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Nimby's Legacy: A Challenge To Local Autonomy: Regulating The Siting Of Group Homes In New York, Anna L. Georgiou
Nimby's Legacy: A Challenge To Local Autonomy: Regulating The Siting Of Group Homes In New York, Anna L. Georgiou
Fordham Urban Law Journal
Group homes represent a non-traditional alternative to single family living. The advent of the group home has taken place since the 1970s for a number of reasons, namely, due to a severe shortage in affordable housing, particularly for newly employed young adults and the elderly, due to public policy considerations calling for deinstitutionalization of the developmentally disabled and mentally ill, and finally due to a growing need for congregate type living arrangements for other special needs populations. Part I of the article explores the framework of the New York State zoning authority and the methods by which municipalities regulate the …
Mitchell-Lama Buyouts: Policy Issues And Alternatives, David J. Sweet, John D. Hack
Mitchell-Lama Buyouts: Policy Issues And Alternatives, David J. Sweet, John D. Hack
Fordham Urban Law Journal
The Mitchell-Lama program, which provides loans to developers in exchange for those developers providing affordable housing, faces a serious problem as developers attempt to take advantage of a provision in the program that allows them to opt-out by repaying the government loans ahead of schedule. This creates a conflict between the developer and the tenants but also between the developer’s desire for maximizing profits and society’s desire to provide affordable housing. The author argues that simply preventing developers from leaving the program could violate the Contracts Clause as well as discourage future developers from participating in government programs. Rather, the …
Shattering The Myth Of Municipal Impotence: The Authority Of Local Government To Create Affordable Housing, John R. Nolon
Shattering The Myth Of Municipal Impotence: The Authority Of Local Government To Create Affordable Housing, John R. Nolon
Fordham Urban Law Journal
In the absence of any guidance from the legislature, local officials, in confronting the problem of affordable housing, look to the courts to define the extent of their responsibility and power. While not providing specific direction, the New York Court of Appeals has clearly outlawed zoning designed to exclude affordable housing. The judiciary has voiced doubts, however, that municipal governments can, through zoning alone, require the development of affordable housing. The view that municipalities lack such power is erroneous. Zoning alone is competent to induce such development. Furthermore, local governments have considerable additional power to induce the creation of such …
New York City's J-51 Program: Controversy And Revision, Debra S. Vorsanger
New York City's J-51 Program: Controversy And Revision, Debra S. Vorsanger
Fordham Urban Law Journal
New York City administers a real estate tax incentive program, called the J-51 program, for eligible building owners who rehabilitate existing structures. Despite the need for such a program, various problems and abuses arose, emphasizing the need for major reform. Economic conditions changed the housing market and the tax incentives demonstrated several deleterious effects which contravene the original legislative intent of the program. After long negotiations surrounding several competing arguments, reforms were made. The current revisions were necessary to correct the abuses and to return the program to its original purpose of providing adequate housing for moderate and lower income …