紐時賞析／紐約陷住房危機...計畫在富人區建混合收入住宅

纽约街景示意图，图片来源／Ingimage。

New York City Aims to Build Low-Rent Units In Rich Areas

应对住房危机 纽约市计划在富人区建合宜住宅

New York City officials put forward a plan to direct public money toward mixed-income housing projects in wealthier neighborhoods — a proposal aimed at addressing the affordable housing shortage and spurring development after a lucrative property tax exemption lapsed last year.

纽约市官员提出一项计划，将公共资金用在较富裕的区域兴建混合收入住宅，这个提议旨在处理合宜住宅短缺问题，并在一项有利可图的财产税豁免于去年失效后促进发展。

Currently, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development uses city money to subsidize developments containing only affordable homes. But under the new plan, officials would make money available to projects that have a combination of affordable and market-rate homes.

目前住房保护和开发局使用纽约市补贴的房屋开发只限合宜住宅。但新计划下官员将提供资金给合宜住宅和市价住房结合开发项目。

The hope is that developers, who can no longer benefit from the property tax break, will produce more affordable units using the income from high-rent, market-rate apartments to supplement the city financing. Those units would also be in neighborhoods where affordable homes have traditionally not been built.

他们希望无法再因财产税豁免而获益的开发商，能利用从高租金、市价公寓赚来的收入，建造更多合宜住宅，补充纽约市资金。这些住房也会位于传统上没有兴建合宜住宅的地区。

The proposal is an acknowledgment from the city that its traditional affordable housing tools have hit a wall.

这项提议等同纽约市承认其传统合宜住宅工具碰壁。

A contentious New York state tax exemption known as 421a, introduced in 1971 but relied on by developers in nearly every big residential project in recent decades, expired last spring amid pushback from progressive lawmakers, who criticized it as a giveaway to the real estate industry. Even the industry’s lobbying group, the Real Estate Board of New York, conceded that the program no longer matched the city’s housing needs, but it is uncertain if or when a replacement program will be passed. And a separate federal program driven by tax-exempt bonds has been stretched to its limit, city officials said.

有争议的纽约市税务豁免又被称为421a，在1971年推出，开发商近数十年来几乎所有大型住宅专案都仰赖该政策。但在进步派议员反对下，该政策去年春季结束，他们批评这项政策对房地产业而言是个赠品。连该产业游说团体「纽约房地产董事会」也承认，这项计划不再符合纽约市住房需求，但尚不确定替代计划何时会通过。纽约市官员表示，由免税债券推动的个别联邦计划也已达到极限。

The agency, which could implement the proposal without additional legislation, will first seek input from developers through February to see where and how it might be deployed.

住房局无须透过额外立法就能实施这项计划，他们将在2月先征求开发商意见，观察专案可能进行的地点和方式。

Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller, said he supported the goals of the scheme , and he believed the Housing Department had a “long history” of calculating the level of subsidies needed to get the right mix of affordability in individual developments.

纽约市主计长兰德表示，他支持这些计划的目标，他并认为住房局「长期以来」都善于计算所需补助水平，让个别开发案可负担性获得正确组合。

“We need more housing at all income levels with a focus on affordability and with a focus on generating affordable units in high-opportunity neighborhoods,” he said. “This sounds like a potentially useful new tool to help make that happen.”

他说：「我们需要更多各类收入水平住房，关注负担能力，并关注在经济状况良好的高机会区域建造合宜住宅。这听来是个可能有用的新工具，能帮助我们让这些事成真。」

文／Mihir Zaveri 译／罗方妤