Cuomo: Time to Alter 421-a is Running Out

ALBANY—Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters yesterday that the controversial 421-a tax break will likely be extended temporarily, despite intense lobbying by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to convince state lawmakers to enact provisions that would force developers that receive it to build affordable housing.

(For an in-depth discussion on the 421-a program, click here to read the June The Full Nelson column from Cushman & Wakefield's James Nelson.)

Gov. Cuomo says that Mayor de Blasio's plan has not mustered sufficient support in the State Legislature, which is scheduled to conclude its legislative session on June 17. The governor says he expects state lawmakers will enact a temporary extension of 421-a in its current form.

“The mayor put forth a plan. That plan had issues and didn't have the political support to pass,” Cuomo says. The governor adds that changes to the law would not be rushed because it's a “complicated beast,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

Mayor de Blasio's proposed changes to 421-a would include requiring developers that receive the tax break to build affordable housing. The plan also calls for increasing the mansion tax on the city's more expensive homes. Proceeds from the mansion tax would go toward funding the mayor's ambitious affordable housing development plans.

With the clock running out on a possible deal to include his proposed changes to 421-a, Mayor de Blasio says, “We gave all of the different elements in Albany plenty of notice of the vision. Obviously, it had a lot of support. So I've never bought into the notion there wasn't time to get to the larger plan.” See story in the Wall Street Journal.