For lack of heat, it doesn’t just feel like tenants’ complaints are going unanswered; in some cases, they actually are. My @citylimitsnews.bsky.social investigation on how a duplicate-tagging system shortchanges some tenants to maximize efficiency + what the mayor might do about it buff.ly/gpAKiTx

“their toddler daughter lost weight during their first month’s stay at a shelter hotel in Queens. “Our main concern was her nutrition—that she would grow and be strong,”” Important investigation into food at NYC shelters that isn’t nutritious enough for many shelter residents.

First look at this years income and expense data from the Rent Guidelines Board, which will shape debate on the “rent freeze” the mayor has called for

My intuition is this is really about buying more time for negotiations on the expensive expansion on a deadline, not the substance of the appeal. Compounding the awkwardness, Mamdani has to rely on arguments made by his predecessor in a case he said he'd drop.

The Mamdani admin was forced to appeal in the CityFHEPS case after they were unable to strike a deal on an expensive program expansion, the latest development in a long fight. in @citylimitsnews.bsky.social both sides say they expect negotiations on a compromise to continue. buff.ly/ut7mylq

It’s not great yall "Even before the recent cold spell, more than a million households across New York were two months or more behind on their energy bills, totaling $1.84 billion in debt, more than double what was owed before the pandemic, state lawmakers said in December. "

In @citylimitsnews.bsky.social: Joseph Jones says his landlord is retaliating against tenants with vouchers who spoke up about the prohibitively high cost of amenities in his building. After he did, they removed all the furniture from the lobby-the one place they could hang for free buff.ly/PBrdPGs

Crazy graph in today's piece on wild gas bills in NYC this winter in @citylimitsnews.bsky.social $340 average gas bill in February! buff.ly/tt69t1m

While high prices lock some New York City affordable housing tenants out of their luxury building’s amenities—like game rooms, gyms, co-working spaces, and lounges—some of their market-rate neighbors are getting the perks for free, @patrickspauster.com found: citylimits.org/while-afford...

Some market tenants in mixed-income buildings are getting amenity fees waived while lottery & voucher tenants say they are priced prohibitively high. My follow up on how amenity fees create income-segregated spaces, a new sort of "poor door" in @citylimitsnews.bsky.social buff.ly/PBrdPGs

Hit the streets & talked to homeless NYrs & advocates about the Mamdani admin's approach to homeless encampments, which it says centers outreach. Much skepticism remains--it's not outreach but having the right housing placement that makes a difference. w/@jeanmarieevelly.bsky.social buff.ly/4rMR3KI

The mayor spoke to tenants in the Bronx this week at the latest rental ripoff hearing. He made sure to strike a different tone w/ NYCHA residents who had been critical of the hearings' focus on private landlords. That and more housing news from the week @citylimitsnews.bsky.social buff.ly/TMXSXcJ

Mamdani wants to build Mitchell-Lama style aff hsg at Sunnyside. But the city's existing Mitchell-Lamas are in tough shape, a new report finds. Exactly how its governed is fraught, and tenants often pay the price of poor conditions. In @citylimitsnews.bsky.social buff.ly/PYbJ5An

Housing leaders are previewing city housing plan @thenyhc.bsky.social. It has 4 pillars: preservation, production, NYCHA, and tenant protection. On the last, HPD boss Dina Levy says small group of bad LL has been torturing tenants “it’s time we put professional slumlords out of business.”

NEW: the state Housing Access Voucher Program launched in NYC this week. But NYC housing is so expensive that the $32.5M from the pilot program will fund just ~1,000 vouchers. Housers want far more. Here's how you can apply if you're in shelter @citylimits.news.bsky.social -> buff.ly/rF72wPE

Morning read: Had a thoughtful convo with outgoing commish Molly Park abt making the Dept of Social Services into a housing agency, not just a safety net. Plus, her thoughts on new encampment sweeps and a path forward on CityFHEPS. @citylimitsnews.bsky.social 3 interesting things🧵 buff.ly/SA9xzDk

bad news for new yorkers with housing vouchers

Sunnyside yards back from the dead: “That plan was done in a kind of pre-abundance moment. I think the politics around new housing has shifted a lot in the last few years,” said Vishaan Chakrabarti. “The need has become even more acute.” @CityLimitsNews.bsky.social citylimits.org/the-future-o...

The first rental ripoff hearing in BK felt less like a hearing and more like a resource fair Tenants had 1on1s with city officials, agencies tabled, & tenants decried bad landlords. Some tenants from NYCHA felt left out My dispatch @CityLimitsNews w/ Adi Talwar 📸 citylimits.org/tenants-decr...

We have Atlantic Yards at home

I’m heading to Downtown Brooklyn to cover the first ever Rental Ripoffs hearing for @citylimitsnews.bsky.social . If you’re a tenant looking to talk about your housing, find me there! Or my DMs are open

Ultra-rich buyers are consolidating New York townhouse apartments into giant single-family homes. Some are buying two, even three adjacent townhomes to build a franken-house. Step inside a Manhattan mega-mansion, the latest status symbol in this second Gilded Age: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

Under the radar but important story: NYC is finally making progress on a promise to expand the number of supportive housing beds available to homeless people leaving jail--though its still behind what was promised in the agreement to close Rikers

Good piece on this fairly modest development that will provide 65 senior care units. It’s not clear why anyone who lives in New York City would oppose this other than due to some deep hatred of other people. citylimits.org/nycs-housing...

NEW: housing-averse CM Vickie Paladino voted to advance this project in Bayside-which she does not otherwise support-under threat of override from the city's new affordable housing appeals board. 1st project demonstrating power of last fall's housing ballot measures. Story TK ⤵️

Between storms, NYC 311 updated their website warming center and homeless outreach pages to direct people to call 911 (not 311) to report someone in a medical emergency. See the site on Feb 2nd (also a Code Blue) via the wayback machine and the site today.

A rent freeze you say? The Gov. wants to freeze rent for more senior and disabled NYers, and tenants + landlords agree(!) But why does the program have an abysmal uptake rate where just 40% of those eligible enroll? Enrollment is actually DOWN since '19 @citylimitsnews.bsky.social buff.ly/BEGY0cO

Move over, ULURP. It's faster, younger sibling ELURP is making its debut in the Bronx. On the ballot last fall, voters gave the city the authority to seek accelerated review for projects like this that dispose of city land for affordable housing. -> @citylimitsnews.bsky.social buff.ly/oVxDOWO

NEW: @mayor.nyc.gov @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social has his Rent Guidelines Board Mamdani is naming five new members and reappointing one other, reshaping a panel with the power to fulfill, or upend, his pledge to ‘Freeze the Rent’ for tenants in ~1M regulated apartments For @gothamist.com @wnyc.org

looks like Mamdani is gonna get his rent freeze this year after all. big news on the housing beat from @smaldo.bsky.social:

This has huge consequences for thousands of low-income Americans: In 2021, Congress allotted $5B to fund 70K 'Emergency Housing Vouchers' NYC got 7,500+, the most in the country Last March, the Trump admin alerted housing agencies that the money was about to expire — 5y earlier than expected...

"Just as one local agency arrived at a solution to plug the aid, another’s plan collapsed– leaving thousands of households in jeopardy... 'NYCHA no longer has the funding required to accomplish this transition'," important reporting from @davidfbrand.bsky.social buff.ly/gPxa1j9

Late to this @patrickspauster.com @citylimitsnews.bsky.social story, but it's excellent and maddening. Seems like NYC should just fix this with some new law! "At Bruckner House, residents say the divider between the rich and poor is not a doorperson, but a key fob."

Housing advocates were critical of Mamdani for not moving forward with expanding eligibility for the CityFHEPs housing voucher program, as he promised during the campaign. That and a more from a busy week in housing w/ @citylimitsnews.bsky.social-> buff.ly/rFHGDiU

Wow: Times is reporting that 7 people died from the cold in private residences during the cold snap. That's in addition to 18 that died outside I reported how the city received a record number of calls about no heat/hot water in apartment buildings last week. buff.ly/udRMIgX

NYC's new affordable housing is increasingly found in mixed-income bldgs But affordable hsg tenants tell me @citylimitsnews.bsky.social they can't use all of their buildings b/c of exorbitant amenity fees "My first thought was that it was making a two-tiered system" citylimits.org/the-new-poor...

After we published this story yesterday, @nychousing.bsky.social reinspected Nicole Gallan’s unit and issued violations for heat and a defective radiator. The landlord has yet to revolve several open heat and hot water violations throughout the building at 155 Linden blvd.

At a press conference this morning, Mayor Mamdani said that sea ice was preventing heating fuel from getting to the city by boat, which may contribute to the record number of heat complaints last week. Many buildings like 155 Linden, which I profile herein, have old oil boilers

Last month set a record with 80,000 311 calls about no heat. 30k came just last week As 16 new yorkers have died in the cold, thousands of tenants are wearing layers to sleep. Mamdani has pledged to fix a "broken" code inspections system My @citylimitsnews.bsky.social story:https://buff.ly/0rt1XhC

Last month set a record with 80,000 311 calls about no heat. 30k came just last week As 16 new yorkers have died in the cold, thousands of tenants are wearing layers to sleep. Mamdani has pledged to fix a "broken" code inspections system My @citylimitsnews.bsky.social story:https://buff.ly/0rt1XhC

January 2026 w/ Hayley Williams Jeff Buckley KeiyA Kinji Bricknasty open.spotify.com/playlist/2cc... music.apple.com/us/playlist/...

Inbox: Stanley Richards, who fought for the recently-revived Just Home housing project for formerly incarcerated folks is about to be named Department of Corrections Commissioner. Here's what he told me about the connection between housing and the justice system last year:

Hours before a man was found dead on a Midtown Manhattan sidewalk, a bldg super called the city for help Police say they drove by but didn’t see the man, who had an apartment a mile away More on how 1 person in crisis slipped through gaps in NYC’s social safety net gothamist.com/news/mans-de...

Amid the cold, New Yorkers have lodged 26,000 complaints about lack of heat or hot water, the most in a 7-day period since 2018, City Limits’ @patrickspauster.com found. He spoke to The Brian Lehrer Show this morning about what tenants can do: citylimits.org/listen-no-he...

On @wnyc.org this morning I spoke with Amina Srna about the record breaking week we are having for tenants reporting heat and hot water outages to 311 and how they can get help. Sometimes calling 311 doesn’t get it done. Here’s a few ways you can protect yourself: citylimits.org/no-heat-comp...

Asked about CHEPS costs, Mamdani says they asked for more time to work on a settlement in the CityFHEPS expansion case (which he previously said he'd drop). "We are looking to be honest and direct w/ Nyers" On if they'll expand eligibility for the program: "Those conversations are ongoing"

I’m going to be on @thebrianlehrershow.bsky.social @wnyc.org at 10:40 this morning to talk about how to get help if you don’t have heat in tour apartment during this cold spell in NYC. Tune in! 93.9 fm

Since I reported this story a week and a half ago, DCP leadership has reportedly: - met with urban design stakeholders to hear concerns - received letters of protest from DCP staff - is now being petitioned to reverse the restructuring With Garodnick stepping down, no new head planner named yet.

Interesting story from @davidfbrand.bsky.social: @bkbpreynoso is proactively releasing guidelines for what types of housing projects he might push through over local councilmember objection based on his comprehensive plan for the borough. buff.ly/MK0EEnc

Starting today, rent stabilized landlords in NYC are required to post notice that there are rent stabilized units in the building. It will look something like this: You can call DHCR at 718-264-3800 to get started finding out if your unit is stabilized.