#housing-policy

#housing-policy

I recognize that if we do the bread and butter stuff, we do the customer service, the customer delivery, then we get permission to do bigger things. This philosophy guides the commissioner's approach to balancing operational excellence with broader policy ambitions at the Department of Buildings.

One of the solutions to the housing crisis can be found in our backyards, our attics, or our basements - in an Ancillary Dwelling Unit. By making it easier for New Yorkers to turn their homes into an extra place for a loved one or a little more income, we're allowing our city to grow while keeping the character of the neighborhoods we love.

Too often, serious problems in Mitchell-Lama buildings were identified but not resolved. When state and city agencies fail to ensure necessary repairs are made, unsafe conditions persist and New Yorkers who need affordable apartments can't access them.

Our work at RPA ultimately impacts how people live: how they get to work, find a home, and feel secure about the future of their communities. Jamie understands that deeply. His leadership and commitment to public service will strengthen our ability to move bold ideas into action.

The state of our city is resilient, disciplined and forward looking. We are not without challenges. But we also have remarkable strengths. Fiscal challenges placed tension between what we want to do and what we can afford to do.

An analysis from the policy group New York Housing Conference shows owners of government-subsidized, or "affordable," housing filed more than a third of city's roughly 120,000 eviction lawsuits in 2024 - often as a way to pressure tenants into paying back rent or to compel the city to intervene with aid.

Roughly a month after neighborhood and small business groups sued San Francisco over a housing plan they said went too far, a coalition of housing activists are filing their own suit arguing the city's plan doesn't go far enough. "We are here today on the precipice of St. Valentine's Day out of love: love for the San Franciscans who can't afford where they live, who are forgoing essential items like health care and saving for the future," she said.

Opposition says reforms will fuel more homelessness, emigration of skilled workers and delays in starting families

New York City renters can now sign up to testify at the city's first-ever Rental Ripoff Hearings, a series of public forums announced by Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration aimed at gathering tenant experiences with unsafe conditions, hidden fees, and other common rental complaints. The hearings, established through an executive order signed on Jan. 4, will take place in all five boroughs between late February and early April.

"Tonight, the people of the 47th District made a clear choice for progress, integrity, and leadership that shows up," Bottcher said in an election night statement. "I'm deeply grateful to every voter, volunteer, and neighbor who believed that government should work harder for working families - and I'm excited to get to work."

"I don't want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people that own their homes, and they can be assured that's what's going to happen," Trump told his Cabinet on Jan. 29.

The current issue is whether Fremont controls the road that the Alameda County Board of Supervisors ceded to Christopher George, who has now blocked access with a gate. But it is part of a longer battle that has included the board considering George's request for the land after his company donated $10,000 to Supervisor David Haubert's campaign. The board granted his request ostensibly to save maintenance costs, but at the expense of constituents who have used that section of road recreationally for decades.

That local exodus is documented by Cornell-led research that mapped annual moves between U.S. neighborhoods from 2010 to 2019 in detail 4,600 times greater than standard public data. Called MIGRATE, the new, publicly available dataset revealed that most of those displaced remained within the affected county - moves not captured in county-level public migration data aggregated every five years.

"She was such a force of nature in her enthusiasm for making our city, county and the whole Bay Area a better place." One of many comments shared about Roma Dawson, a dynamic activist who succumbed to cancer last December. Many knew Roma as a longtime dedicated League of Women Voters and community member for San Jose and the Bay Area.

The government is to scale back new energy efficiency targets for social housing, after councils and housing associations warned about the multi billion pound cost of potential building upgrades. Labour plans to introduce minimum energy performance ratings for social homes in England, in a bid to cut tenants' fuel bills and meet climate goals. But ministers now plan to give social landlords more time and greater flexibility to show they comply with new standards.

The law that the council approved does not allow for short-term rentals of residences, like those listed on Airbnb or VRBO. The council also set penalties for people found to be listing their homes for short-term tenants. A first warning would cost $1,500, which would increase to $3,000 at the second warning, a third warning would incur a fine of $5,000. The law also allows the city to request data from websites for short-term rental listings for enforcement reasons.

"I'm jumping in this race because we need a governor who is both a fighter for our values and a fixer of our problems," said Mahan, one of the state's most outspoken Democratic critics of departing Gov. Gavin Newsom. "We can fix the biggest problems facing California, and I believe that because we're making real progress on homelessness, public safety [and] housing supply in San José."

Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice sued California, along with 22 other states and Washington, D.C., for access to their full, unredacted voter files. That includes driver's license, social security numbers and other sensitive data. DOJ officials said they needed the data to assess whether states were properly maintaining their voter rolls and ensuring "only American citizens are voting, only one time," as Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in a social media post in December.