Housing and Community Renewal, Division of

Agency Web Site: https://hcr.ny.gov/division-housing-and-community-renewal

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 $291.71 million for the Division. This is a decrease of $22.35 million from the 2011-12 Budget. The decrease primarily reflects the elimination of funding for the Neighborhood and Rural Preservation Programs and a reduction in excess Federal authority for the Small Cities Community Development Block Grant.

The Executive Budget recommends a workforce of 759 FTEs for the Division. This is an increase of 14 FTEs from the 2011-12 Budget. The increase reflects the additional staff needed to support the new Tenant Protection Unit in the Office of Rent Administration.

Major budget actions include:

Creation of a Tenant Protection Unit: The Tenant Protection Unit (TPU) originated with the passage of amendments to rent regulation and is intended to implement an aggressive tenant protection and landlord fraud investigation program. The TPU will be housed in the Office of Rent Administration, which administers rent control and rent stabilization laws and regulations and handles applications, complaints, and inquiries of tenants and owners of the more than one million regulated apartments. The new TPU will proactively enforce landlord obligations and impose strict penalties for failure to comply with New York’s rent laws.

Increase for State Low Income Housing Tax Credit: The Executive Budget recommends $8 million for the State Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program, an increase of $4 million from the 2011-12 Budget. This will result in $80 million in new funding for affordable housing over the next ten years.

Elimination of Funding for the Neighborhood and Rural Preservation Programs: The Executive Budget recommends eliminating funding for the Neighborhood Preservation Program (NPP) and the Rural Preservation Program (RPP) in order to preserve resources for other critical housing initiatives.

Increase for the Rural Rental Assistance Program: The Executive Budget recommends $19.6 million for the Rural Rental Assistance Program, an increase of $4.6 million to address the costs of federally approved rent increases in the rental subsidy program for approximately 4,700 low income occupants of rural housing projects financed by the Federal Department of Agriculture. This will allow the program to be maintained, and ensure that tenants are able to stay in their housing.

For more information on this agency's budget recommendations located in the Executive Budget Briefing Book, click on the following link:

Briefing Book – Human Services (PDF)

Note: Most recent estimates as of 1/17/2012

Click for additional detailed appropriation tables