Episode 7: Howard Husock

Howard Husock is a senior fellow in Domestic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he focuses on municipal government, urban housing policy, civil society, and philanthropy. On this episode Lee Bergstein and Cooper Knowlton chat with Howard about the end of 421-a tax subsidy and the future of NYC's real estate tax system.

The 421-a subsidy was a tax break where developers who included multi-family residential housing within their projects would get a tax break for 15-25 years. It was the most costly tax break in NYC, costing $1.77 billion dollars annually, and when the bill expired in June it was not renewed, as many perceived that the cost to the city was too high compared to the low amount of new units it created. This conversation digs into why the subsidy wasn't renewed, what comes next, and how to fix what many perceive as a broken real estate tax system in New York City.