Housing and Community Renewal, Division of

Note: Most recent estimates as of 12/16/08.

Mission

The Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) is responsible for the supervision, maintenance and development of affordable low- and moderate-income housing in New York State. The Division currently performs a number of activities in fulfillment of this mission, including:

• Oversight and regulation of the State’s public and publicly assisted rental housing;

• Administration of the State’s rent regulations; and

• Administration of housing development and community preservation programs, including State and Federal grants and loans to housing developers to finance construction or renovation of affordable housing.

Budget Highlights

The Executive Budget recommends $374.5 million All Funds ($68.8 million General Fund; $305.7 million Other Funds) for the Division of Housing and Community Renewal. This is a decrease of $61.7 million ($26 million decrease for General Fund; $35.7 million decrease for Other Funds) from the 2008-09 budget. This net change primarily reflects the elimination of one-time capital funding, an anticipated increase of Federal Weatherization funds, and various program reductions. The Executive Budget recommends a staffing level of 923 FTEs for the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, a 17 position reduction from the 2008-09 budget.

Major budget actions include:

• Reduce Neighborhood Preservation and Rural Preservation Program Funding: The 2009-10 budget recommends funding of $11.7 million for these programs, an $8.5 million decrease from the $20.2 million originally enacted for these programs in 2008-09. This reduction includes recurring savings of $623,400 enacted during the August Special Session. These programs provide funding to 222 not for profit community based housing corporations that provide housing related services across the state.

• Close Rent Administration Offices: DHCR’s Office of Rent Administration operates five offices in New York City (Brooklyn, Staten Island, Queens and two in Manhattan) and three in Nassau (Hempstead), Rockland (Spring Valley) and Westchester (White Plains) counties. The increased use of automation in processing complaints and rent increase applications has significantly reduced customer traffic at these offices and it is no longer efficient to operate all eight offices. The Executive Budget proposes to save $450,000 by closing the Nassau, Rockland and Staten Island offices. Legislation is required to close the offices and is submitted as part of the Executive Budget. This proposal includes the elimination of seven positions.

• Reduce Rural Rental Assistance Program (RRAP): RRAP provides rental subsidies to landlords for housing projects financed with mortgages from the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Housing Services "515 Program". RRAP serves projects that provide housing for the elderly and low income populations of Upstate New York. In addition to $696,000 in recurring savings enacted during the August Special Session, the Executive Budget proposes to achieve $2 million of savings by: eliminating subsidies for 75 new units scheduled to come on line in 2009-10; reducing subsidies for existing units to reflect a lowering of the capital reserves landlords are required to maintain; and, transferring 394 units scheduled to expire from the program to Federal HUD (Housing and Urban Development) Housing Choice Vouchers. These actions will not impact individuals currently being served by this program.

• Various Operational Efficiencies: Consistent with administrative actions taken by other agencies in 2008-09, DHCR reduced its operational costs by 10.35 percent. These actions generate recurring savings of $3.3 million that are reflected in the 2009-10 Executive Budget. Additional operational efficiencies recommended in the Executive Budget include shifting $3 million of General Fund costs to other funds and $500,000 savings from attrition during 2009-10.

• State Low Income Housing Tax Credit: The 2009 10 budget recommends $4 million for the State Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program which will result in nearly $40 million in new funding for affordable housing over the next ten years.

The Division’s fee revenues come from the following sources: 1) mortgage servicing fees; 2) application and monitoring fees collected from developers of housing projects that are partially financed by Federal low income tax credits; 3) payments by New York City to finance a portion of the Division’s rent regulation activities; and 4) fees collected from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in connection with State administration of the Federal Section 8 rental subsidy program.

2009-10 Executive Budget — Agency Presentation
Housing and Community Renewal, Division of (PDF)