Monday, March 9, 2026, 10:15 a.m. (New York City time), Committee Room - City Hall
Committee: Committee on Housing and Buildings
The Committee on Housing and Buildings held an oversight and legislative hearing on Intro 657, the Safer Homes Act, which would overhaul the Third Party Transfer (TPT) program for distressed buildings. Chair Pierina Ana Sanchez traced the history of in rem foreclosure since 1976 and argued the existing program's flaws required reform. HPD, Department of Finance, and DEP officials testified, presenting a proposed 'critical eligible'/balanced model for selecting the worst buildings, and flagged areas of the Council draft needing refinement, including notices, exemptions, and vacant lots. Council Member Epstein pressed the administration on tenant ownership guarantees and repeat enforcement failures. Numerous advocates, tenants, and organizational representatives testified in support of the bill, with some urging stronger community land trust prioritization, tenant ownership guarantees, and inclusion of vacant lots, while a few public commenters raised concerns about program administration and post-transfer oversight.
0:15 Committee room. Good morning
0:15 and welcome to today's New
0:16 York City Council hearing for
0:18 the committee on housing and
0:19 buildings at this time we ask
0:20 that you please silence all
0:22 electronic devices and at no
0:23 time are you to approach the
0:26 dais if you have any questions
0:27 or would like to sign up for
0:27 in person testimony, please
0:28 see one of the sergeant at
0:30 arms chair. Sanchez, we're
0:31 ready to begin
0:33 . Thank sergeants and thank
0:34 you again for your patients.
0:38 Everyone
0:39 . Now onto our oversight topic
0:41 for today before diving into
0:43 intro 6 57, the safer homes
0:46 act, a short reminder on how
0:48 we have the power of the nra
0:50 in New York City throughout
0:53 the 60s and 70s New York City
0:54 was gripped by economic
0:56 turmoil.
0:56 Spurred by widespread
0:59 disinvestment fiscal
0:59 mismanagement and ultimately a
1:01 financial and social crisis
1:02 gripped our City. That crisis
1:05 hit low income New yorkers and
1:05 New yorkers of color the
1:07 hardest as widespread
1:09 unemployment coincided with a
1:10 rapid deterioration of quality
1:13 of housing under the weight of
1:15 these economic circumstances
1:17 ,many property owners resorted
1:19 to widespread abandonment and
1:22 disinvestment live, leaving
1:23 tenants to languish in
1:23 buildings that lacked even
1:24 basic necessities of a
1:27 functioning apartment
1:28 . Catastrophic unit lost
1:29 cascaded across the City with
1:33 350000 private housing units
1:35 lost to abandonment and
1:36 disinvestment.
1:36 In the 60s and 70s by 19 7
1:42 53000 units per month. We're
1:42 being lost to abandonment in
1:46 our City.
1:47 As residents fled the City
1:48 in mass City government
1:49 confronted this economic
1:50 turmoil via local law 45 of 19
1:54 76, empowering the City to
1:56 foreclose on tax leans for the
1:59 first time, but this initial
1:59 iteration of the in
2:02 foreclosure program was flawe
2:03 d
2:03 . By 19 94, the City had taken
2:05 title to nearly 5500 buildings
2:09 totaling in 50000 units,
2:11 becoming one of the nation's
2:15 largest landlords yet the cost
2:15 of rehabilitating and
2:17 maintaining these properties
2:18 was astronomical for the City
2:20 about $2.2 million per
2:23 building then, which is close
2:26 to $5 million in today's
2:30 today's dollars, that
2:31 iteration of the in rem
2:32 foreclosure program was
2:33 untenable and so in 19 96, th
2:35 ecity created the third party
2:37 transfer program.
2:38 Or tbt, allowing the City to
2:40 continue for closing on the
2:41 properties in order to
2:43 forestall further
2:43 deterioration of the building
2:45 stock and encouraged tax
2:46 compliance throughout the cit
2:49 y, but with the property's
2:50 transferred to an interim
2:52 owner instead of the City
2:54 taking title since the program
2:55 was created in 96. There have
2:57 been 10 rounds, but the
2:58 program was put on hold in 20
3:02 19 after the round 10.
3:03 Transfers caused heightened
3:04 media brought heightened media
3:06 attention to the program and
3:09 ny called for reform, while
3:13 the third party transfer had
3:14 successes during its nearly 30
3:17 year history, its
3:18 administration was extremely
3:19 problematic as 20 19
3:21 exemplifies there were
3:22 disproportionate impacts to
3:23 communities of color and
3:25 instances of apparent missile
3:26 ministrations of the program,
3:27 with both leaving out or being
3:30 overly lenient on properties
3:31 that should have been included
3:32 in transfers and for closing
3:34 on properties that apparently
3:35 should not have gone through
3:38 the rounds
3:39 . But today we're in a place
3:40 where we have eight years
3:41 ,eight years have passed
3:42 without a version of this in
3:44 rockport port closure being
3:47 used on distressed properties
3:48 and this has left enforcement
3:53 apparatus hamstrung. Today
3:53 there's nearly 10000 buildings
3:55 containing roughly 11500
3:58 0apartments that meat
3:59 indicators of severe distres
4:01 smany of these owners own
4:03 significant. Oh, significan
4:04 tsums in unpaid municipal
4:06 charges and according to the
4:07 mayor's management report
4:09 nearly 900000 serious
4:11 violations were issued in 2
4:13 4alone, which is a 40% increas
4:16 efrom fiscal year 20 21
4:19 emergency repair interventions
4:20 have more than doubled in the
4:23 last year
4:24 , and the most important part
4:25 of all of this is that behind
4:26 these statistics are real
4:28 people like 22 1 davidson
4:30 emaintenance code violations
4:34 and $23 million of municipal
4:38 rears hundred 5 and 7 0 9,
4:40 west hundred 70 street where
4:41 there were.
4:41 700 Open by and $500000 owed
4:47 to the City that owner has
4:47 been arrested twice, but those
4:49 tenants continue to languis
4:53 hfamilies are living with
4:54 collapsed ceilings, mold, lead
4:56 paint berman infestations
4:57 failing at elevators and
5:00 unsafe building systems and
5:00 . I want to be clear that to
5:03 us as council members.
5:04 These living conditions are
5:08 unacceptable and we I
5:10 certainly I'm tired of touring
5:11 building after building where
5:13 tenants are living in these
5:15 inhumane conditions to tha
5:17 tend today we renew the
5:19 conversation on how to r
5:20 eimagine the third party
5:22 transfer program
5:23 . A conversation started in 2
5:25 019 continued by the tea
5:27 working group and through
5:29 multiple council hearings and
5:31 . Roundtable discussions over
5:32 the past several years. Intro
5:35 number 6 57, now known as a
5:37 safer homes act overhauls the
5:40 problematic third party
5:41 transfer program to use the
5:42 city's power of pro closure in
5:44 a manner.
5:45 That targets the worst of
5:46 the worst buildings in our
5:47 City while protecting and
5:51 expanding homeownership
5:52 opportunities. The old program
5:53 included a block pickup
5:54 provision where if one
5:55 property on a block qualified
5:56 for the program they were all
5:59 foreclosed
6:00 . The New program eliminate
6:02 this disastrous provision. The
6:03 old program was found t
6:04 oinclude buildings not in
6:06 distress at 20 19 council
6:07 audit revealed that over 50%
6:10 of properties selected in the
6:11 the tenth of third party
6:13 transfer were not distressed.
6:17 Now the New program will
6:18 only pick up the worst of the
6:19 worst through an indexing
6:21 system, the old program had
6:24 tenants claiming that there
6:25 was no outreach until after
6:27 the lawsuit
6:28 . After the transfer,
6:29 resulting in many lawsuits,
6:31 the New program will have more
6:32 stringent requirements so that
6:33 all parties, including
6:35 shareholders within a
6:36 cooperative building and
6:37 tenants are notified of their
6:40 rights. The old program
6:41 resulted in racial
6:42 concentration of transfers
6:44 just 50% of round around 1
6:46 0properties were in 11
6:49 community districts low t
6:50 omoderate income communities of
6:52 color out of a hundred 9
6:52 5neighborhoods in our City, the
6:56 New program has more rigorous
6:58 outreach requirements and
6:59 supports for owner occupied
7:01 properties, creating off
7:02 . Ramps that will be helpful
7:06 for this problem, the old
7:07 program attacked homeownership
7:08 with an overrepresentation in
7:10 particular of owner occupied
7:12 homes and housing development
7:14 fund corporation co operatives
7:16 . The New program will create
7:16 New opportunities for resident
7:19 ownership, including a process
7:20 that allows interested
7:21 residents to partner with
7:23 qualified third parties to
7:24 submit an application for
7:27 ownership, including former
7:28 that wants to reconstitute.
7:31 And finally the old program
7:32 did not require repairs in
7:33 order to exit the program,
7:34 only a payment or a payment,
7:36 but the New program will
7:38 require corrective action
7:39 plans with evidence that work
7:44 is happening. I want to thank
7:45 all of the advocates who
7:46 engaged with us on this bill
7:47 draft and have provided
7:48 thoughtful feedback on this
7:51 program this introduced bill
7:52 will continue to be tweaked
7:54 and finalized until it is the
7:56 best version that we can get
7:57 and I invite members of the
7:59 public to please testify today
8:00 or submit testimony within the
8:02 next 72 hours for the next for
8:04 the official record, thanks
8:10 also to the members of the
8:10 public who have taken time out
8:11 of their data join us. I'm
8:12 looking forward to engaging,
8:13 and I'd like to take this
8:15 opportunity to thank my team
8:16 ,chief of staff maria in
8:19 particular deputy chiefs of
8:20 staff ben ratner and concussed
8:21 . Ayanna knows who put so much
8:23 sweat and equity and work into
8:26 this hearing today, gerard for
8:28 De campos, maria jose raise
8:31 random monies and stephanie
8:31 cuzzi. I'd also like to thank
8:33 the housing and buildings
8:34 committee staff, senior
8:35 legislative council awesome
8:36 alone, legislative counsel
8:39 william ec policy analyst
8:42 policy analyst erik spencer of
8:43 finance analyst carla serrano
8:45 and data scientists research
8:47 rhoda noah's last berg and
8:48 mohammed she she did. We
8:52 called the rolls, so we know
8:53 that all the council members
8:54 are here, so I'll now through
8:55 turn it over to our committee
8:57 counsel to administer the oath
9:01 if you're here to represent
9:01 the administration and you've
9:03 signed a testimony slip, but
9:04 you're not currently at the
9:05 dais just please also raise
9:06 your right hand will do it all
9:07 in one go. So please raise
9:09 your right hand. Do you affirm
9:12 to tell the truth, the whole
9:12 truth and nothing but the
9:13 truth and santa all council
9:15 questions honestly. Thank you.
9:23 Good morning. Good morning. Do
9:24 we want to pull the decca.
9:27 What does hang on the title
9:28 page for a moment. Why read
9:45 the testimony
9:45 . Should be up in just a
9:46 moment. Okay. Good morning
9:48 chair, Sanchez and members of
9:49 the New York City Council
9:51 committee on housing and
9:52 buildings. My name is Rosa
9:53 kelly, chief of staff to the
9:55 commissioner at the New York
9:56 City department of housing
9:57 preservation and development.
10:00 I am joined today by my
10:01 colleagues, lucy joffee,
10:02 deputy commissioner for policy
10:04 and strategy, and maria
10:05 santiago, deputy commissioner
10:07 for enforcement and
10:07 neighborhood strategies and
10:09 carry rabat's associate
10:10 commissioner for preservation,
10:11 finance and portfolio
10:14 management. We're also joined
10:14 by colleagues from the
10:15 department of finance and the
10:16 department of environmental
10:17 protection. Thank you so much
10:19 for the opportunity to testify
10:21 regarding intro 6 57 propose
10:23 dlegislation to modernize the
10:25 third party transfer program,
10:28 the third party transfe
10:29 rprogram was created by the
10:30 council in 19 96 to respond t
10:33 oa critically distressed subset
10:34 of residential buildings
10:37 experiencing prolonged, unpaid
10:39 municipal debt alongside
10:41 deteriorating conditions.
10:42 Years of unpaid property taxes
10:44 , water and sewer charges and
10:46 other municipal charges often
10:48 signal deep financial distress
10:49 that can lead to worsening
10:50 conditions for tenants
10:54 addressing these conditions is
10:55 of utmost importance to the
10:56 City. In addition to the tax
10:58 enforcement functions of cpt
11:00 carried out alongside the
11:01 department of finance and the
11:02 department of environmental
11:05 protection views. The program
11:06 is a key part of our broader
11:08 enforcement and preservation
11:09 toolkit to ensure that housing
11:10 remains safe and livable for
11:14 New yorkers broader work t
11:14 oensure housing quality and
11:16 preservation often begins with
11:17 the office of enforcement and
11:19 neighborhood services or who
11:21 work day in and day out to
11:23 protect the health and safety
11:24 of tenants by enforcing the
11:26 housing maintenance code
11:28 promoting compliance and
11:29 preserving the quality of the
11:29 received almost 569000 housing
11:40 maintenance code complaints
11:41 issued nearly 46000
11:43 0violations to property owners
11:46 and cleared over 408000
11:49 violations we have
11:50 strengthened accountabilit
11:51 ythrough initiatives like the
11:52 launch of the secon
11:54 dcertification watch list an
11:56 enhanced enforcement program
11:57 designed to combat violations
11:59 that are falsely certified is
12:01 correct by corrected by
12:04 property owners. We have also
12:04 taken decisive legal action t
12:07 oensure owner accountability
12:08 ,including announcing a $2.
12:12 1Million settlement against
12:13 violations of housing
12:15 standards at the same tim
12:16 ethrough the administration's
12:17 rental rip off hearings and
12:20 ongoing engagement, we will be
12:22 creating more opportunities
12:23 for tenants to provide direct
12:25 feedback on our code
12:27 enforcement process, ensuring
12:28 that lived experience informs
12:31 enforcement strategies and our
12:34 housing policy works across
12:35 multiple offices to support
12:37 the quality and affordability
12:38 of existing housing through
12:39 office of neighborhoods,
12:41 strategies programs like the
12:43 partners in preservation
12:44 initiatives support tenant
12:45 organizers to stabilize
12:49 distressed buildings
12:49 strengthened tenant
12:50 associations and help
12:50 residents remain in their
12:52 homes. These efforts worked
12:53 alongside the office of
12:54 developments. Various loan and
12:57 property tax incentive
12:58 programs, which support owners
13:00 to make investments in housing
13:02 quality while keeping a
13:02 housing for current and future
13:06 residents. This work is
13:06 critical to mission and forms
13:08 the backbone of our approach
13:10 to ensuring housing quality
13:12 taken together enforcement
13:14 preservation and financing
13:15 framework supports the broader
13:17 housing stock. However, there
13:19 are a small number of
13:20 buildings.
13:21 Where years of unpaid
13:22 municipal debt and persistent
13:24 hazardous housing conditions
13:25 indicate a deeper level of
13:29 distress that cannot be
13:29 resolved through standard
13:30 enforcentem or preservation
13:31 tools alone, while the vast
13:32 majority of housing is in good
13:34 condition there a a small
13:35 number of properties that face
13:37 financial and physical issue
13:39 swe go to slide to please think
13:55 someone with a pie chart
13:58 , thank you. Slide to shows
13:59 that there are about 770000
14:01 class one and class to
14:04 residential properties,