When talking about the housing crisis, elected officials like to talk about using all the tools at their disposal. They usually don’t mean ChatGPT.
Much of the reporting on Cuomo’s housing plan has focused on the fact that it includes a ChatGPT citation, as Hell Gate was the first to point out. The Cuomo campaign has indicated that ChatGPT was used as a research tool, not to write the plan itself.
If anything, the plan could have benefited from more ChatGPT involvement to catch grammatical errors and to shorten sentences. The plan is 29 pages, in part because it includes sentences like this: “Given the stakes involved, it would make sense to make greater use of qualified real estate professionals from outside of government to undertake a comprehensive inventory of real estate that might have a higher and better use than it is being put to today.” (I asked ChatGPT to shorten for clarity, and it spat out: Given the stakes, outside real estate experts should assess properties for better use.)
ChatGPT could have also pointed out that 485x is an exemption, rather than an abatement.
The Cuomo campaign told The New York Times that policy advisor Paul Francis wrote the plan. Francis said the typos were the result of his use of voice recognition software (he had his left arm amputated in 2012).
“It’s very hard to type with one hand,” he told the Times. “So I dictate, and what happens when you dictate is that sometimes things get garbled. And try as I might to see them when I proofread, sometimes they get by me.”
All that aside, the bottom line is that former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s housing plan has a lot of ideas but few details on how to execute them.
The plan itself emphasizes the need to ramp up capital investments in housing, increase right to counsel eligibility for tenants and find ways to make it easier to build in the city. The plan calls for objectivity in addressing rent stabilized housing: He says he wants to appoint members to the Rent Guidelines Board who will be objective about setting annual rent increases, and conduct an objective study to determine the cause of vacant rent stabilized apartments to craft a city policy to address it.
It is notable that the plan even mentions rent-stabilized owners. But calling for objectivity is one thing, laying out how to accomplish it is another.
That’s a recurring theme in the plan: A problem is acknowledged as a priority for Cuomo without spelling out how he would address it as mayor. For instance, the plan states he will “use every power in City Hall’s arsenal to cut red tape and overcome economic headwinds to make section 485-x successful.”
“If it proves that the program is not generating sufficient housing in light of negative development since its passage, he will work with all stakeholders to find the balance of incentives necessary to ensure 485-x is providing sufficient incentives for the creation of new housing across the city that his Housing plan contemplates,” the plan states (as my head explodes.)
Do the economic headwinds include advocating for changes to the construction wage rules, one of the top challenges cited by developers? That would alienate his allies in the construction unions. Does finding a balance of incentives necessary to make 485x work mean throwing more subsidies at projects receiving the tax break? (¯\_(ツ)_/¯)
The plan also says Cuomo will identify other parts of the city to upzone, while also avoiding further zoning changes in low-density areas until the impacts of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity are “absorbed.” It doesn’t provide more information on how that will be gauged or identify areas ripe for rezonings.
Here are some of the other proposals in the plan:
— Build and preserve 500,000 homes over 10 years
— Create a $5 billion capital fund to finance housing over five years, equally funded by the city and state
— Ensure city agencies in housing and homelessness “are aggressively managed to clear bottlenecks and speed development.”
— Pick up Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine’s proposal to use city pension funds to finance housing.
— Add the Department of Buildings to the purview of the deputy mayor of housing, economic development and workforce.
— Ensure that the deputy mayor of housing is focused on preventing homelessness. It is not clear if this means shifting the Department of Social Services from the deputy mayor of health and human services.
What we’re thinking about: What City Council races are you watching? Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: Community Board 8 is amending its conditional approval of the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-use Plan, which would rezone 21 blocks along Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, paving the way for some 4,600 housing units. The board says it does not support the rezoning unless the following conditions are met: The rezoning requires the maximum number of affordable housing units under the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program, a density incentive if offered for light industrial uses in mixed-use zones and legal assistance is provided for tenants facing eviction.
“We expected at this point in the AAMUP review process to have received assurances that the rezoning would meet the Board’s long-time goals,” Community Board 8 Chairperson Irsa Weatherspoon said in a statement. “Now only weeks remain before the final City Council vote on AAMUP, and we understand that goals we have worked toward for more than a decade may not be achieved.”
Elsewhere in New York…
— Powerful unions 32BJ SEIU and the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council endorsed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s run for mayor. “He has concrete plans to address our housing and healthcare affordability crises as Mayor and as Governor showed he knows how to deliver for working people,” Manny Pastreich, president of 32BJ SEIU said in a statement. 32BJ and HTC President Rich Maroko were among those who called on Cuomo to resign as governor in August 2021.
— Will April showers bring a May state budget? City & State reports that New York may not have a budget deal until next month.
— One of the city’s worst bathrooms got a $5.6 million overhaul. The New York City Parks Department renovated the four public bathrooms in Tompkins Square Park, Gothamist reports.
Closing Time
Residential: The priciest residential sale Monday was for a condo unit at 201 West 17th Street for $3.3 million. The Chelsea unit is 2,200 square feet. The Corcoran Group’s Catherine Juracich, Thomas Ventura, Alexis Godley and Karena Cameron have the listing.
Commercial: The most expensive commercial closing of the day was $12.6 million for 71 Lincoln Place. The building, used as an early childhood center, is three stories and 22,000 square feet.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $29.8 million for 349 West 86th Street. The Upper West Side townhouse is 13,000 square feet and is listed by Douglas Elliman’s Lydia Sussek.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building application filed was for a 90,064-square-foot, nine-story mixed-use building with 93 units and an additional community facility at 18-15 Cornaga Avenue in Queens. Joseph Frankl of JFA Architects is the applicant of record.
— Joseph Jungermann