Sadef Ali Kully
City Limits
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Past articles by Sadef:
City’s Preliminary Budget Offers More Housing Funds, But Maintains Cuts to Some Programs
HPD would see its capital funding restored with a slight increase in the mayor’s preliminary budget for fiscal year 2022. However, a few initiatives — such as a pilot program to legalize basement apartments, and funding for new supportive housing — continue to face pandemic-related cuts. → Read More
The Waiting Game for Pandemic Rent Relief in New York
State lawmakers are taking a third pass at amending the rent relief program to reach more people, but some housing advocates – who are calling for the cancellation of rent– have slammed the legislation as putting the burden to getting assistance on tenants’ shoulders. → Read More
City Can Release Gowanus Rezoning Details, But Project Still on Hold: Court
A state Supreme Court judge partially lifted a temporary restraining order related to the project Thursday, but the public review process is still on hold. → Read More
Gowanus Rezoning on Hold as Court Date Looms
A lawsuit has temporarily suspended the start of the land use review procedure for the controversial rezoning, which critics want halted until the city can resume in-person meetings once the threat of COVID-19 passes. But other community members are frustrated by the delay. → Read More
NYCHA Improvements are Bottom Line in Support for Gowanus Rezoning, Local Leaders Say
At a Brooklyn Community Board 6 meeting Thursday, attendees raised questions about whether repairs for NYCHA complexes and opportunities for public housing residents would be included in the rezoning. → Read More
City Restarts Discussions for Gowanus Rezoning Plan
City Planning officials will present details Thursday on the rezoning proposal to Brooklyn Community Board 6, after the city's ULURP process was paused for several months during the pandemic. → Read More
Trump and Biden are in Different Worlds on Housing
The president has emphasized protecting suburbs from low-income intrusion. The Democratic nominee wants to spend billions to ease the housing crunch. → Read More
Council Softens but Doesn’t Stop Hit to Housing Budget
The final fiscal 2021 spending plan staved off cuts to smaller housing programs, but retained a shift of roughly a billion dollars in capital spending on the mayor’s affordability plan. → Read More
Will New York Launch a Public Bank?
The state legislature is considering a bill, introduced in January, which would authorize local municipalities to lend money to public banks and authorize public ownership of stock in them. → Read More
Queens Borough Presidency Candidates' Positions on Development
While the borough presidency is not as powerful as it once was when the BPs had votes on the seven-member board of estimate that effectively ran the city, it still does have an important advisory role on land-use policy. → Read More
Tenant Advocates Cheer Rent Freeze, Fear Housing-Court Restart
With the RGB vote largely a fait accompli following its earlier preliminary approval of the one-year freeze, housing advocates’ biggest concern has been the looming reopening of housing court, which will allow for eviction cases to move forward. → Read More
Court Cases in Inwood and Flushing Test Mayor's Power Over Development
An appeals court heard arguments over the annulled Inwood rezoning just days after activists sued over the approval process for the Flushing Waterfront plan. → Read More
A Wave of Legislation Aimed at Renters and Small Biz
As much as the reopening is testing whether or not New Yorkers can avoid a second wave of illnesses, it will also reveal whether the steps taken so far are all the help that’s needed. → Read More
How Widespread Was Violence on New York's Nights of 'Unrest'?
To get a better sense of what was seen around the city last week, City Limits surveyed all the city's 59 community boards to ask what violent unrest—and peaceful protest—they had seen. → Read More
Worries About the Pace of Progress Four Years After East New York's Rezoning
Residents, community groups and the borough president’s office are voicing their concerns over whether benefits promised to the neighborhood are being delivered--and how the COVID-19 budget crunch might affect the city’s ability to make good on the rest of the to-do list. → Read More
New Version of Cuomo's Evictions Ban Seen as Weaker
Did the governor’s new moratorium put 'tens of thousands of New Yorkers' at risk of being booted out of their homes? → Read More
City's Basement Apartment Program Buried by COVID-19 Budget Cuts
The program aimed to test ways to legalize basement apartments as a way to create new, sanctioned affordable housing units for tenants and help the moderate-income homeowners who might rent some of the spaces out. → Read More
Confusion Over COVID-19 Mortgage Relief Programs
Worried homeowners endure long wait times when trying to access federal and state resources to avoid foreclosure. Then they learn the limits of those programs. → Read More
What Will COVID-19 Mean for Housing Development in NYC?
Affordable housing developers, tenant advocacy groups and real-estate operators are grappling with the unprecedented impact of COVID-19 on the economy. → Read More
The Coronavirus Thread: People Detained for Parole Violations Still at Risk, Advocates Say
The new budget totals $89.3 billion, with more than $2 billion in cuts. These cuts include service reductions for 50 municipal initiatives, but programs serving the city's youth incurred some of the most significant cuts. → Read More