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CityAndStateNY.com
July 18, 2022
BECOMING A CONV
I
N NEW YORK CITY, where the related crises of affordable housing and homelessness are a constant battle, there’s been a flurry of headlines about new steps that could hasten the conversion of failing hotels into permanent affordable housing. In Albany last month, lawmakers doubled funding for the effort up to $200 million. Additionally, Gov. Kathy Hochul penned legislation clearing some red tape to make it simpler and swifter for nonprofit developers to repurpose hotels into affordable housing – not just in the city but statewide. “As New York’s housing crisis continues to impact families, we’re taking bold action, embracing innovative ideas and thinking outside the box to help ensure that New
Yorkers can access safe, livable and quality affordable housing,” Hochul said during the signing of the hotel conversion legislation. “This new law allows us to tackle the affordability crisis head-on and convert empty, underutilized spaces into homes.” The cash infusion and red tape snips – primarily one that allows hotels to skip the onerous process of getting a new certificate of occupancy before starting a conversion – were meant to address the fact that, since the state allotted $100 million for the effort a year ago, under a bill called the Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity Act, not one conversion has taken place. But the new money and tweaks may still not be enough to push the effort forward because there are so many other barriers.
One issue in last year’s bill was for hotels that could be converted to permanent housing, the union for the hotel workers – usually the Hotel Trades Council – must approve of the conversion. “And the union is not going to allow the conversion of any unionized hotels because they want to keep those hotels open to keep jobs for their union members,” said Charles King, CEO of the nonprofit Housing Works, which develops both permanent affordable and temporary shelter housing. The majority of Manhattan hotels are unionized, likely nixing the chances of them becoming conversions, said King – especially now, as tourism starts to rebound and visitors usually prefer to stay in Manhattan.
MASS DESIGN
RUPCO bought this Quality Inn in Kingston last year and plans to turn it into 100 units of supportive housing.
