June, several Bronx officials have formed a coalition to advocate for tenants in their districts. The move came as Riverdale’s state Sen. Jeff Klein made a new proposal on one of the most debated parts of rent regulation, tax abatements for developers.

State Sen. Gustavo Rivera organized the West Bronx Housing Coalition to perpetuate and strengthen the current regulations. He formed the group with officials who represent areas overlapping his 33rd district, including northwest Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz and Councilman Andrew Cohen.

“The extension of rent regulation is absolutely essential for folks like people in my district to continue to live in the city, and that’s one of the main goals of what we’re doing here,” Mr. Rivera said.

Mr. Klein, whose district borders  Mr. Rivera, recently called for a new approach to tax abatements for developers. While they already can receive tax cuts for building affordable housing, he wants them to become eligible for abatements in exhange for making major repairs at public housing sites, too.

The policy in question is known as the 421-a program, which already gives tax cuts on projects where the developer promises a mix of market-rate and affordable units at a roughly 80-to-20 ratio.

The proposal by Mr. Klein — who called for extending and strengthening other rent regulations set to expire — made it into the Senate’s draft budget this month.

“Basically there has to be some type of profit motive for people to build,” he said. “The tax credit is what created thousands and thousands of units.”

As leader of a coalition between a breakaway group of Democrats and majority Republicans in the Senate, his support of the 421-a program could seal its fate.

Still, other local officials have mixed views on the matter.

Mr. Dinowitz called for the program to be scrapped, saying, “While there’s clearly a need for housing in this city, because developers and landlords make money on their buildings, I’m not sure why they need additional handouts to do that.”

rent control, Gustavo Rivera, Jeffrey Dinowitz, Jeff Klein, 421-a, Urstadt Law, Shant Shahrigian
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