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New housing construction in Houston

Sign up for our Mapping the Future newsletter to receive housing updates—including the latest news, statistics, tools for tenants and homeowners and affordable-rental lotteries—in your inbox weekly. Here are some of the headlines from this week’s update:

From City Limits

Thanks to a recent change in federal law, buildings under the federal Section 202 program will now be able to apply for RAD conversion, a potential opportunity to raise capital funds. Read more.

A new building that will generate funds to support Brooklyn Bridge Park could have been all luxury rentals, but instead will set aside a majority of its apartments for specific income groups. But some of those units will serve relatively affluent New Yorkers. So is this a minor victory, or another loss, for affordability in NYC? Read More

From Around the City

Bernie Sanders unveiled an ambitious housing plan that calls for implementing a universal rent control system, building more subsidized units, and expanding Section 8 funding. It also includes provisions like a ‘just cause’ eviction rule, a law preventing source of income discrimination and a national right to counsel in housing court and much more. Much of the plan appears modeled on successes from New York City but there are many concerns, Vox writes.

Five alleged real estate scammers are each facing 30 years in the federal slammer and $1 million in fines for a Central Brooklyn foreclosure scheme that involved duping both homeowners and lenders in an alleged short sale scheme, Kings County Politics reports.

The state’s department of Homes and Community Renewal clarified this weekend that brokers as well as landlords are subject to the new $20 limit on rental application fees, but The CITY reports that prospective renters are being asked to pay good faith deposits that are nonrefundable, if they decide to back out.

A hearing on the Sunnyside Yards development plan was taken over by vocal opponents of the plan, the Queens Eagle reports.

A Brooklyn judge called for settlement talks in a lawsuit challenging the planned construction of Crown Heights towers that activists say would cast damaging shadows on the famous Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Brooklyn Eagle reports.

ICYMI: The New York Times reported that one in four condos built since 2013 remain unsold, highlighting a large glut of luxury apartments and the concentration of new construction at the high end of the market.  The report highlights a massive number of unsold apartments in a luxury building in Two Bridges, where developers are fighting community members to build three more.