On the rezoning proposal City Council Land Use committee are focused on City Planning’s provisions for the development of affordable housing.
Under the rezoning, developers building residential towers near the waterfront will be able to increase the size of their buildings if they agree to construct or permanently preserve affordable housing somewhere in the area. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development has declared that the incentives will result in 2,300 units of housing for low income tenants. Half would be reserved for current residents of Williamsburg and Greenpoint.
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The City Council now has a month before it must adopt or reject the rezoning proposal. It’s expected that the council and city will negotiate a compromise that could increase incentives to build affordable housing. One widely discussed option: Extending to Brooklyn some version of Manhattan’s successful “80-20” program, which sets aside one in five new units for low-income tenants. Mid-Manhattan developers who participate receive a tax break, known as 421-A. In Brooklyn, they get the tax break no matter what. Affordable housing advocates have pressed to create an “exclusion zone” in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, where that tax break would be available only to developers who include affordable housing.