Mayor Bill de Blasio and HPD Commissioner Louise Carroll (Getty, iStock)
After major cuts last year, New York City’s budget for fiscal 2022 dubbed the “recovery budget” by the mayor’s office passed Wednesday, hiking spending to a record $98.7 billion in an effort to fast track the city’s economic comeback, including $14 billion in Covid aid from the federal government.
Real estate went unmentioned in the budget’s “core goals.” But within the $17 million allocated to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the city spent bigger on homeowners at risk of foreclosure and provided less than tenant advocates called for to fund free legal services for renters facing eviction.