Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill raising the borrowing authority for New York City’s housing finance agency by $1 billion, as Eric Adams confronts an affordable housing crisis.
Hochul on Monday signed a bill that would raise the city’s Housing Development Corporation debt limit to $19 billion from $18 billion. The city agency could exceed its bonding authority as soon as June 2024, according to a memo accompanying the legislation.
“The city has long faced a dire affordable housing crisis, resulting in a lengthy pipeline of housing projects in need of financing,” according to the memo. “An increase to HDC’s bond cap will enable HDC to continue its mission to expand and preserve the City’s supply of affordable and public housing, which is more critical than ever in the wake of the pandemic.”
Adams has set a “moonshot” goal of building 500,000 new homes over the next decade. Since 2010, city employment has grown 21% on average, while housing units lagged — increasing just 9% — leaving more city residents with fewer options and facing higher rents.
HDC has issued more than $32 billion bonds to finance more than 208,000 units of affordable housing, since 2003 and has about $15.2 billion of bonds outstanding. The agency plans to issue $2.4 billion of debt in calendar year 2023.
--With assistance from Zachary Williams.
(Adds Hochul action on bill in headline and first paragraph.)
Author: Martin Z. Braun
