City Council OKs Prevailing Wage For Workers In 'Affordable Housing'

NEW YORK, N.Y.—The City Council voted 46-1 Nov. 14 to pass a law that would require the operators of many future “affordable housing” developments to pay building-service workers prevailing wage.

The bill, sponsored by Councilmember Rafael L. Espinal Jr. (D-Brooklyn), amends the city’s 2012 Prevailing Wage Law to remove the exemption that affordable-housing projects and nonprofit housing developers previously had. It will cover workers such as custodians and security guards in projects where a private developer has received at least $1 million from the city or a city economic development entity to build or preserve affordable housing.

“Our city is facing an affordable-housing crisis, but also a good-jobs crisis,” 32BJ SEIU vice president Jose Santos said at a rally in City Hall Park before the vote. “This legislation proves a commitment to both affordable housing and providing family-sustaining jobs.”

In a statement after the bill was passed, 32BJ President Kyle Bragg called it “an IMPORTANT victory for working families and their communities across the city.” He said it was a proud addition to the legacy of the union’s late president Hector Figueroa, who “started the push for this bill.”

The measure defines “affordable housing” as projects where at least half the apartments are affordable for households earning up to 130% of the metropolitan area median income (AMI)—rents of up to about $2,425 a month for a studio or $3,125 for two-bedroom apartment. It also includes developments in which all units are affordable to households making up to 165% of AMI, as long as at least 20% of them are affordable to households earning less than 50% of AMI, $37,350 a year for a single person and $48,050 for a family of three.

It contains numerous exemptions, however. The prevailing-wage requirement will not apply in buildings with fewer than 120 apartments; some supportive-housing projects for disabled or formerly homeless people; “deeply affordable” preservation projects in which the average rent is affordable for households making less than 50% of AMI; and city public housing converted to private management through the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration program … Full Story at LaborPress.org