Policy & Legislation

MOST ACTIVE POLICIES & LEGISLATION

Affordable Housing Preservation (23 recent stories)

A variety of state and federal programs support affordable housing in New York City. The largest of these - the Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), Mitchell-Lama, and the Read More ...

A community benefits agreement (“CBA”) results from negotiations between a developer proposing a particular land use change or development, and community organizations or coalitions negotiating on behalf of the individuals and groups affected by the proposal. In a typical community benefit agreement, community members agree to support the project, or at the least, promise not to oppose it. Read More ...

The term “inclusionary zoning” refers to the wide array of zoning schemes that encourage developers to set aside a proportion of housing units in new projects for low- and moderate-income residents. Depending on the jurisdiction, these provisions may be either mandatory or optional, and may be adopted by a municipality, a county or statewide. When inclusionary zoning is optional, developers generally receive incentives for participation such as allowances to build denser and larger projects. Read More ...

In 1963, the original Penn Station – widely considered a masterpiece of the Beaux Arts style – was demolished to make way for a modern Madison Square Garden arena and office tower. The act sparked widespread condemnation and added urgency to concerns that runaway development and urban renewal efforts were endangering New York’s architectural heritage. Less than two years later, Mayor Robert Wagner signed the 1965 Read More ...

The City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR) procedures were first established in 1977 as an implementation of the State Environmental Quality Review Act of 1975 (SEQRA). Environmental impact reviews (EIR) have become a ubiquitous part of the land-use and development process in New York City. Read More ...