NYC Retirement Systems To Invest $150 Million To Expand Affordable Housing In NYC

New York City Comptroller Scot Stringer announced on Friday that the five NYC Retirement Systems (NYCRS) will make a $150 million investment with AFL-CIO HIT (Housing Investment Trust), a fixed-income investment company that unveiled a $1 billion plan to create or sustain 20,000 affordable housing units over the next seven years with union labor.

The NYCRS investment is part of their Economically Targeted Investments (ETI) program that generates risk-adjusted market rates-of-returns while promoting economic development within the five Boroughs.   HIT will disclose a new phase of its New York City Investment Strategy that will preserve the affordability of 12,500 to 15,000 housing units and construct 5,000 to 7,500 new housing units over the next seven years.

Crain’s has reported that the use of union labor in affordable housing projects has become an increasingly contentious topic in New York recently. The fate of 421a reforms passed by the state legislature last June will likely be tied to whether construction unions and real estate interests can reach a deal on wages at projects receiving the tax exemption.

According to the comptroller’s website, the New York City Retirement Systems began investing in the AFL-CIO trust in 2002, and had invested more than $615 million as of June 30, 2014.

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