Patrick Spauster
@patrickspauster.com
Covering housing and homelessness in NYC for @citylimitsnews.bsky.social. urban planner and NY Liberty diehard 🏀🗽 patrickspauster.com
DSA-backed congressional candidates won their primaries in June--but lost the precincts that overlap with NYCHA campuses. Great @citylimitsnews.bsky.social story: buff.ly/y9JM2vY
‘Shake The Hands And Kiss The Babies’: For NYCHA Voters, Showing Up Still Matters
"My mother’s generation still talks about when Jesse Jackson came to Harlem, about when Bill Clinton came to Harlem," said Darique Warren, a 38-year-old resident of NYCHA's Polo Grounds
citylimits.org
The land value tax bit in here is very interesting but the IBX will not benefit from city of yes because it doesn’t apply to new mass transit, only the existing network. So prepare for another fun round of upzoning debate if this ever comes to pass.
Streetsblog NYC@nyc.streetsblog.org · yesterdayNew York City could pay for the completion of the Interborough Express by itself if its leaders are willing to take a piece of the higher property values that the transit expansion will bring, and put that money back into the IBX. nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/08/04/b...
See the 100 city-owned lots where the mayor plans to develop 50,000 units of affordable housing, taking advantage of reforms that the administration hopes will make it easier to build. via @patrickspauster.com: citylimits.org/the-mamdani-...
Mayor Mamdani’s administration is backing a bid from a developer to preserve a portfolio of 887 rent-stabilized units in East Harlem, in a test of the mayor’s housing goals. citylimits.org/pinnacle-pla...
Pinnacle Playbook: Mamdani Administration Backing Bid in Rent-Stabilized Real Estate Auction - City Limits
Mayor Mamdani’s administration is backing a bid from a developer to preserve a portfolio of 887 rent-stabilized units in East Harlem, in a test of the mayor’s housing goals.
citylimits.org
NEW: The Mamdani administration is getting involved in another rent stabilized real estate auction, backing a buyer for 887 units in 39 East Harlem buildings. It's a test of the new housing plan, which vows to steward housing from bad landlords into community hands. buff.ly/o65UBjE
NEW: The Mamdani administration is getting involved in another rent stabilized real estate auction, backing a buyer for 887 units in 39 East Harlem buildings. It's a test of the new housing plan, which vows to steward housing from bad landlords into community hands. buff.ly/o65UBjE
NYC's shelter policy for transgender people was considered among the most progressive in the country. But it hasn’t lived up to that standard, some say. "There is a significant breakdown to the point at which the policies are just written pieces of paper." citylimits.org/court-to-con...
Court to Consider Whether NYC Discriminated by Placing Trans Woman in Shelters With Men - City Limits
The city could be held liable for discrimination against a transgender woman who says they refused to place her in a women’s or transgender shelter.
citylimits.org
Big news for nerds: The Department of City Planning updated their city planning children's book (original was put out by the LaGuardia administration in 1937) They are giving them away at upcoming Summer Streets events across the boroughs.
The initial ruling establishes that NYC could be held liable for discrimination by failing to place the woman in a shelter according to her gender identity. If proven, the case could significantly impact the shelter system, @patrickspauster.com reports: citylimits.org/court-to-con...
Court to Consider Whether NYC Discriminated by Placing Trans Woman in Shelters With Men - City Limits
The city could be held liable for discrimination against a transgender woman who says they refused to place her in a women’s or transgender shelter.
citylimits.org
NEW: A judge will consider if the city discriminated by placing a trans woman in shelters with men, leading to her alleged assault. NYC has progressive LGBT policies but “there is a significant breakdown to the point at which the policies are just written pieces of paper” buff.ly/35x8k1b
Crucial info about how to apply for limited affordable housing spots - and the waitlist is open for just 12 days >>>>
City Limits News @citylimitsnews.bsky.social · 3w agoNew York State is opening Project-Based Section 8 waitlists this week for 27 NYC buildings. The lists, which will close again on July 24, offer very low-income New Yorkers a chance to secure affordable housing at specific properties with vacancies. citylimits.org/ny-opens-sec...
The city's latest housing vs. parking battle is playing out at an East Village Mitchell-Lama co-op, where the board is considering the sale to raise money for their 60-year-old buildings. Supporters say it could be a sign of things to come. via @patrickspauster.com: citylimits.org/east-village...
East Village Mitchell-Lama Board Looks to Sell Parking Lot to Build Housing, Sparking Controversy - City Limits
The city’s latest housing vs. parking battle is playing out at an East Village Mitchell-Lama co-op, where the board is considering the sale to raise money for their 60-year-old buildings.
citylimits.org
NYC's latest parking vs. housing fight is playing out at these affordable East Village coops, where residents are weighing how to get money they need to repair their buildings. “I don’t believe we should be fighting for parking when there’s so much homelessness” buff.ly/GxxqFCZ
Pre-holiday weekend news dump from DSS... the 2026 unsheltered homeless count in NYC, 4,991, is the highest since the count started in 2005. Just 3.5% of NYC's homeless are unsheltered. This year's survey was conducted in March, rather than January, because of the cold spell.
Court records confirm State Judiciary Chair Luis Sepúlveda complained about a judge on one of his housing court cases to Court Administration. Sepulveda is trying to resuscitate the case after the Judge ruled for the landlord when Sepúlveda failed to show. Now he recuses himself
After fighting two different mayoral administrations to stay open, Mainchance drop-in in Midtown East closed its doors yesterday after 30 years. Some Manhattan electeds worry it will leave a gap in the homeless network, but DHS is not backing down. Story @citylimitsnews.bsky.social buff.ly/U8U6ziT
After an attempt to save it failed in court, Manhattan elected officials are urging the Mamdani administration to reconsider its decision to close Mainchance, "the only homeless drop-in center located in East Midtown." via @patrickspauster.com: citylimits.org/midtown-home...
Midtown Homeless Drop-in Center Closes, Despite Protest From Local Electeds - City Limits
Manhattan elected officials are urging the Mamdani administration to reconsider its decision to close the drop-in center in East Midtown.
citylimits.org
Great, practical guide to the city's new rental voucher program, by @patrickspauster.com City Hall expects the new vouchers will serve ~ 5,600 households, or 14,000 people, while City Council estimates it could cover 9,600 households, or 30,000 individuals. citylimits.org/city-to-expa...
City To Expand Housing Vouchers in Budget: What You Need To Know - City Limits
Mayor Mamdani and the City Council reached a deal late Monday to expand city-subsidized rental assistance as part of a larger budget agreement.
citylimits.org
What to know about CityFHEPS deal: who will be newly eligible? It creates a new program for people at risk of eviction in rent stab housing + other shelter residents not eligible b/c of work requirements or income limits. The existing CFHEPS program remains the same. citylimits.org/city-to-expa...
City To Expand Housing Vouchers in Budget: What You Need To Know - City Limits
Mayor Mamdani and the City Council reached a deal late Monday to expand city-subsidized rental assistance as part of a larger budget agreement.
citylimits.org
BREAKING: A final budget deal will expand city-subsidized rental assistance, @patrickspauster.com reports. Thousands of new households will be eligible for vouchers under the expansion, but the scope is far smaller than lawmakers originally intended: citylimits.org/city-to-expa...
City To Expand Housing Vouchers in Budget: What You Need To Know - City Limits
Mayor Mamdani and the City Council reached a deal late Monday to expand city-subsidized rental assistance as part of a larger budget agreement.
citylimits.org
Still no deal this morning. Leaders had hoped to shake on the budget today.
City Limits News @citylimitsnews.bsky.social · last mo.“We have made it clear from day one that this is one of our biggest budget priorities and we expect the administration to help us fund the program’s expansion,” Council Speaker Julie Menin at a rally Friday morning. via @patrickspauster.com: citylimits.org/city-budget-...
Speaker Julie Menin cancelled a budget handshake with Mayor Zohran Mamdani Friday after the two sides couldn’t agree on funding an expansion of the city’s housing voucher program, CityFHEPS, @patrickspauster.com reports: citylimits.org/city-budget-...
City Budget Deal On Hold Over CityFHEPS Housing Voucher Expansion - City Limits
Speaker Julie Menin cancelled a budget handshake with Mayor Zohran Mamdani Friday after the two sides couldn’t agree on funding an expansion of the city’s housing voucher program, CityFHEPS.
citylimits.org
The always excellent Adi Talwar captured the tension and joy at last night’s historic rent guidelines board meeting: citylimits.org/photos-scene...
Developers got a zoning exception in exchange for 35% of the units being affordable at two Atlantic Ave bldgs. But when the market went bad, the developer built just 25% affordable. Officials couldn't enforce the agreement. Good @AYreport story
How a 35% Affordable Housing Pledge in Brooklyn Was Torpedoed
In 2022, developers behind two Atlantic Avenue projects committed to making a “record-setting” 35 percent of the apartments affordable. But after interest rates shot up and the owner cited cost…
buff.ly
Knicks Parade tomorrow, which apparently means no evictions -- a rarity. citylimits.org/nyc-temporar...
NYC Temporarily Suspends Evictions For Knicks Parade Day - City Limits
The city occasionally halts evictions due to health and safety risks, like extreme weather events, but rarely for celebrations.
citylimits.org
The city occasionally suspends evictions due to health and safety risks—like extreme weather events, such as this past winter's cold spell—but rarely for celebrations. citylimits.org/nyc-temporar...
NYC Temporarily Suspends Evictions For Knicks Parade Day - City Limits
The city occasionally halts evictions due to health and safety risks, like extreme weather events, but rarely for celebrations.
citylimits.org
Frustrations are mounting over the long-delayed CityFHEPS expansion, which was missing from the Mayor and Council's budget proposals. Some progressive councilmembers are threatening a "no" if there is not significant funding for the voucher program. New @citylimitsnews.bsky.social buff.ly/J8onUA8
Must-see scenes at Thursday's RGB hearing, where the usually raucus tenant crowd was met by zombies (actors in makeup paid by landlords) who warned that a rent freeze would mean more undead vacant apartments. The board votes 6/25 citylimits.org/tenants-land...
Check out this great first @citylimitsnews byline from Casey Wetherbee who is reporting on tenants and climate this summer! “Black, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, Indigenous American and low-income people face the greatest risks from living near warehouses,” buff.ly/LHQ3Zmj
Delivery Warehouse Boom is Impacting NYC’s Low-Income Neighborhoods Most, Reports Finds
A post-pandemic boom in e-commerce correlated with statewide health inequities that are hitting low-income communities the hardest, the report found. “The reason why a lot of these warehouses are…
citylimits.org
