Menin Insurance Plan Flops with Mamdani Admininstration

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Hi there, let’s get into today’s news at the intersection of policy and real estate:

• Council Speaker Julie Menin wants to rein in premiums hammering affordable housing operators. The Mamdani administration is not on board with her approach.
• Carl Wilson’s presumptive win for a coveted Council seat is good news for real estate.
• The State Legislature passed a bill requiring agencies to tell complainants what came of a building violation tip. Now it heads to the governor. 

In this edition we mention: City Council Speaker Julie Menin, Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Commissioner Samuel Levine, Carl Wilson, Lindsey Boylan and others.

We Heard

• Insurance squabble: City Council Speaker Julie Menin is pitching a new Office of Insurance Accountability to shine a light on the city’s opaque insurance market — and rein in premiums hammering affordable housing operators. At a Wednesday rally, Menin framed the bill as a way to scrutinize rising costs and push policies to ease pressure on the sector. “We’ve heard time and time again that one of the biggest obstacles to building more affordable housing are these rising insurance costs,” she said. The proposed office would also include a consumer unit to help resolve insurance disputes. Among the bill’s backers is the New York Housing Conference; its Executive Director Rachel Fee argued that it could “help stabilize insurance markets and reduce one of the fastest-growing cost pressures in housing.” The Mamdani administration isn’t sold. Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Commissioner Samuel Levine told lawmakers during a committee hearing that the office could amount to little more than “a middle man” between consumers and the state’s Department of Financial Services, which regulates the industry in New York. “If I were advising my own friends and family, I’d still send them to DFS,” Levine said, noting the agency has the authority to claw back cash for consumers. He added that he’s open to working with the Council to develop the bill. Earlier this month, the Mamdani administration put forward its own effort to shrink housing insurance costs: a plan to stand up a publicly-backed insurance option aimed at rent-stabilized and affordable housing, but details for the proposal are scant and it got a lukewarm reception from the industry.
• Closely watched race: Carl Wilson declared victory Tuesday in a special election for a City Council seat covering the West Village, Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen — a win for real estate interests. His opponent, Lindsey Boylan, a new member of the Democratic Socialists of America, backed policies landlords oppose, including COPA, a vacancy tax on warehoused rent-stabilized units and prioritizing nonprofits over for-profit developers for housing on public land. Wilson, by contrast, campaigned on boosting housing supply across income levels, accelerating office-to-residential conversions and pointed to his work on the Midtown South Mixed-Use Plan while serving as former City Council member Erik Bottcher’s chief of staff. “Carl’s victory is a strong sign we’re in a new era of housing politics,” said Bottcher. “He stayed clear and consistent on the need for more housing and won decisively.” Boylan had the backing of Mayor Zohran Mamdami, making the race a proxy fight between the mayor and many members of Manhattan’s Democratic establishment — including Council Speaker Menin, Comptroller Mark Levine and Rep. Jerry Nadler — who lined up behind Wilson. Boylan’s loss means the mayor will have one fewer ally in the Council to help advance his agenda. The results won’t be official until next week, but Boylan conceded Tuesday night. A rematch could possibly unfold during June’s Democratic primary, which will decide who holds the seat from 2027 to 2029.
• Staying in the loop: Complainants are often left in the dark after flagging building issues, forced to navigate clunky portals to see if anything came of their tip. A bill from State Sen. James Skoufis and Assembly member Jen Lunsford aims to change that, requiring agencies to notify filers if a violation was issued, what corrective action was ordered and the timeline for fixes. The measure has passed in both the Senate and Assembly and now awaits review by Gov. Kathy Hochul. There’s a catch: it applies only to municipalities enforcing the state’s uniform building code, leaving out New York City, where agencies enforce city-specific code. DOB and HPD confirmed to The Real Deal that the bill would not apply to them. It would apply virtually everywhere else in the state. With the Legislature in session, Hochul has 10 days to sign, veto or let the bill become law without her signature.

Have a tip or feedback? Reach me at caroline.spivack@therealdeal.com. 

Bill Tracker

The Catch-Up

The U.S. Senate’s attempt to kill build-to-rent housing isn’t likely to become law, but the mere threat of it is already stalling projects or stopping them before they start, writes TRD columnist Erik Engquist.

For decades coastal states with hurricanes bore the brunt of rate increases, while inland states enjoyed cheap coverage. Now, hailstorms, wildfires and wind damage are hammering places once thought to be shielded from the worst rate hikes, reports the Wall Street Journal. 

City officials are asking the landlords who house vulnerable New Yorkers to stop evicting them, except in the most serious circumstances, reports Gothamist. 

The city unveiled two possible redesigns for an 11-block stretch of Park Avenue, both aimed at transforming one of the city’s least inviting green spaces into, at the very least, a decent place to eat a sandwich, the New York Times reports.

Significant changes to the state’s climate law were once unthinkable in Albany, so much so that a similar attempt in 2023 only lasted a few days. Hochul and state lawmakers appear to be nearing an agreement that would give the governor much of what she is looking for, reports NY1.

The Kicker

“I would say that we are approaching the end of the middle,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins told reporters on the state’s nearly month-late budget deal.

Read more

Affordable housing operators have an insurance problem