On July 7, Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano announced that he had vetoed the Yonkers City Council’s amended Affordable Housing Ordinance.
Passed last month, the legislation would have doubled the current stock of affordable housing in the city from 10% to 20%.
The original ordinance was passed in 2013, requiring all developments with more than 20 units to set aside units affordable to families earning 40% to 100% of the area median income, with large developments required to set aside 10% of their stock.
Spano said that upon review, the proposed amendment to the ordinance was infeasible without significant public subsidy.
He cited an independent report from real estate consultants HR&A Advisors, which was presented to the city council before it voted to pass the amended ordinance in June.
“While I support enhancing our affordable housing stock, the ordinance passed by the Council fails to address the fiscal concerns raised by the report, such as what means are available to increase public subsidies necessitated by the AHO,” Spano said.
“The Council also presented no alternative analysis or narrative that disagreed with HR&A”™s findings,” he continued, “nor did they prepare an analysis regarding the potential effects on the city if it was to significantly increase the tax subsidy to developers.”
According to Spano, the amended ordinance would halt market-rate construction or require a city tax subsidy double that currently granted to market-rate developers.
“Ultimately, my decision to veto this amendment is because the Council”™s proposal will either shut down our market rate residential construction entirely, or else cost the local property taxpayers millions annually in additional subsidies,” Spano said.
Spano ended the announcement by stating that he will submit a revised plan to the City Council as an alternative.
“Yonkers represents 20% of Westchester County”™s population, yet we already house over 40% of its subsidized housing stock,” Spano said. “I agree we need to revisit our AHO, but we need to be smart about our next steps. I will be submitting a revised plan to the Council that offers the best affordable housing ordinance in Westchester and addresses the needs of our community, while still allowing for investors to continue building in Yonkers.”
He also cited letters of opposition to the amendment that were sent to the city council prior to passing it, from organizations such as the Business Council of Westchester, the Westchester County Association and Westhab.
Did Mike Spano make this decision on his own or his convicted felon lobbyist brother helped make this decision for him?