This from Atlantic Yards Report:

Spitzer on AY
Spitzer’s campaign told The Real Deal
that Spitzer seeks more transparency for the Atlantic Yards project,
which is proceeding under the auspices of the ESDC. What that would
mean exactly is unclear.

Note that Spitzer recently declared
that the most recent eight percent cut in the Atlantic Yards project
was "appropriate" and sufficient. It seemed clear he had little idea
that the project would be as large as initially proposed.

Support for housing

Spitzer’s housing policy suggests new roles for the state, which has lagged behind New York City in supporting affordable housing. Advocates want the state to commit much more.

Some excerpts:
We
must increase the supply of affordable homes by using three tools that
New York State has: land, capital and increased densities where
appropriate. First, we must increase the amount of land
available for affordable housing. To increase supply, we should take
inventory of all public land to determine where building affordable
housing might be appropriate, revise the state’s Brownfields laws to
make it easier to build housing and create a "New York Affordable
Housing Land Trust Program"…

Second, we must improve access
to capital for homeowners and builders. We need to better leverage
current state and federal housing resources and permit the state’s
housing agencies to use more of their resources for the development of
affordable homes. We should also work with the State Comptroller’s
Office to expand its existing efforts to use a small portion of New
York State’s pension funds as a source of capital for affordable
homes…
 
Finally, we should partner with local communities to
encourage reform of zoning laws and permitting and approval processes
to allow for higher densities of residential housing and make it easier
for sites to become buildable.

Preserve existing affordable housing stock. New
York State’s affordable housing stock is a precious resource, yet we
continue to lose affordable units for a variety of reasons. We must
review rent regulations, when appropriate, encourage owners to
rehabilitate and maintain our existing affordable housing and develop a
strategy of how best to preserve the affordability of housing built
under subsidy programs that are soon to expire.

Better administration, better planning and better leadership.
Achieving the efficient production of affordable homes requires
consolidating the state’s housing efforts to eliminate administrative
bureaucracy and inefficient regulations, appointing effective leaders
to head our housing agencies and engaging in planning that integrates
all levels of government more than simply the housing agencies and
their programs.

A few billion dollars here, a few billion
dollars there. That could add up to some significant changes, and
remind people that the Atlantic Yards project would hardly be the only
source for affordable housing.

T