By Dan Murphy
Yonkers City Councilwoman Shanae Williams has renewed her call to revisit the City’s Affordable Housing Ordinance (AHO) and revised the law to increase the percentage of affordable units that developers must build from the current 10% to 20%.
Williams has taken to social media to force the issue, and to try and get her revised AHO out of the Council Real Estate Committee, chaired by Councilman John Rubbo. “Several residents have contacted my office for updates on the Affordable Housing Ordinance (AHO). I am happy to provide a full summary and update to all. The City of Yonkers current AHO requires 10% of market rate housing to be affordable, based on the Westchester County’s area median income (AMI). The proposed AHO that I introduced with Council President Khader in February 2020 calls for 20% affordable housing and changes to the AMI so more Yonkers residents can qualify for affordable housing.
“Over my objection, the proposed legislation was placed in the Real Estate Committee, chaired by Councilman Rubbo. After several meetings held by the Real Estate Committee, the majority of the members decided it was best to hold the item in committee at the end of the session. My colleagues and I agreed to work on the legislation over the summer break and pick it back up in September. Unfortunately, we are at the end of October and have yet to discuss the proposed legislation in the Real Estate Committee.
“Nonetheless, the Majority Democratic Caucus met with Mayor Spano and his administration last week. The Mayor has publicly stated that he does not support 20% affordable housing. However, he has expressed that he is willing to work with us to increase the percentage of affordable housing. Since we cannot agree on all the changes in the proposed ordinance, the administration suggests that we conduct a study on affordable housing. This study is expected to take about 3-4 months to complete.
“That said, Westchester County has already completed a thorough housing need assessment which can be found here. The assessment states that every municipality in the county has a gap in affordability when looking at market rents. It states that 49.9% of renters in the City of Yonkers are living in severely cost burdened and unaffordable housing. It also states that there are 1,355 total severely overcrowded households in Yonkers. A snapshot of Yonkers housing data begins on page 29. It is clear that there is a need for real affordable housing.
“Some of my colleagues are in agreement with the administration that conducting a Yonkers study is the best route to take at this time. I believe this is an effort to delay the vote on the proposed ordinance, since we already have data from the County’s study, previously mentioned,” said Councilwoman Williams.
Councilman and Real Estate Chair John Rubbo responded, telling Yonkers Rising, John Rubbo, “I am completely for additional affordable housing in the city. There is a desperate need for it. But we need to understand the economics of what we are passing, and I haven’t seen the economic impact of the ordinance in committee now.”
“Remember, all future affordable housing is on the backs of developers and market rate housing. If they decide they don’t want to build in Yonkers, then we don’t get affordable housing. That is my concern.
“The council is not an expert in the field, lets bring in the experts to help us write the best affordable housing ordinance in the country. Yonkers could be a model for the country. Until we do that I don’t feel comfortable passing anything.
“I’m afraid there will be a downturn in the economy, and if we double to required percentage of affordable housing from 10% to 20% it doesn’t double the number of affordable units, it risks all of it.
“We are putting out an RFP for a new study and I will commit that it will be done well before the election season. This should not be a political issue,” said Rubbo, who held a Real Estate Committee meeting this week.
After the meeting, Councilwoman Williams added. “We are finally getting to the heart of the issue and trying to find some consensus. We are now having meetings and discussions but only after my public comments and posts to the public.”
Currently, the council breakdown of votes for Affordable Housing are:
Three votes in favor of 20%: Councilwoman Williams, Councilwoman Tasha Diaz, and Council President Mike Khader. Majority Leader Corazon Pineda-Isaac has indicated a willingness to support a 15% AFO, which could be the compromise number that Mayor Spano may also be willing to support and sign into law. If Spano vetoes, then 5 council votes are required for passage.
Other parts of the AHO debate include using the Westchester AMI, (area median income) or the Yonkers AMI, to determine eligibility. Williams wants to use the Yonkers AMI. And finally, whether the revised AHO should require developers to build their affordable housing units as part of their projects, or be allowed to pay for affordable housing to be built elsewhere, is also part of the debate.
