The Homeless Are Coming!

As the city’s homeless population continues to grow and the stock of affordable housing continues to dwindle, some co-op boards are fighting hard to keep their buildings affordable. Now the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio has told developers they must make room for the homeless in buildings that received 421-a tax breaks – an expired program that was designed to increase affordable housing units but was widely derided as “welfare for developers.”

Some developers have “freaked out” over the new rule, real estate attorney Alvin Schein tells the New York Times. They’re worried that their buildings’ reputations will be tarnished by an influx of homeless people with drug, alcohol or mental problems. City officials say the apartments will simply go to needy people who have been priced out of the housing market.

Under 421-a, developers who benefited from the tax break are required to make 20 percent of a building’s apartments available to low- and moderate-income residents. De Blasio’s plan will make one-quarter of those apartments available to homeless people. Though 421-a lapsed in January, there are dozens of buildings still under construction that received the subsidy.

De Blasio’s homeless plan comes in the wake of some bad news. Earlier this week, the developer of the shuttered Long Island College Hospital site in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, announced that he will not build affordable housing, as de Blasio had urged. Instead, another luxury condo tower is on the way.