Andrew Cuomo is pledging he would as mayor “cut out the bureaucracy” from New York Metropolis’s Division of Housing Presevation and Growth, arguing it’s riddled with “red tape” — a proposal welcomed by actual property business gamers however one that’s elevating alarm bells amongst tenant advocates.
The difficulty emerged in Wednesday evening’s first Democratic mayoral main debate, when Cuomo mentioned he would “blow up” the division with a purpose to tackle the town’s housing disaster.
The company — which is tasked with serving to finance reasonably priced housing building, implement tenant protections and administer sure rental help applications — has change into an “obstacle” to the mission of constructing extra flats throughout the town, Cuomo added.
Requested Thursday to elaborate on what Cuomo meant, his spokesman Wealthy Azzopardi mentioned the ex-governor “believes HPD is too slow and too inefficient in fulfilling its core functions.”
Azzopardi mentioned the ex-governor’s important view of HPD applies to all its sectors — reasonably priced housing financing, tenant safety enforcement and rental help administration.
Cuomo’s housing plan launched final month didn’t embody the proposal to overtake HPD, which has an annual funds of greater than $1.5 billion. The plan features a proposal to construct 500,000 new housing items within the metropolis over 10 years, however doesn’t spell out what number of of these flats could be reasonably priced.
The plan additionally mentioned Cuomo would as mayor oppose most up-zoning efforts in outer-borough neighborhoods, a stance at odds with HPD’s focus beneath Mayor Adams to facilitate extra reasonably priced housing building in pockets of the town which have traditionally produced little of it.
Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu by way of Getty Pictures
Development work in Manhattan, New York. (Picture by Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu by way of Getty Pictures)
Housing has emerged as a key subject on this 12 months’s mayoral race as the town reels from skyrocketing rents and a dearth of vacant flats, and there’s widespread settlement extra items should be constructed.
Nonetheless, there are disagreements over what kind of affordability necessities must be positioned on builders, with reasonable politicians like Cuomo championing looser restrictions whereas extra left-leaning stakeholders need most new flats reserved for low-income New Yorkers.
Cuomo, who’s polling as the favourite to win the June 24 Democratic mayoral main, floated the push for restructuring HPD as his mayoral run has taken in thousands and thousands of {dollars} in donations from actual property business executives and landlord foyer teams, who typically air issues about the necessity to reform the company.
As first reported by Politico Thursday, Housing for All, a brilliant PAC funded by one of many metropolis’s largest landlord lobbies, is plunking down $2.5 million on airing advertisements boosting Cuomo’s run. The foyer group, the New York House Affiliation, which largely represents landlords of rent-stabilized buildings, vehemently opposes efforts to freeze hire for the town’s stabilized tenants, a proposal a number of of Cuomo’s mayoral race opponents, together with runner-up candidate Zohran Mamdani, have embraced.
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Residences (Shutterstock)
Kenny Burgos, the New York House Affiliation’s CEO, lauded Cuomo for promising to “blow up” the HPD, saying the company is “choking the market” from producing extra housing.
“It is bringing on layers upon layers of violations to owners, where there are scenarios where owners can’t even clear the violations because of HPD mismanagement,” Burgos mentioned. “So, you know, any candidate talking about completely reforming the agency that has really huge overarching powers on regulated housing, I’d say is a good approach.”
However Brooklyn Councilman Lincoln Restler, a progressive Democrat who was once a senior adviser to ex-Mayor Invoice de Blasio, together with on housing and tenant points, mentioned Cuomo’s proposal is “dangerous” and voiced concern his feedback sign he’s open to the true property business’s push to roll again tenant protections and hire rules.
“Cuomo is going to do the bidding of wealthy real estate interests who had paid for his campaign, not meet the needs of the people of New York City,” Restler mentioned.
A metropolis authorities official concerned within the Adams administration’s reasonably priced housing efforts argued HPD has undergone numerous reforms in recent times to streamline the company’s operations. Within the final fiscal 12 months, HPD financed 14,706 newly-constructed reasonably priced properties.
“HPD is already blowing up the status quo, making it easier to build new apartments and easier to get into affordable housing,” mentioned the official, who spoke on situation of anonymity.
Cea Weaver, director of the left-leaning Housing Justice for All group, acknowledged there are various roadblocks to reasonably priced housing manufacturing, but in addition argued HPD isn’t one in all them.
“A top to bottom review, that sounds like a hell of a lot bureaucracy,” she mentioned. “What needs to happen is to actually just let HPD operate.”
Initially Printed: June 6, 2025 at 11:05 AM EDT
