NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A10912
SPONSOR: Lopez (MS) TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the real property tax law, in relation
to exemption of new multiple dwellings from local taxation; and in
relation to additional eligibility limitations on exemptions of new
multiple dwellings from local taxation
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: The bill would amend the Real Prop-
erty Law in relation to requiring that in order to now qualify for 421A
property tax exemption builders must now build some affordable housing
and in certain majority non affordable housing developments, landlords
shall be required to pay their building workers a prevailing wage
JUSTIFICATION: The original intent of the law establishing the 421-a
tax abatement as-of-right in New York City was to encourage housing
development in an area where market rate development was not occurring
and would not occur without the tax abatement. Since the inception of
the 421-a, the New York City housing market has changed dramatically.
Market rate development is occurring at a rapid pace and no longer needs
the tax abatement to flourish.
The city is now faced with a different crisis: as the real estate market
is flourishing across the city, low and moderate income residents are no
longer able to afford to live within the five boroughs. Rents are rising
and workers' wages are dropping. New Yorkers need access to more afford-
able housing and more good jobs.
Many of the traditional funding mechanisms for affordable housing (such
as the federal Section 8 program) are no longer reliable; therefore we
must create new mechanisms to incentive the development of affordable
housing. As it exists now, the 421-a tax abatement will cost New York
City $320 million this year alone yet according to a report by the NYC
Independent Budget Office in 2003 only 7% of units built by 421-a recip-
ients are affordable to low- and moderate- income families. Many of
those affordable units are built in neighborhoods with poorer housing
markets, far from the original market-rate units.
Additionally, it has become increasingly common for recipients of the
421-a tax abatement to pay substandard wages and benefits to their
building service workers. Although roughly 80% of building service work-
ers in New York City are paid the prevailing rate, as many as 50% of
large buildings that receive the 421-tax abatement do not pay building
service employees prevailing wages and benefits.
This bill goes to the heart of the affordability crisis in New York
City. It takes away the 421-a tax abatement as-of-right, but allows
developers to continue to take advantage of the 421-a tax abatement as
long as they develop a minimum threshold of affordable units and pay
their building service workers (such as porters, elevator operators,
etc.) a prevailing wage.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New Legislation
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None to the State. Possible savings to New York
City
EFFECTIVE DATE: The act shall take effect immediately, provided,
however, it shall not affect any benefits conferred prior to such effec-
tive date.
