
As Americans prepared to vote on November 5, 2024, CHPC Executive Director Howard Slatkin and others shared thoughts on what the results might mean for housing in New York City.
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The next White House leader could have substantial impact on housing in New York, from shaping tax incentives that make it easier to build new homes to federal resources for NYCHA and code enforcement programs.
At NYCHA, the housing authority is transitioning tens of thousands of apartments from the federal Section 9 program to the more adequately-funded Section 8, which officials say will unlock billions in desperately needed repair funds. “The availability of [federal] funding in order to accomplish that is critical,” said Howard Slatkin, executive director at the Citizens Housing and Planning Council. “It’s really important to have a federal government that’s supportive of increasing the supply and availability of housing.”
President-elect Donald Trump’s platform included just one paragraph specific to “housing affordability”.
“To help new home buyers, Republicans will reduce mortgage rates by slashing Inflation, open limited portions of Federal Lands to allow for new home construction, promote homeownership through Tax Incentives and support for first-time buyers, and cut unnecessary Regulations that raise housing costs,” it reads.
According to Slatkin, those “unspecified tax incentives” for home buyers “could be fine” – but it’s hard to say without more details, and his main concern would be the federal government “offering tax incentives to people that don’t need tax incentives.”
Likewise, the idea of opening up more federal land for housing construction, “there’s nothing inherently wrong about looking at that,” Slatkin said. But its impact would likely be limited.
“There’s enormous amounts of federal land out west, but that’s not where we’re going to solve our housing crisis either, because that’s not where the jobs and employment opportunities are,” he said.
Read more at City Limits.