Amendments to the rules in 2022 added consideration of certain health indicators by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene that are related to housing conditions as a factor to prioritize in the selection of buildings.
MITCHELL LAMA WAITING LIST 2016 CODE
HPD promulgated rules that set criteria for selection of buildings for the Underlying Conditions Program, requirements regarding owner compliance with the Underlying Conditions Order, issued in accordance with Administrative Code section 27-2091 and circumstances under which HPD may rescind an Underlying Conditions Order. Selection is based on the severity of violations and the number of dwelling units affected by the underlying condition. HPD selects approximately 50-100 buildings, per year, for participation in the Underlying Conditions Program. This is known as the Underlying Conditions Program. Subdivision c of Administrative Code section 27-2091, which was added by Local Law 6 of 2013, grants HPD the authority to issue an order to a building owner to correct any underlying condition existing in that building that has caused or is causing a violation of the Housing Maintenance Code, the New York State Multiple Dwelling Law, or any other state or local law that imposes requirements on dwellings. “Most of the issues raised in the report were resolved by the conclusion of the audit, and HPD has taken additional proactive measures to strengthen our processes.Proposed Rules for Underlying Conditions Rule Amendment “Mitchell-Lamas are a vital source of affordable housing for New Yorkers, and we’re pleased the audit revealed no instances where rules were violated,” Matthew Creegan, a spokesperson for the department, said in a statement.
HPD said in a statement that it has resolved most issues that were brought up in the audit and that it’s taking additional steps to improve the agency’s processes. Developments hold on to those fees while an applicant remains on a waiting list-unless the person withdraws their application or is denied-but it can take years, if not decades, before some actually snag an apartment.ĭiNapoli made several recommendations in the audit, including for HPD to guide managing agents to account for application fees, handle refunds, among other things. If you include lotteries going back to 1997, the developments are holding more than $340,000 in fees for 1,706 applicants, according to the audit. Property managers raked in more than $200,000 in fees from apartment hunters over those three separate years. There were 1,002 applications between the three buildings in 2013, 2016, and 2017 but just 23 residents were actually awarded apartments. The audit zeroed in on application fees at three Manhattan developments: Trinity House, a rental development on the Upper West Side Washington Square Southeast in Greenwich Village, a co-op and York Hill on the Upper East Side, another co-op. “Collecting fees with virtually no chance for an apartment gives applicants false hope and compromises the program’s integrity.”
“Mitchell Lama is too important a provider of affordable housing to be undermined by the problems we’ve found,” DiNapoli said. In a statement, DiNapoli said the audit points to “troubling flaws” with the city’s management of Mitchell-Lama developments. Hundreds of New Yorkers routinely compete for a handful of vacancies at a given complex, but that didn’t stop these developments from continuing to collect $200 application fees. The Mitchell-Lama program provides affordable housing to New Yorkers across the state in the five boroughs, 93 of those developments are presided over by the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), and include roughly 46,500 apartments. Investigators with the comptroller’s office found that “weak oversight” of Mitchell-Lama developments, along with property managers’ failure to return application fees, misled would-be tenants about their odds of landing an apartment and made fees susceptible to misuse. New Yorkers forked over hundreds of thousands in fees to get on affordable housing wait lists with practically no chance of actually scoring one of those coveted homes, according to an audit by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
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