Zohran Mamdani wants more rental vouchers, but as mayor would he actually make them easy to use? That takes administrative skill, attention to detail and doggedness.
So far, no mayor has been willing, let alone able, to reform the bureaucracy that causes apartments to fail inspection for the most infuriating reasons.
As one landlord tweeted this week, “I’ve had a unit fail because of a single screw missing in a 4 screw window guard. The super was right there, proper tools, corrected the issue in 5 minutes. Nope, failed. Next available appointment for inspection was a month later.”
The Department of Homeless Services claims that most reinspections occur within 72 hours. If that’s true, it must be because landlords who are asked to wait longer say “no thanks” — and rent to someone without a voucher.
Regardless, an inspector should never reject an apartment because of a missing screw that the superintendent replaced on the spot.
In another case, a unit failed inspection because a 79-cent outlet cover was cracked. Can you imagine? “Back to the homeless shelter, people, this apartment is unsafe!”
They are not unsafe dwellings, of course. They are perfectly legal for tenants without vouchers to rent, but not for tenants with vouchers. Think about that. The city discriminates against voucher holders — which is illegal for landlords.
This results in situations where a homeless mother with a 4-year-old kid finds a place she wants, and the landlord is willing to rent it to her, but cannot because the second bedroom is one floor plank short of 80 square feet.
Why not let the tenant sign a waiver allowing her to move into the apartment despite the 79-square-foot bedroom or the cracked, 79-cent outlet cover? These are not hazardous conditions.
I’m sure Mamdani would agree. But that doesn’t mean, if elected, that he will hire a DHS commissioner capable of fixing it and that he will hold the commissioner’s feet to the fire.
The other problem with being mayor is that a thousand other fires pop up and some of your original goals fall by the wayside.
No doubt some readers are saying, “Cuomo could fix the voucher problem.” He has more experience getting things done than Mamdani, but Cuomo left a lot of things unfixed as governor. Property taxes, for one.
I once asked Cuomo, when he was governor, why he doesn’t fix Labor Law 240, the infamous “scaffold law,” which makes insurance more expensive for public and private projects.
The governor answered that the law was strongly defended by the trial lawyers, which he called the most powerful lobby in Albany. Besides, he said, he focuses on a few priorities at a time, but the scaffold law was, like, eighth on the list. Meaning he wouldn’t get to it.
A governor or a mayor only has so much political capital and so much bandwidth. To fix a lot of problems at once requires delegating them to staff. Mike Bloomberg was a delegator. Cuomo was a micromanager.
What would Mamdani be? Nobody knows.
What we’re thinking about: In response to a previous Daily Dirt, a reader opined, “No sane owner who understands the construction process will willingly landmark a property.” The reader is a longtime real estate professional who sits on the board of a religious institution that was landmarked against its leaders’ wishes. “The extra cost and time is significant even for the most simple items,” the reader lamented. “Car runs into your fence, [it takes] over a year to replace it.”
Ever had a bad experience with the Landmarks Preservation Commission? Send thoughts to eengquist@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: The early days of electrification generated a lot of opposition in New York City. In 1889, the mayor dispatched employees to remove wires from rooftops because he considered them ugly. New Yorkers cheered when electrical poles on Broadway were chopped down.
Elsewhere…
Because a multifamily development’s eligibility for 421a and 485x are determined by whether the footings are installed before or after June 15, 2022, to switch from the first tax abatement to its successor, developers would have to rip the footings out and put them back in.
As preposterous as that might sound, state law does not offer an alternative, said Daniel Bernstein, an attorney at Rosenberg & Estis who deals with the tax abatements.
Fudging the installation dates of load-bearing elements is not advisable. A project’s architect typically certifies the commencement date, but city officials check the building permit to ensure that it’s consistent with the filing, Bernstein said.
Because 421a is more generous than 485x, the only reason a developer would switch is if the project misses the 421a completion deadline — which for affordability Option C is June 15, 2026. The other 421a options — which require deeper affordability, but still not as deep as 485x — have a 2031 completion deadline.
“We’ll have to see what happens with stalled 421a projects that cannot meet those deadlines for whatever reason,” Bernstein said.
To avoid the absurdity of forcing a developer to remove and reinstall a foundation, state lawmakers could remove June 16, 2022, as the opening date of the 485x eligibility window. A fair question is why they included it in the first place.
Closing time
Residential: The top residential deal recorded Tuesday was $12.3 million for a 2,783-square-foot, sponsor-sale condominium unit at ONE11 Residences, 111 West 56th Street in the Plaza District. Maria Mainieri, Taylor Middleton and Peter Evangelidis of Douglas Elliman had the listing.
Commercial: The top commercial deal recorded was $42.3 million for 6201 and 6310 15th Avenue in Borough Park.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $6.5 million for a 2,793-square-foot condominium unit at 60 Beach Street in Tribeca. Mark Jovanovic and the Paradigm Advisory team at Compass have the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building permit filed was for a proposed 1,039,645-square-foot, 16-story jail at 125 White Street in Civic Center. Eric Van Epps of HOK Architects filed the permit on behalf of Eduardo del Valle of the NYC Department of Design and Construction.
— Matthew Elo
