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Faith-Based Affordable Housing Act: Win-Win Solution or Reckless Deregulation?

This Zoom webinar is hosted by the City Club of New York | Click here to register

The State legislature has reintroduced in the current legislative session the “Faith-Based Affordable Housing Act,” a bill that aims to increase the production of affordable housing through the removal of zoning and landmark protections from land owned by faith-based institutions. Proponents of the bill contend that these protections are unduly restrictive and that their removal would allow cash-strapped religious organizations to profit from the denser development of their land. This, in turn, would help tackle the affordable housing crisis through the production of affordable housing units required as a condition for development under the act. Critics counter that the bill constitutes an underhanded way of gutting zoning and landmark protections that are put in place for a reason. They criticize the bill as overly broad, short on affordable housing requirements, and careless in its concessions; and they call for a more narrowly tailored pursuit of the bill’s goals.

This panel will break down the Faith-based Affordable Housing Act, explaining its various components and discussing its likely effects on development in our neighborhoods. We will be joined by experts in zoning and landmark regulation.

Speakers

  • Andrew Berman, Executive Director, Village Preservation since 2002

  • Layla Law-Gisiko, President, City Club of New York

  • Xiomara Pedraza, Chief Real Estate Dev. Officer, Sisters of Charity Housing Development, Former Asst. Commissioner, NYC Dept. of Housing Preservation and Development

  • Jay DiLorenzo, President, Preservation League of New York State since January 2005

  • George Janes, Principal of the urban planning consultancy George M. Janes & Associates