Cs 02222016_Affordable Housing Spotlight

February 22, 2016

Why so many New Yorkers still can't get one

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EDITOR’S NOTE / Contents Last summer, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled what he called “the strongest affordable housing requirements in the nation.”

His proposals, which would require developers in rezoned areas to save more space for lower- or middle-income residents, could help fulfill a pledge to build or preserve 200,000 affordable homes – or, as the mayor said, “a whole city” of affordability.

But while the plan has drawn support from influential players, others have raised concerns. New York City Councilman Jumaane Williams summed up the debate recently when he said, “In terms of housing, the big question is: Affordable to whom?”

Of course, housing is not just a downstate issue. In the affordable housing spotlight in this magazine, the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority’s Dawn Sanders-Garrett describes how she’s dealing with slashed federal funding and low occupancy rates. And apart from the opposition at home, the expiration of the 421-a tax credit in Albany might be the single biggest hurdle standing between de Blasio and his ambitious affordable housing goals.

Jon Lentz Senior Editor

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EPISODES V AND VI Reporter Ashley Hupfl takes us to Binghamton and Albany in the thrilling conclusion to our saga on upstate infrastructure.

SPOTLIGHT: AFFORDABLE HOUSING Reporter Sarina Trangle looks at the hurdles that can keep otherwise qualified tenants from attaining affordable housing in New York City. Plus, we look at the state of housing in Buffalo, lawmakers who grew up in NYCHA housing, and the various plans to replace 421-a.

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NEW YORK SLANT Alexis Grenell wonders why there’s a sales tax on tampons when condoms are excluded as “medical equipment.”

And the Center for an Urban Future’s Tom Hilliard makes a case for CUNY’s ASAP program, which he says has been amazingly effective in increasing community college graduation rates.

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BACK & FORTH A Q&A with New York City Small Business Services Commissioner Gregg Bishop on rising commercial rents and what a $15 minimum wage would mean for small businesses.

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CAUCUS WEEKEND KICKOFF RECEPTION

From top: State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli in an interview with City & State Editorat-Large Gerson Borrero; Assemblywoman Michele Titus; Trial Lawyers Association President Evan Goldberg; Bronx Assemblyman Jose Rivera; and NYSNA Director of Political Affairs Tara Martin.

PHOTOS BY SHANNON DECELLE

On the first night of the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators Inc.’s 45th annual legislative conference, City & State hosted its second annual Caucus Weekend Kickoff Reception at The State Room in Albany. With over 500 attendees, the event, sponsored by the New York State Nurses Association and the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, was THE party to attend this Caucus Weekend.

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Clockwise from top left: Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes in an interview with City & State Editor-at-Large Gerson Borrero; state Sens. Phil Boyle and Roxanne Persaud; Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages; state Sen. Gustavo Rivera; and Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte.

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ALBANY

SYRACUSE ROCHESTER

BUFFALO

BINGHAMTON

Last fall, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and officials at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced a five-year, $29 billion capital plan to fund the MTA, downstate officials breathed a sigh of relief.

But in upstate New York, lawmakers responded to the huge funding commitment with demands for an equitable investment in the deteriorating infrastructure in their own districts.

Underscoring the argument, local officials and advocates say that without a major investment in infrastructure in upstate cities, many of Cuomo’s efforts aimed at spurring economic development will be for naught.

For this series, City & State traveled to five major cities to meet with local officials and get a firsthand look at the needs of each city.

This week, our “Empire State Builds Back” saga concludes, in Binghamton and Albany.

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EPISODE V - BINGHAMTON RECENT STATE INITIATIVES MAY BE THIS CRUMBLING CITY’S ONLY HOPE Story by ASHLEY HUPFL

Photos by HEATHER AINSWORTH

THE COLLIER STREET parking garage in Binghamton has seen better days – much like the city itself.

Located in a busy part of downtown, the structure sticks out as a symbol of the blight that plagues the upstate city. It has been deserted since November, when it reached the end of its useful life, and is now cordoned off from the public.

Binghamton Mayor Richard David is constantly reminded of the ramp’s closure, as his office overlooks the parking garage.

“Residents and businesses do not want to live or locate in areas that have broken or dilapidated infrastructure,” David said during an interview in his office. “Parking on the surface is not a glamorous subject, and you wouldn’t think it ranks very high in regards to infrastructure or other challenges, but I think parking and economic development go hand in hand.”

In other parts of the city, the infrastructure is so old it is literally crumbling. Back in 2010, just a few blocks away from the parking garage, a piece of concrete slab broke off from the Water Street parking ramp and sliced through a tractor trailer.

“Binghamton, like many cities in upstate New York, is a city that faces a variety of challenges in regards to infrastructure,” David said. “It’s an older city and, frankly, in the course of the last decade or so, infrastructure has been neglected.”

Since taking office in 2014,

David has tried to reverse that trend by tackling the city’s infrastructure problems at the local level. The mayor developed a multi-year plan to fix the city’s roads, but he is worried about paving new roads over aging water and sewer pipes. The city is fixing some of the pipes as they pave the roads to try to avoid digging them up again in the near future.

“You can’t always prevent a water main break, but you can with a certain degree of knowledge know that, OK, if your water line is 30 years old, that you shouldn’t pave a street without addressing the water line,” he said. “Residents and businesses do not want to live or locate in areas that have broken or dilapidated infrastructure.

Working on infrastructure is part of an ongoing goal to create an environment that’s more attractive to residents and businesses.”

Binghamton sits in the Southern Tier region, which was dealt several hard hits in recent years.

Binghamton Mayor Richard C. David, right, gives City & State First, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s reporter Ashley Hupfl a tour of a downtown parking garage that has administration initially declined been closed and slated for demolition. to grant the region one of four commercial casino licenses.

Then, the state banned highvolume hydraulic fracturing of the Marcellus shale, which the region is rich with.

But the Southern Tier has recently seen a fortunate turn of events: The state ultimately reversed its decision for a casino license and

` - Yoda the region won

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$500 million through the Upstate Revitalization Initiative.

Of the $500 million, $20 million will be used by Binghamton to replace the Collier Street parking garage.

“In the past several years we’ve had an explosion in regards to student housing and residential housing in downtown. Take a major parking ramp offline – that’s going to have a major impact on downtown,” David said. “That’s our busiest ramp right now.”

On top of maintaining and repaving its roads and parking structures, Binghamton is undergoing the reconstruction

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of the Binghamton Johnson City Joint Sewage Treatment Plant, estimated to cost $179 million. In December, the state awarded the project a $5 million grant.

The city had to issue a bond to pay for the construction, and David is concerned about the long-term impact that could have on future ratepayers. Last year also marked the first time the city had to issue a bond to pay for the milling and paving of roads.

“This administration has taken on all of the infrastructure projects that we can,” David said. “With infrastructure, we’re talking multimillion-dollar projects.

We’re borrowing money every year to invest more in our neighborhood street reconstruction – that can’t continue indefinitely. If we’re going to be successful we need to do as much as we can today to create a better environment that’s more conducive to economic development opportunities.”

In October, state and New York City officials announced a deal to fund the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s capital plan. Under the agreement, Cuomo pledged $8.3 billion from the state. The move spurred upstate lawmakers to call for an equal investment in upstate

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infrastructure. Earlier this year the governor pledged $22 billion over five years for upstate roads and bridges, although much of it was already budgeted.

“We constantly see a massive, significant investment in downstate, and upstate is looking for our fair share and recognition that there are a lot of major challenges facing upstate cities, as well,” David said. “You could make significant progress on addressing those issues with a fraction of the amount of money (invested in downstate).”

Like many other elected officials, David is hopeful a major investment in upstate infrastructure will happen soon.

“I’m confident that at the end of the day, the governor will recognize that investment must be made in upstate cities in order to preserve long-term growth and development of upstate New York,” he said. “We need assistance from the state to make these dreams a reality.”

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EPISODE VI - ALBANY

CITY FINDS WAYS TO REPURPOSE WHAT IT ALREADY HAS Story by ASHLEY HUPFL

Photos by HEATHER AINSWORTH

IN JANUARY, ALBANY Mayor Kathy Sheehan joined other mayors of upstate cities as part of the annual “Tin Cup Brigade” at the legislative abudget hearing for local governments. Sheehan sought $12.5 million for the next five years to fill a critical gap in the city’s budget. While Gov. Andrew Cuomo decided to amend his executive budget to close the city’s funding gap with emergency aid, Albany still faces serious economic challenges.

A mid-2014 audit by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli found

Albany has higher-than-average poverty rates, despite being home to numerous higher education institutions and the state Capitol.

In fact, as the home of state government, 59 percent of Albany’s full value is tax-exempt – a significant challenge for city government, Sheehan said.

But instead of dwelling on the challenges brought by the lack of state and federal funding, Sheehan said she chooses to focus on the improvements she is able to achieve to build on the investments already being made in the city.

Above: The Impact Downtown Albany plan aims to make the city more appealing, in part by turning the Livingston Avenue Bridge into a pedestrian walkway that would connect to the Rensselaer side of the river.

- Han Solo

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One example is the recent opening of the $48.5 million Renaissance Hotel across from the state Capitol, which will ultimately connect via walkway to the Albany Capital Center, the new convention center in downtown Albany scheduled to open in 2017.

“Tens of millions of dollars have been invested in the Renaissance and there along Wellington Row. Those were all facades. There were no back to those buildings. That building sat empty for a better part of a decade,” Sheehan said.

“We’re looking at infrastructure investments as, ‘What can we do to enhance the investments that are already being made here?’

There’s no shortage of really creative, great ideas for doing that, and I think they’re the types of investments that send a message.”

While the tax-exempt property has long been a burden on Albany, being the state capital has brought benefits and new investments.

The city’s more stable workforce has allowed it to avoid some of the challenges faced by other upstate cities, where the decline of the manufacturing sector hit hard and employers moved out.

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The Capitol region has about 20 higher education institutions and the Albany Medical Center. Additionally, the city houses the SUNY Polytechnic Institute, a multibillion-dollar nanotechnology institution.

“Unfortunately, the decline here has been a little slower and steadier and government has been downsizing, so the percentage of our workforce that works in state government has been shrinking and it is having an impact. Because we had a proactive approach to attracting tech and sort of rebranding ourselves as ‘Tech Valley,’ we were able to attract new jobs and new investment to offset that loss,” Sheehan said. “(The SUNY Polytechnic Institute has) really brought in a workforce that is international in scope and I think is helping to drive demand for downtown living.”

While developers revitalize the city’s warehouse district near the Hudson River, Sheehan is focusing on making that area more appealing with its Impact Downtown Albany plan. One goal of the plan is to repurpose a railroad bridge, which was built in 1903 and is set to be replaced within the next five years, into a pedestrian walkway that would connect to the Rensselaer side of the river.

“This is a need we’re turning into a want. It needs to be replaced, we were told it’s going to be replaced, so let’s do it in a way that’s going to enhance Albany,” Sheehan said. “This is an infrastructure investment that then incentivizes the development of under-utilized property on that side of the river, on this side of the river, because you have that way of attracting people down here, of connecting them back and forth and, again, of thinking of the other side of the river as just an extension of the community.”

Sheehan cited the Walkway over the Hudson as proof of its potential to drive economic development and tourism. The Walkway over the Hudson, a bridge that connects Dutchess and Ulster counties, opened in 2009 and has

nearly 500,000 visitors annually.

“There’s something about water that draws people. It’s an excuse to come into the city for a day and enjoy the Hudson,” Sarah Reginelli, president of Capitalize Albany, said. “New residents are not going to see the river as a barrier as previous generations would have. They’re going to want to go back and forth and to have that connection … To show the amenities on both sides of the river, as well as the river, would be a huge selling point for both of the downtowns.”

Although Albany didn’t see the same decline in manufacturing as other cities, its warehouse district, a once-bustling area downtown near the waterfront, is home to many empty buildings that city officials believe are ripe for revitalization.

“We have less and less of a need for square footage for commercial office space. We were rich in (business and commercial) space, we have a lot of material to convert to new apartment units in our downtown and we’re seeing tremendous success for that. People are flooding into our downtown,” Reginelli said.

“Developers are really looking with a critical eye at these buildings to understand what they could be turned into based on the market that we have.”

In May, beer brewer Druthers Brewing Company opened a second location in Albany’s warehouse district after the success of their first location in Saratoga.

Chief Brewing Officer George de Piro and his business partner Chris Martell were looking for a location with a high population density and a population with disposable income – which he says Albany has.

“Nothing was working until we came down to his area,” de Piro said. “Our place in Saratoga, while a very nice location, is a brand new building. It’s just sheetrock, and we put up some barn wood to make it look warmer, but you don’t get the same atmosphere that you get with an old building like this. It’s really cool to have the old rafters and old brick showing.”

That’s key to Sheehan’s plan to revitalizing the city – building upon the infrastructure that is already there.

“When you demolish and take away the bones of a city, it’s not a city anymore,” she said. “What people like about the cities in upstate is that they’re authentic, and so oftentimes we just need that extra bit of help or incentive or grant to make a project to go from not achievable to actually being achievable – and the results are unlike anything we’ve ever seen.”

Nate Kim

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Spotlight

Affordable Housing

In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio has made it a top priority to build or preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing.

He made some progress during his first two years in office, having financed the construction of 13,929 affordable units and preserving another 26,275.

But serious challenges loom. Some advocates and legislators say that much of the new housing is not affordable enough for local residents. A battle over major rezoning changes in the city, which could pave the way for more housing construction, has yet to be won. And in a reminder of the state’s influential role, the expiration of – and the failure to renew – the 421-a tax credit has cast doubt on whether the mayor will be able to achieve his ambitious goal.

In this special section, City & State checks in with officials from around the state and explores these issues that have come to the fore in the push for affordable housing.

CONTENTS 16 … MEET THE LAWMAKERS WHO WENT FROM PUBLIC HOUSING TO PUBLIC SERVICE

By Jeff Coltin

18 … CREDIT SCORES, HOUSING COURT HISTORIES POSE HURDLES FOR OTHERWISE QUALIFIED TENANTS

By Sarina Trangle 21 … A Q&A WITH BUFFALO MUNICIPAL HOUSING AUTHORITY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DAWN SANDERS-GARRETT

By Justin Sondel 22 … HOW TO REPLACE 421-A

By Jon Lentz

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SIXTEEN CONSTRUCTION WORKERS TRAGICALLY DIED IN 2015.

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ONE OF US COULD BE NEXT.

This is an epidemic.

The Mandatory Inclusionary Housing Plan calls for the construction of taller, more densely populated buildings without safety and training requirements for workers.

We are calling on the New York City Council to stop this plan and stand with workers.

WHERE WILL YOU STAND?

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FROM PUBLIC HOUSING TO PUBLIC SERVICE

By JEFF COLTIN

They are titans of business (Howard Schultz of Starbucks and Ursula Burns of Xerox), renowned entertainers (Jay-Z and Whoopi Goldberg), Supreme Court justices (Sonia Sotomayor) and major political players.

All of them linked by a shared past of growing up in NYCHA housing. City & State recently spoke with lawmakers who grew up in New York City’s public housing. Here are some of their memories:

City Councilman Ritchie Torres, Throggs Neck Houses, Bronx “You have your share of rough-and-tumble in public housing, but when I think of NYCHA housing as being the core of affordability, it’s real for me,” Torres said. When Torres was 12, he said, his stepfather abandoned his family.

“If we had been living in private housing, we probably would’ve no longer been able to afford it. We might have gone into a homeless shelter, and my life would never be the same again.” Instead, Torres got to stay at the complex in the far East Bronx, where he would play wrestle and practice his impression of The Rock in the Houses’ green space.

City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez, Williamsburg Houses, Brooklyn “I grew up when New York City Housing Authority apartments were the premiere affordable housing stock in New York City. I was proud of being a public housing resident living in a safe, habitable home with a responsive and respectful management office. I became a tenant organizer and a legal services housing lawyer because I believed everyone should be afforded an opportunity to live in a safe and habitable home. When I first entered the City Council, I sought and was appointed the chairwoman of the then-Subcommittee and eventually Committee on Public Housing. As someone who grew up in public housing, preserving public housing is very personal to me.”

City Councilman Barry Grodenchik, Pomonok Houses, Queens “My childhood in the Pomonok Houses was nothing short of wonderful. I attended P.S. 201, and frequent visits to the surrounding public parks left a lasting impression on me. I made lifelong friendships at Pomonok – including with Martin Van Buren’s principal, Sam Sochet, with whom I work to this day. A littleknown fact is that my brother, Max Grodenchik, who also grew up in the Pomonok Houses, went on to become an actor, appearing in movies as well as on the television show ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.’”

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Quick Takes

A KATZ

JUMAANE WILLIAMS

State Sen. James Sanders, Hammel Houses, Queens “I remember playing Popeye with my brothers. Popeye was a cartoon on television back then, and of course to play Popeye, you have to get a spoon and put it in your mouth. Popeye has a pipe. We were around 4 or 5 years old. Then we decided to play Superman, and we put towels on our backs and we went to the window and we were considering jumping. My mother caught us and taught us that there were things worse than jumping.”

CHAIRMAN, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL HOUSING AND BUILDINGS COMMITTEE

Quick Takes

DAVID GREENFIELD

U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, Eastchester Gardens Houses, Bronx Engel remembers being a 12-year-old sleeping in the same bedroom as his grandmother in a walkup tenement in the South Bronx. His parents applied for public housing and got a threebedroom apartment in the northeast Bronx for $87.80 a month.

“Obviously having gone through that, I have always been a big supporter of affordable housing, because it always helped my family,” he said, noting he recently sponsored legislation to have the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provide guidelines for minimum heating requirements in public housing after he heard some complaints of cold apartments. “I believe there are young people out there living in city housing who are future members of Congress,” he said.

CHAIRMAN, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL LAND USE COMMITTEE

ON DE BLASIO’S RECORD ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING ...

“In terms of housing, the big question is: Affordable to whom? We throw that word around, and many times I don’t think units that we’re building or preserving are necessarily affordable to the people who are on the lowest rungs of our city. We have to do a better job, as far as that is concerned.

“There is always more work that needs to be done.

I think up until this point Mayor Bill de Blasio has actually surpassed the number of units that were supposed to be created or preserved. I don’t believe that former Mayor Michael Bloomberg did as well as he could have, and I’m not sure we’re doing as well as we can as a whole. It’s early in the project to decipher whether or not it’s a success. I do know it took a very long time for the former administration to realize that you have to preserve more than you build, and so I think we missed some opportunities there. This administration got that right, and there’s a large part that has to do with preservation. There’s an ELLA program that deals with the lowest income individuals and families in the city that I’m hoping will be used a lot more. Right now it’s hard to grade.

I do believe, however, that we are not reaching the lowest of the income spectrum.”

ON THE DE BLASIO ADMINISTRATION’S REZONING PROPOSALS …

“The goals of the administration are laudable. In fact, Mandatory Inclusionary Housing is an important program where it will, in fact, mandate for the first time the development of affordable housing when you’re rezoning a parcel of property. So we certainly conceptually support that. I think when things get a little bit dicey is when you throw in what’s known as ZQA, or Zoning for Quality and Affordability. Part of the confusion for typical citizens is that the city has rolled them both out at the same time. They’re really two independent plans.

“The Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program is very much focused on creating and actually mandating affordable housing in new development.

The Zoning for Quality and Affordability runs several hundred pages long and really varies on anything from building heights to reductions in parking to issues such as waivers for the development of senior centers. That is where it gets a little bit more controversial.

“We’re trying to address it on a borough by borough basis and how we could potentially improve it. We certainly don’t expect to pass it as is. We expect that there will be significant changes.

We hope we can come to a place where the City Council will be supportive and, more importantly, where the interests of the community are reflected through council members and we can actually pass legislation that the communities throughout New York City are comfortable with.”

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THE QUEST FOR AN AFFORDABLE APARTMENT

ADVOCATES SAY CREDIT SCORES, HOUSING COURT HISTORIES POSE HURDLE FOR OTHERWISE QUALIFIED TENANTS

New York City is studying whether to allow larger residences along Jerome Avenue in the Bronx.

CARMEN VEGA-RIVERA jokes that she’s spent so much time in Bronx Housing Court that she sometimes checks to see if her portrait has been put up on the walls.

After an accident coupled with health issues rendered her physically disabled, the longtime Grand Concourse resident left behind a career in education and grew more involved in tenant organizing. Then, she said, her landlord attempted to thwart her efforts with an unsuccessful lawsuit alleging non-payment of

rent. She has since filed complaints over improper conditions in her building, and has seen neighbors go in and out of housing court, too.

Now, with New York City studying whether to allow larger residences along a mostly commercial stretch of Jerome Avenue, Vega-Rivera said she is concerned such trips to housing court, as well as poor credit scores and other financial records, may stand between her southwest Bronx community and the affordable housing the city says it would reap through a rezoning.

“Who are you building for? To

me, it’s part of racism and discrimination because what you’re doing is you know that our community is struggling,” said Vega-Rivera, a leader of the Community Action for Safe Apartments tenant organizing group, or CASA. “And what you’re doing is saying, ‘Hey, we discovered another way of keeping you out, but we are not going to tell you that we’re keeping you out; we’re going to use your credit score.’”

Many New Yorkers have expressed fears that they will get priced out of their neighborhoods

through a wave of rezonings embedded in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to create 200,000 units of affordable housing across the city.

Along Jerome Avenue, where the median income is just under $27,000, Bronxites’ concerns about any new affordable housing being prohibitively expensive are exacerbated by the potential barriers of credit score checks and housing court case reviews.

Credit scores, which tend to be lower in poorer and minority communities, have historically been used in applications for cityadministered affordable housing.

Landlords have also reviewed housing court history and other debt in considering potential tenants.

The de Blasio administration said it has taken steps to make affordable housing more accessible, including implementing guidelines in October that forbid landlords from rejecting applicants solely based on their credit score. The

PHOTOS BY NYC DEPARTMENT OF CITY PLANNING

By SARINA TRANGLE

CityAndStateNY.com

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Along Jerome Avenue, where the median income is just under $27,000, Bronxites worry that any new affordable housing may still be prohibitively expensive.

administration also set parameters for when housing court records, bankruptcies and other fiscal records are serious enough to dismiss a candidate.

Still, critics say more needs to be done. CASA and other advocacy groups who drafted a policy platform focused on the Jerome Avenue rezoning are prodding the city to further limit how credit histories and other factors may be used, and are supporting related legislation.

City Councilman Mark Levine is drafting legislation that would allow developers leasing affordable units through a Department of Housing Preservation and Development-supervised lottery to review applicants’ credit history, but bar landlords from considering their credit scores, consumer debt judgments, collection accounts or medical debt. “(Credit history) is used, currently, as a blunt tool that lumps all past credit experiences together,

and we want HPD to take a more nuanced approach in which they do not consider items from a credit history that reflect onetime issues that have now been resolved, so things like medical debt,” Levine said. “We think it unfairly screens people who would otherwise be excellent candidates.”

Currently, landlords of buildings that fall under many city affordable housing programs are permitted to take an applicant’s credit score into consideration.

However, landlords of units administered through HPD or the Housing Development Corporation may not reject applicants based solely on that credit score.

If an applicant’s credit score is below a certain level, landlords may reject them for filing for a bankruptcy within the past two years; having any landlord-initiated court case end in an eviction in the past four years; having monthly rent and minimum credit card, loan and other payments amount

to more than half of monthly income; and having more than $3,000 in outstanding liens and court judgements without working to address liabilities through a financial recovery program. A history of failing to pay rent on time or amassing more than $500 in non-rent delinquencies can also be grounds to reject a prospective tenant’s application.

Similar but less stringent guidelines detail how landlords may handle homeless New Yorkers’ affordable housing applications.

Despite the changes implemented under de Blasio, credit scores can still be used to reject homeless people if they they fail at least one of the secondary criteria.

The New Economy Project, which focuses on challenging inequality and building strong local economies, has described the use of credit scores as the next front in the civil rights movement. Citing the legacy of discriminatory practices in the mortgage and loan industry,

as well as research showing race is the single best indicator of an individual’s credit score, the organization successfully pushed for recent city legislation that now bars employers from conducting credit checks in applications for most positions.

Advocates said they were unaware of research showing how often credit scores contribute to an applicant for affordable housing being rejected, but some said it is a problem.

Andy Morrison, the New Economy Project’s campaigns coordinator, said its financial justice hotline has fielded calls from people whose credit scores “did them in” on affordable housing lotteries. Vega-Rivera said she tested the lottery last year and twice discussed her credit, at which point developers asked her for a guarantor with income levels she described as unrealistic.

Tim Campbell, deputy executive director for programs at the

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CityAndStateNY.com

Coalition for the Homeless, said the use of credit checks outside of the supportive housing market is one of the most formidable challenges the homeless face.

“If you’re going to a homeless shelter, it’s really a last resort and you’ve exhausted all of your other options before that, so there often are debt or credit issues that someone has encountered along the way,” Campbell said. “You have to be looking at the reality of that situation and trying to consider how are you really going to be able to move people on within that context.”

Ismene Speliotis, executive director at Mutual Housing Association of New York, which develops and manages housing for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers, said the city should require landlords to be more flexible, rather than allowing them to disqualify applicants by flipping through their credit history. For instance,

Speliotis said developers should have to give applicants without a credit history the chance to prove their reliability through nontraditional forms of credit, such as evidence of paying rent and various bills on time. HPD said a very small percentage of applicants do not have a credit history, and in these cases, developers tend to rely on alternative information.

Speliotis also argued the developers should be compelled to inquire about poor financial behavior within a narrow time frame and consider whether a onetime incident made it impossible for applicants to pay bills – as opposed to viewing it as a reflection of their willingness to pay. The threshold of having enough monthly income to cover more than 50 percent of monthly dues is misguided, she said, because many people applying for affordable housing are looking to move into homes where they would not be directing such a large share of

Mandatory Inclusionary Housing - Greed Over Need

By Patrick Purcell, Executive Director Greater New York LECET

The debate around Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing plan brings to mind the phrase “The facts are interesting; they just aren’t relevant.”

Contrary the facts regarding the cost of construction in the affordable housing market, the opposition stays on message. “We can’t build affordable housing with union laborer. We can’t build affordable housing with enhanced safety and training standards. It’s too costly,” the chant.

Those conclusions are wrong. The opposition is reading lines out of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing play book.

For decades, City Hall, labor and the construction industry have negotiated working conditions on projects over the years. Agreements were often reached during the Land Use approval process. Through good faith bargaining, in the end, there was consensus and unity.

Sadly, we see no effort by our opponents to negotiate, build consensus and unify this City behind an affordable housing plan for all New Yorkers.

Why no attempt at consensus and broader support? Look no further than NYSAFAH. NYSAFAH has problems with higher wages because their profit margins fail to match their greed margins.

Despite rampant wage theft in construction, especially in the affordable housing sector, NYSAFAH continues to oppose stronger wage theft laws.

Similar problems exist for NYSAFAH with quality site safety and training standards. Utilizing workers with the best skills cost more money than NYSAFAH and its contractors want to spend. They prioritize greed, despite the epidemic of construction site fatalities of which over 90% were on non-union jobs.

This is why the fight over MIH is really about need over greed.

The needs of working families to access affordable housing, middle class jobs and a safe construction sites in our Cities communities. Greedy contractors prefer lower wages and less safety and training standards in exchange for greater profits.

In the end, no one is surprised by the oppositions approach. As W.C. Fields once said “If you can’t baffle them with brilliance, baffle them with………”

Patrick Purcell is executive director of Greater New York LECET, a jointly trusteed labor-management fund representing the 17,000 members of the affiliated unions of the Mason Tenders District Council, LiUNA and its more than 1400 signatory contractors. GNYLECET’s mission is to promote and increase market-share for the organized sector of the construction industry, resulting in the creation of business opportunities for its signatory contractors and good jobs for its union members.

A map from the New York City Department of City Planning showing the area around Jerome Avenue, where the city is studying whether to allow larger residences along the mostly commercial stretch, as of October 2014. their income to housing.

“There’s a sense among developers that they get so many applicants, that they might as well cherrypick,” said Judith Goldiner, supervising attorney of the Legal Aid Society’s Civil Practice Law Reform Unit. “For apartments that we’re subsidizing, that developers are allowed to discriminate in that way seems really wrong to us.”

An HPD spokeswoman said her agency and the Housing Development Corporation spent more than a year soliciting feedback from developers, marketing agents and tenant advocates before

updating their guidelines.

“No one should be turned away from affordable housing solely based on a credit score,” the HPD spokeswoman said in a written statement. “That is why the city recently established new credit criteria to prohibit developers from rejecting an applicant based on credit score alone. Going forward, developers will be required to take a deeper look at all the factors at play in an applicant’s credit history because every New Yorker deserves a fair shot at the opportunity that affordable housing provides to stabilize one’s life and secure a better future.”

CityAndStateNY.com

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AN AUTHORITY ON HOUSING

C&S: You’ve talked many times in recent years about the cuts to federal funding for housing authorities. How do such drastic cuts impact your agency?

DSG: We have a job to do, but we don’t have the resources to do it. The fullness of our mission is compromised when we don’t have the resources necessary to build or repair housing units. The operating subsidy and the capital improvement dollars are crucial to that taking place. In Buffalo we have a lot of physical properties.

Yes, we have some housing choice vouchers or Section 8 residents, about 1,300 across the city of Buffalo. But we have a large amount of physical structures, and you can’t put BandAids on physical structures.

T

JUSTIN SONDEL

A Q&A WITH BUFFALO MUNICIPAL HOUSING AUTHORITY’S DAWN SANDERS-GARRETT

As federal funding for housing has dwindled, public housing authorities across the country have struggled to maintain buildings and manage their budgets while also providing clean, safe living spaces for residents.

The story is no different in Buffalo. Just as the New York City Housing Authority has been in the news for black mold in apartments and tenant complaints that go unaddressed for months, the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority was the subject of news stories this summer about similar issues in the state-owned Marine Drive complex. The agency is also dealing with a lagging occupancy rate, which has it under close watch by its main funder, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

BMHA’s executive director, Dawn Sanders-Garrett, sat down with City & State to discuss the federal funding cuts and what her organization can do to try to make things work on a scaled-back budget.

The following is an edited transcript.

C&S: The biggest challenge for the BMHA right now appears to be its low occupancy rates, but so much of the authority’s portfolio is in severe disrepair. What can your organization do to increase occupancy and ensure compliance with HUD requirements?

DSG: Buffalo’s housing authority was the second established in New York state. That means that a good portion of our housing was built in the 1930s. The needs of people have changed over the 80-plus years that the authority has been in existence.

Portions of Commodore Perry and A.D. Price Courts are going to need a significant amount of capital dollars in order to make them inhabitable so that we can put people in those units. A lot of the developments are all over 90 percent occupancy, but when you add two major ones that have a significant number of units that we can’t house people in, it drags the overall number for the authority down.

C&S: The appropriation for HUD will soon be announced. What have you been doing to advocate for a restoration to your funding?

DSG: The federal government has made no secret about the resources drying up. But even though the resources are limited, they still have a responsibility to provide housing for low- and moderate-income individuals

or anyone who qualifies. That, in and of itself, is compromising our abilities and that is why we are undertaking redevelopment efforts. Any time we can rehab a property, any time we can go after tax credits and improve the overall property, any time we can use energy performance contracts to address the heating and energy related activities, we have done all those things.

C&S: HUD and the housing authorities it monitors and funds have been moving toward a model that brings in private developers and contractors to build, own and operate some of the developments.

Do you see this as an appropriate shift?

DSG: Infusing private dollars in to try to deal with the housing crisis is the only way we’re going to get the capital needs addressed, which means that the housing authority has to compete with the private developers and everyone else for tax credits. The funding model by which public housing is funded has to change. The whole platform has to change and housing has to take a priority in the hearts and minds of the community, be it legislators, be it service providers, be it the community as a whole. The progress that this city is making is great. However, we cannot leave behind the low- and moderate-income individuals who so desperately need our housing.

C&S: It seems like there is always a new program out for housing authorities to go after money. There was HOPE IV, Choice Neighborhoods and now the Rental Assistance Demonstration Program. Does it feel like housing authority management spends too much time chasing this funding and not enough time working on in-house issues?

DSG: It has always been a natural part the authority’s executive director’s responsibility. Has it increased?

Yes. Are there more requirements and fewer resources and people to do them? Yes. We’ve probably been having this conversation since we got here.

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CityAndStateNY.com

REPLACING 421-A

‘WHETHER YOU CALL IT 123B, D582, WHATEVER IT IS, THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING’ By JON LENTZ WHEN STATE LAWMAKERS took up the 421-a program last year, they ultimately left it to the real estate industry and construction unions to hash out the final details – and a failure by the two groups to reach a deal led to the program’s expiration last month.

The unions, which won the backing of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, want higher wages on housing developments that get tax exemptions through the program, which is aimed at spurring the construction of affordable units. But the real estate industry argued that such a move would raise costs so high that it would hinder new construction.

Now, with developers and housing advocates alike emphasizing the need for some version of the program – especially if New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is to carry out his ambitious affordable housing goals – it will again be up to elected officials to figure out some sort of compromise.

“The 421-a program as it existed just didn’t work,” New York City Councilman Jumaane Williams told City & State. “It was not effective in building affordable units, period. So I wasn’t the saddest to see it go. However, I firmly believe that we need something, whether you call it 123B, D582, whatever it is, there has to be something that is there.”

Here’s a rundown of a few pending 421-a proposals – from officials who were actually elected to make these kinds of decisions.

A9074 Sponsor: Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Status: In the Real Property Taxation Committee

S6628 Sponsor: State Sen. Tony Avella Status: In the Housing, Construction and Community Development Committee

“Relates to a minority and womenowned business enterprise participation goal requirement in order to receive exemption of new multiple dwellings from local taxation.”

“The purpose of this bill is to change the calculation of the income eligibility criteria for new housing construction participating in the 421-a property tax benefit program so that such calculation is not distorted by income levels outside of the community in which the new construction is located.”

S5768 Sponsor: State Sen. Jack Martins Status: In the Labor Committee “This bill would extend the provisions of section 421-a of the real property tax law an additional three years and apply the prevailing wage laws on any project of this type.”

S3713 Sponsor: State Sen. Adriano Espaillat Status: In the Housing, Construction and Community Development Committee “This bill makes several amendments to the 421-a tax abatement program. The goals of these amendments are: to extend the program for an additional three years; adjust definitions to more accurately reflect current construction practices; provide additional incentives for the continued construction of new and affordable housing units; and correct current statutory inaccuracies. Additionally, the bill would provide a tax exemption for new multiple dwellings with three or fewer units to further incentivize the construction of new housing.”

CityAndStateNY.com

Quick Takes

JAMES S. RUBIN COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK STATE HOMES AND COMMUNITY RENEWAL

Quick Takes

BETTY LITTLE CHAIRWOMAN, STATE SENATE HOUSING, CONSTRUCTION AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

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ON PRESERVING AFFORDABLE HOUSING ACROSS THE STATE... “(New York State Homes and Community Renewal’s) Office of Rent Administration and the Tenant Protection Unit are working to end tenant harassment and illegal decontrol. Last month ORA initiated an action to reregister 50,000 apartments in buildings receiving J-51 tax benefits and the TPU, working with Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and New York City agencies, has done the same for units in certain buildings receiving 421-a tax abatements.

“Since 2012, the TPU has recaptured more than 48,000 apartments in approximately 4,600 buildings, and in 2015 alone the unit referred several investigations for criminal prosecution, leading to the arrest and indictment of two landlords. Also in the last year, the TPU joined with the city and the attorney general to create the Tenant Harassment Prevention Task Force to address the deregulation and destruction of rent regulated apartments.

“HCR is also making great progress on the governor’s $1 billion House NY program to create and preserve 14,300 units, many of them in upstate communities. One of the program’s main objectives is the preservation of Mitchell-Lama developments to extend their useful lives and extend affordability for 40 more years – 21 out of 35 of those developments are upstate.”

Quick Takes

HOLLY LEICHT REGIONAL ADMINISTRATOR, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

ON PUBLIC HOUSING CONVERSIONS IN NEW YORK CITY …

“HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration, or RAD, allows public housing authorities like NYCHA to convert their federal public housing subsidies dollarfor-dollar to Section 8 funding while maintaining many of the tenant rights and protections associated with public housing. The financial advantages of RAD are twofold: First, public housing authorities receive a long-term Section 8 contract that enables them to borrow private capital for much-needed renovations and repairs; and second, congressional funding of the Section 8 program historically has been more stable than that of public housing funding, so it has been less subject to debilitating annual budget cuts.

“NYCHA’s Ocean Bay development will be the first public housing RAD conversion in New York City, though tens of thousands of units have converted to RAD nationwide. If experience elsewhere is any indication, once NYCHA residents see firsthand the improvements that RAD enables, its popularity will spread quickly.

“Currently, the RAD program is capped at 185,000 units by Congress, and it is fully subscribed – so any future RAD deals with NYCHA would require Congress to lift the unit cap. Assuming that happens – and we are optimistic it will – I believe Ocean Bay will be the first of many RAD conversions in the city.”

ON WHY TAX INCENTIVES ARE CRITICAL TO BUILDING AFFORDABLE HOUSING...

“The governor is calling for a very large increase in funding to address housing and homelessness. We need more details, and my colleagues and I will have the opportunity in the joint budget hearing to ask our housing commissioner about what the administration has in mind. Obviously, it’s very important to understand the financial side of the equation.

“Whether or not the 421-a benefit will be renewed in the future, it is important to provide some sort of tax incentive program to encourage development of affordable rental properties. I intend to work with my government partners to advance such a program.

The mayor’s goal of creating 200,000 affordable units can’t be funded by the state. Some form of publicprivate partnership is necessary. I think New York City’s current tax structure makes it very beneficial to trade tax exemptions in exchange for creation of affordable units.

“We have to anticipate greater need as baby boomers figure out their next steps. I was successful a number of years ago in helping create the Adirondack Community Housing Trust to ensure affordable housing stock in communities where second-home ownership was driving prices to levels unaffordable for local families. When it comes to housing and community development, I can see a lot of need throughout the state. To help meet needs of rural areas, I’d like to see more funding available for smaller projects.”

Building affordable housing that New Yorkers need New York faces an affordable housing crisis. NYSAFAH members are taking action to address this crisis by providing safe, quality housing for low- and middle-income New Yorkers, while advocating for more of the programs and funding that make it possible.

Creating good jobs and leading MWBE and local hiring efforts The average affordable housing development creates more than 175 construction jobs and 20 permanent jobs – and these developments are driving job growth across the state. We are proud to prioritize MWBE and local hiring efforts alongside our affordable housing goals.

Strengthening communities and growing local economies Too many New Yorkers live in areas of concentrated poverty. Our members are leaders in mixed-income development that brings greater opportunity to struggling neighborhoods and promotes diversity in communities across New York. Each new affordable housing development is an economic engine that generates millions of dollars in sustained activity for local residents and businesses.

NYSAFAH is working toward Housing for All with its New York State Affordable Housing Solutions: Five Year Plan.

Visit us at http://www.nysafah.org to learn more.

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NYSlant.com

A fresh perspective on opinions / Edited by NICK POWELL

TIME TO DISPOSE OF THE TAMPON TAX IT’S THAT TIME of the month when I get to pay an 8.8 percent sales tax on tampons: a luxury item I must afford, born of a necessity I do not choose. Or at least that’s the logic behind the New York state tax code, which treats menstruation as an elective function,

BUT EXEMPTS CONDOMS AS “ M E D I C A L EQUIPMENT.”

President Barack Obama was recently asked why.

“I suspect it’s because men were making the laws when those taxes were passed,” he opined.

Real talk.

While men may have caused the problem, they’re also part of the solution.

State Sen. Joe Robach has introduced a bill in Albany to exempt feminine hygiene products from the sales tax.

And Assemblyman David Weprin introduced a same-as bill before Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal became the prime sponsor: “I just thought it sounded wrong coming out of a man’s mouth because it’s not something they experience,” Rosenthal said.

“It’s something women experience.

It can be spoken about more authentically by someone who has experienced it.”

She has a point. Most of the men I talk to about this issue practically choke on their words, defaulting to euphemisms and awkward sentence structures to avoid saying “tampon” entirely.

Although the tampon tax is evidence that the paucity of women in politics results in bad policy, the role of personal experience in policymaking is a tricky one.

The political philosopher John Rawls believed that the personal should be irrelevant to matters of public interest. His famous thought experiment, the Veil

of Ignorance, challenged decision-makers to form policy as if their own interests were veiled to them, thereby arriving at the correct moral outcome for society as a whole.

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican who opposed marriage equality until his son came out as gay, epitomizes Rawls’ argument to exclude personal experience as a controlling factor in public policy.

Like gay rights, women’s rights are vulnerable if personal experience is the standard for policymaking.

The National Bureau of Economic Research found that having a daughter makes male lawmakers more likely to support reproductive rights and matters related to gender equality, implying that men without daughters are less able to represent the interests of half their constituents. This may seem like an argument in favor of personal experience, but

THE “DAUGHTER EFFECT” IS PROBLEMATIC.

How should women who oppose the ill-conceived Women’s Equality Party seek redress when Gov. Andrew Cuomo characterizes his support “not as a governor, frankly, but as a father of three girls”?

This framework puts women at the disadvantage of having to distinguish themselves from lawmakers’ female relations (and all the baggage that goes along with it) and the question of “Would I want my daughter to X?” – a paternalistic metric for judging matters of general concern.

But when we’re talking about a marginalized group advocating on behalf of its own interests, as opposed to representing those of another group, personal experience can be particularly relevant.

The literature on the

By ALEXIS GRENELL

relationship between gendered leadership and issue advocacy is consistent: Female lawmakers are more likely to support bills that promote gender equality and improve the status of women. They are also more likely to view themselves as responsible for the broader interests of their sex, as opposed to just their constituents.

The success of gendered leadership is another matter. A study published in the journal “Politics & Gender” found that a bill is less likely to pass if it has overwhelming support from women, and minimal support from men. There are several reasons for this.

One is that the legacy of male leadership means that women are generally less powerful in seniority-based systems. Another is that the framing of “women’s issues” minimizes legislation into a niche category.

In New York, the percentage of women in either body of the Legislature (23 percent) is close to the national mean (21 percent), which researchers found correlates to a 3 percent and 5 percent predicted probability of passing legislation.

Rosenthal is better qualified to lead the fight against the tampon tax because her arguments are likely to be more forceful and more relevant to the target population (of which she is a direct stakeholder), and her commitment stronger.

But the data is clear: Gender balance on a so-called women’s issue is necessary for it to succeed. Currently her bill has 13 co-sponsors, three of whom are men. We need more.

Period.

Alexis Grenell is a Democratic communications strategist based in New York.

NYSlant.com

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Launch New Yorkers into the middle class, ASAP

By TOM HILLIARD

educational initiatives in recent memory. The respected research organization MDRC evaluated an ASAP pilot project and found that it nearly doubled participants’ three-year graduation rates.

“ASAP’s effects after three years are the most positive MDRC has found in over a decade of research in higher education,” the authors said.

The program’s potential is clear. Community colleges are failing to fulfill their vast potential because so few of their students actually graduate with an associate degree or transfer to a four-year university. Just over one-third of first-time full-time community college freshmen statewide graduate within six years. In New York City, the six-year graduation rate at community colleges is 29 percent.

ASAP has achieved far higher marks by offering students an integrated package of support. Students participating in ASAP agree to study full time and see an adviser regularly. In return, CUNY guarantees payment of tuition and fees, books and transportation; provides intensive academic advising,

COURTESY OF BRONX COMMUNITY COLLEGE

OVER THE PAST several years, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have put New York at the forefront of efforts to reduce income inequality, announcing initiatives such as universal prekindergarten, paid family leave and a $15 minimum wage for publicsector workers. These are all hugely important policy innovations. But I’m keeping my eye on another inequality initiative, one rolled out late last year to little fanfare but which could turn out to be one of the most effective efforts in New York, and the nation, to catapult people into the middle class.

I’m talking about CUNY’s plan to enroll virtually all full-time students at Bronx Community College in CUNY’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs, an initiative that has proven to be amazingly effective in increasing community college graduation rates.

CUNY ASAP, which provides community college students with free tuition, textbooks, MetroCards and regular contact with an adviser, is one of the most widely acclaimed

Bronx Communit y College plans to enroll virtually all its fulltime students in CUNY ASAP, which provides students with free tuition, tex tbooks, MetroCards and regular contact with an adviser.

as well as tutoring support for students with developmental needs; and makes available special linked courses and a seminar that builds college knowledge.

The challenge has always been figuring out how to scale CUNY ASAP. Until now, the program has served just 4,000 students a year.

Now, CUNY is laying the groundwork to bring the ASAP model to more than 25,000 students, including an entire community college. Over the next several years, CUNY plans to raise the threeyear graduation rate at Bronx Community College from its current level of about 11 percent to 50 percent, an incredibly ambitious goal. If successful, Bronx Community College would attain one of the nation’s highest community college graduation rates. Each year roughly 600 additional college graduates, from some of the nation’s poorest families, would walk across the commencement stage and then enter the skilled workforce.

If CUNY expanded ASAP and related programs to all of its community colleges, it could add over 5,000 college graduates annually to the workforce, with impressive benefits not only to the students, but to employer competitiveness and community prosperity.

The primary obstacle is cost. ASAP costs about 40 percent more per enrolled student, and the upcoming expansion required New York City to find an additional $42 million.

A citywide expansion would cost much more, an extremely difficult lift that is only more challenging at a time when CUNY is struggling to settle a labor contract with its faculty and lobbying hard to maintain level funding from the state.

Expanding the program will require Cuomo and the state Legislature to make long-

overdue revisions to how the state finances its higher education system.

Ever since New York state first chartered its community colleges, it has paid them on a per-enrolled-student basis, which effectively rewards colleges for enrolling more students and

PUNISHES THEM FOR SPENDING MORE TO HELP THOSE STUDENTS SUCCEED. Yet ASAP is actually less expensive than the status quo when measured by cost per graduate. Other states are experimenting with creative financing approaches, and New York could too.

We should reward colleges like Bronx Community College that are doing the right thing for their students – getting them to graduation without diminishing the rigor of their academic experience.

At the same time, the state Legislature should reject Cuomo’s recent proposal to cut almost $500 million in annual state funding to CUNY and shift the cost to the city. Adopting this proposal will almost certainly lead to a net reduction in public funding for CUNY, making it impossible to scale up initiatives like ASAP. Instead, the state should work to boost graduation rates at CUNY’s colleges.

That would change the lives of thousands of disadvantaged young people and take a giant step toward reducing inequality in New York.

Tom Hilliard is a senior researcher at the Center for an Urban Future, an independent think tank focused on expanding economic opportunity and growing the economy in New York City. For more, go to www.nycfuture.org or @ nycfuture.

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CityAndStateNY.com

SMALL-BUSINESS MAN

A Q&A WITH SMALL BUSINESS SERVICES COMMISSIONER GREGG BISHOP

MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY OFFICE

Earlier this month New York City Small Business Services Commissioner Gregg Bishop welcomed a few dozen people to the inaugural graduation ceremony of the NYCEO Mentorship Program, which pairs up to four minority- and women-owned firms with a mentor whose business has an annual revenue above $1 million, by repeating a personal motto of sorts: “Experience is actually mistakes,” he said. “As you are building your business, we don’t want you to make those same mistakes, which is why we came up with the idea of this program.”

City & State’s Sarina Trangle talked with Bishop about efforts to help MWBE firms, rising commercial rents and what a $15 minimum wage would mean for small businesses. The following is an edited transcript.

C&S: What is being done to help MWBE firms do more business with the city?

GB: Where we have discretion (to select contractors) is up to $20,000, and we are well over 40 percent utilization there. That’s phenomenal.

In those areas where we have to go with the lowest price, we are not doing well. And what we want to do is really address it a couple of ways: continue building the capacity of MWBEs, but also tackle it on the legislative side. So the state has full discretion up to $200,000, and now we’re asking the state to give us that discretion as well. There are MWBEs who are performing and winning city contracts who are not certified as MWBEs, so we’re going to make an extra push to grow that certification base.

Best value is actually a really good change because it eliminates where an agency has an MWBE bid package and has a non-MWBE bid package, and all things are equal, so then they look at price. This is $99, and this is $101. So they have to go with the $99 one. With best value, what we can say is, well, this company is in Topeka, Kansas, and this company is located in Brooklyn.

And not because it is local, but because if this company gets this contract, they’re going to hire within New York City, there’s so many other benefits that this company can bring to the city, that actually it’s the best value for the city, even though the price is a little bit higher.

C&S: What is SBS doing about the rising cost of commercial rent?

GB: We are looking at what we can do to help with legislation, but also what we could do here at SBS. So we have started off with some programs. When business owners want to start a business, they don’t really think about the ramification of signing a lease. They really just want the space, but there’s so many things, and so many “gotchas” in leases, that we started up a course.

It basically breaks down every single aspect of a commercial lease and what you need to be careful of.

Sometimes a business might get a violation, and they’re not sure whether or not it’s the landlord or if they’re responsible. So we’re about to launch a service where individuals can check with us. And part of that is providing them an attorney who can then review their lease and help educate them on what they are responsible for.

C&S: What are you hearing about the push for a $15 minimum wage?

GB: There are companies that are actually paying a minimum wage of $15 and above, and what we’ve heard from them is that it is about

time. And there are, of course, companies who are not, and there’s some concern. What we can do is help companies understand why it is so essential to have a workforce that is compensated appropriately and that’s healthy, because it helps them. If you have an employee who is afraid to call in sick and that employee comes in sick, that is not helpful to your business at all because that employee is not productive and that employee could actually cause problems for your business. If you have an employee that’s basically shopping around for wages, you’ll spend an enormous amount of time training that employee and lose that employee within three months because there’s another business that’s paying above minimum wage. So we want to change the conversation from “this is something that’s hurtful to business” to “this is actually something that will help your business.”

For the full interview, visit cityandstateny.com.

Let

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Promotion to our Engaged Audience Strategic Speaker Selection Securing Venues and Caterers On-Site Logistics

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Moderating Panel Discussions Photography and Videography Entertainment Packaged Event Takeaways & Much More!

For more information on our unique and customizable packages, please call Jasmin Freeman at 646.442.1662 or email jfreeman@cityandstateny.com

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