The New York State Assembly alongside the New York State Senate recently passed the Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity Act, a piece of legislation that aims to allow the state of New York to purchase and convert distressed hotels and vacant commercial office space into permanent affordable housing by nonprofit organizations.
“Since taking the Majority, and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have worked together to pass historic housing and tenant protections. The Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity Act builds on those efforts and continues to address housing issues that the pandemic has heightened,” New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said of the legislation. “We are taking action to stand up for our unhoused neighbors, address these prominent issues in housing, and provide appropriate resources and education to help break the stigma associated with homelessness. I commend Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris for sponsoring this legislation to help some of our society's most vulnerable people.”
The new affordable housing is designated specifically for low-income households and individuals who were previously homeless. At minimum, at least fifty percent of the units in the housing must be set aside for those who firsthand experienced homelessness prior to applying for a converted unit.
“New York has been battling an affordable housing crisis since long before the pandemic, but it has undoubtedly intensified under the pressure of this health and economic crisis,” stated New York Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie of the legislation. “The Housing our Neighbors with Dignity Act will allow us to create safe, decent and affordable housing for New Yorkers who need it most, a meaningful investment in the future of our communities as we continue to recover, reopen and reimagine.”
The other fifty percent will have an eighty percent area median income (AMI) cap for tenants, provided the average income of all tenants in the housing does not exceed fifty percent AMI. All units must be rent stabilized in locations that have opted into the rent stabilization law.
“The number of New Yorkers living in the shelter system or in public places for years at a time is a travesty, and HONDA is one very important step among many that we must take to end homelessness throughout the state. Converting distressed hotels offers us a unique opportunity to accelerate these efforts and to provide permanent affordable housing for homeless families and individuals,” said Senate Housing, Construction and Community Development Committee Chair Brian Kavanagh of the legislation. “I commend our Deputy Majority Leader and sponsor of this bill, Senator Gianaris, as well as Assembly sponsor Assemblymember Karines Reyes, VOCAL-NY, the Community Service Society, Neighbors Together, Gateway Housing, and the other organizations who made this possible, for their determined advocacy on behalf of every New Yorker who is experiencing homelessness.”
“New York has seen a decades-long affordable housing crunch exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic devastation,” New York State Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris noted. “This legislation is a good way to tackle the dual problems of distressed properties and lack of affordable housing. I am thrilled this is passing, and that we have a funded program that will provide real relief going forward.”
The program aims to safeguard prevailing wages for building service personnel in developments such as these, located in New York City, parallel to the city’s current requirements. Supportive housing projects and converted hotel properties like these would be exempt from the prevailing wage requirement.
“As the number of evictions grows in low-income neighborhoods of color, the need for affordable housing in New York has become all the more urgent,” New York State Assembly Member Karines Reyes commented. “I am proud to sponsor this important legislation enabling the conversion of office units and distressed hotel properties into housing for more New Yorkers in need.”
“As our state recovers from this economically devastating pandemic, more people than ever are being impacted by an affordable housing shortage and the threat of homelessness,” noted Assembly Housing Committee Chair Steven Cymbrowitz. “By transforming shuttered hotel properties into housing units we will help provide homes for people in need while also addressing the alarming increase in distressed and unused commercial properties throughout the state.”