"Eight years ago, the city of Albany required that 5 percent of units in projects with 50 or more units be affordable to the working class. The measure was modest enough that it did not appear to slow housing production. But then Albany's progressive Common Council got greedy. Overriding vetoes by the mayor, in 2023, it upped the requirement to 7 percent to 13 percent, with larger projects requiring a higher share of affordable units, as well as the maximum rents lowered for those units."
"Since the Common Council overrode my two vetoes in early 2023, new proposals for market-rate housing have decreased by 71 percent, Mayor Kathy Sheehan said last year in her State of the City address. It's only gotten worse since. Before the change, the city had thousands of market-rate apartments in the pipeline; after, they have almost entirely disappeared, Times Union columnist Chris Churchill wrote this month."
Eight years ago the city of Albany required 5 percent of units in projects with 50 or more units to be affordable to the working class. In 2023 the Common Council overrode two mayoral vetoes and raised the requirement to between 7 percent and 13 percent, increased affordable shares for larger projects, and lowered maximum rents for those units. The new rules made multifamily development infeasible and led to a 71 percent drop in new market-rate housing proposals, eliminating thousands of apartments previously in the pipeline. Reduced construction will limit supply, enabling landlords to demand higher rents and threatening affordability. The mayor has urged reversal without success.
Read at therealdeal.com
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