Increase the bonding authority of the New York city housing development corporation from $10,250,000,000 to $11,250,000,000

BILL NUMBER:S5082

Title of bill

An act to amend the private housing finance law, in relation to increasing the bonding authority of the New York City housing development corporation

Purpose or general idea of bill

To amend the private housing finance law to allow the NYC Housing Development Corporation to increase the maximum aggregate principal amount of outstanding notes and bonds from $10.25 to $11.25 billion.

Summary of specific provisions

The Act amends section 656 of the private housing finance law to increase the bond cap of the NYC Housing Development Corporation (HDC) by $1 billion.

Justification

By the end of December 2012, HDC had approximately $9.1 billion of bonds sold or outstanding, leaving the City with slightly more than $1 billion dollars of unused bonding authority. HDC expects to issue approximately $500 million in bonds supported by Federal funds to finance capital improvements for the New York City Housing Authority in July. In addition, HDC has previously agreed to finance multi-year projects totaling an additional $200 million. Since January 1, 2005, HDC has issued in excess of $ 6.5 billion in bonds to finance the construction or preservation of some 40,000 apartments throughout the City and the preservation of some 29,650 additional Mitchell-Lama apartments. Separately, HDC has issued in excess of $814 million in Liberty Bonds to finance the construction or conversion from non-residential use of approximately 3,500 units in lower Manhattan since 2003.

Between 2012 and 2014, in the aggregate, HDC has been the largest issuer of affordable multi-family bonds in the United States and has been instrumental in the financing of the Mayor's "New Housing Marketplace Initiative". As of January 1, 2013, HDC has financed the construction of or preservation of 70,000 affordable apartments, far surpassing their original 5 year goal under the Mayor's expanded "New Housing Marketplace Plan". HDC financing for the plan has been through three programs which include the Low- Income Affordable Marketplace Program,(LAMP) which is targeted to for low income people making less than 600 of AMI. The New Housing Opportunities Program (New HOP) which is targeted to middle income wage earners up to 175% of AMI, and the Mitchell-Lama restructuring program.

HDC has also initiated other programs such as the utilization of federal authority and taxable bonds to recycle tax exempt bonds.

This expansion of bonding capacity will allow HDC to continue to run programs that develop and maintain affordable housing in New York City.

Prior legislative history

This is a new bill.

Fiscal implications for state and local governments

None.

Effective date

Immediately.