Some folks on X refer to Brad Lander, the city comptroller and mayoral candidate, as “Brad Pander.” There’s even a parody account by that name. To me, that seemed unfair, because other politicians pander more than Lander.
I might have to reconsider. On Thursday, Lander said in a “Bronx Talk” interview:
“One way to look at it is the median rent for an existing family in the Bronx [is] $1,400. The asking rent for the average unit in the Bronx is now over $3,000. So if you just produce new units, and those units are $3,000, $3,100, $3,200, that’s not for someone from the Bronx. And it’s even worse than that because that’s why people are getting pushed out of their existing buildings.”
When Lander’s office tweeted a paraphrase of his quote, the Atlantic’s respected housing writer, Jerusalem Demsas, replied with three “woozy face” emojis. Then she commented, “The more I think about this the angrier I get. Stop lying to people about how the world works.”
Demsas added, “This guy is running for mayor of NYC! This is insane!”
What drew her ire was Lander’s claim that building housing causes people to be pushed out of their own apartments. It is perhaps the housing crisis’ most damaging myth.
Studies have consistently shown it is untrue, but it is even more obviously untrue in the Bronx, where the vast majority of rental units are rent-stabilized. Those tenants are guaranteed lease renewals as long as they keep paying their (low) rent.
They can only benefit from $3,000-a-month units being built around them, reducing the concentration of poverty and drawing new retail, restaurants and amenities to the neighborhood. I have known Lander for 20-plus years, since he ran the Fifth Avenue Committee in Park Slope, and thought he understood this.
But Lander actually amplified two myths in his quote, the second being that no one in the Bronx wants and can afford a $3,000 apartment. Clearly he hasn’t spent much time with Majora Carter. (Watch my interview with her here.)
Lander’s office deleted his tweet, but I reposted his exact quote from the interview. Accountability, you know?
The candidate went on to say that the Bronx needs rezonings like the one he did in Gowanus, which was projected to yield 8,000 units including 3,000 affordable. Local residents are not assured of winning the housing lotteries for the affordable units, so if what Lander said were true, the market-rate units he allowed would cause them to be “pushed out of their existing buildings.”
Fortunately, it is not true. Any politician who says otherwise is … pandering.
What we’re thinking about: When congressional Republicans and the Trump administration craft a replacement for the expiring Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, will the cap on state and local tax deductions be raised just enough for Rep. Mike Lawler to keep his pledge not to vote for a tax bill that doesn’t lift the cap — but won’t actually lift it enough to be worth more than the standard deduction? Send your thoughts to eengquist@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: A recent Brookings Institute report ranks the New York State Department of Transportation second-worst out of 50 state transportation agencies based on long-term planning, project selection, local collaboration and public involvement. Only Alabama’s was worse.
Elsewhere…
CityFHEPS voucher holders are predominately renting in certain Bronx and Southeast Brooklyn neighborhoods, City Limits reports.
This is largely explained by the economics of housing: Those are the areas with units that reap higher (and more consistent) rent payments from voucher holders than from free-market renters.
Elsewhere in the city, free-market units rent for so much more than vouchers are worth that voucher holders cannot afford them — and rent-stabilized units rent for so much less that vouchers’ full value cannot be used, and the units rarely become available anyway. Voucher holders have a limited time window to find an apartment before the subsidy expires.
Closing time
Residential: The priciest residential sale Thursday was $8 million for a 3,436-square-foot, sponsor-sale condominium at 35 Hudson Yards. Richard Hottinger of the Corcoran Group had the listing.
Commercial: The most expensive commercial closing of the day was $14.1 million for a 38,700-square-foot, 29-unit apartment building at 529 East 85th Street in Yorkville.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $35 million for a 7,373-square-foot townhouse at 34 West 12th Street in Greenwich Village. The Stein Team at Sotheby’s International Realty has the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building application filed was for a 20,716-square-foot, eight-story, 29-unit residential building at 1619 Undercliff Avenue in Morris Heights. Nikolai Katz of Nikolai Katz Architect filed the permit on behalf of SG NY Capital.
— Matthew Elo