Still No Deal on Key Affordable Housing Tax Break
Real estate developers and union representatives failed to reach an agreement Friday over the key tax break known as 421A.
To get the tax break, developers are required to set aside some new units as affordable housing. But the two sides couldn't agree on wages for construction workers building new developments.
Yet 421AÂ is an important part of City Hall's plan to build 80,000 units of affordable housing, and without the tax break, developers say there will fewer of those units.
Erik Engquist, assistant managing editor at Crain's New York Business, said it's likely the state legislature will intervene.
"The legislature will get together and they will say, you know what, we've had this tax break in one form or another since the 70s, and we would like it to continue because we don't think there's going to be much rental housing built, and certainly not very much affordable rental housing built in the city, if we don't give some tax breaks for it," he said.
That, he said, will force the unions and developers back to the bargaining table to figure out a new deal.
In this interview, WNYC's Jami Floyd talks with Engquist about what the failure to reach a deal will mean for the mayor's affordable housing plan.
