Views from the Northwest Bronx

It has been a year since the pandemic hit the Bronx hard and early with consequences for families and individuals in all the parts of their lives. Third, in our A Year Into Covid series, this blog post takes stock of where Bronx residents stand now in terms of health, jobs, and housing.

On Thursday, May 27th UNHP hosted a Water and Sewer Seminar looking at the ongoing rise of rates and their impact on affordable housing. UNHP, a longtime advocate for water and sewer rate reform shared a brief history of the changes that brought about the never-ending increases and a call for involvement about proposed rate increases, a new metered billing rate, and a study of the rate structure.

UNHP has worked for over 30 years to highlight rising water and sewer rates as a threat to housing affordability. The DEP Multifamily Water Assistance Program with its credit for affordable housing has ameliorated some, but not all of that threat. Now we are calling attention to rising insurance premiums and calling for action.

COVID has been with us for more than a year, and so has the search for signs of distress in multifamily rental housing in New York City. Despite that, there are still more questions than answers about how rent arrears & future rent relief, the pandemic-induced economic recession, and other shifts will affect multifamily housing, especially in neighborhoods that are home to low-income families and individuals of color.

As we all continue to deal with the fallout from the pandemic, UNHP has been monitoring the effects on the multifamily housing world. In April of last year, we published a few posts hypothesizing about what we thought might happen in the multifamily affordable housing sphere. Now, we are taking stock of how our portfolio has been affected - what has helped us weather unexpected financial challenges and what is concerning us as we move forward.

Last year, UNHP posted three blogs about the impact of Covid on community-based affordable housing, multifamily finance, and on Bronx residents. A year later, UNHP has created a follow-up blog series named A Year Into Covid, which covers what we know from our experience as a community-based affordable housing developer, a Bronx-focused researcher, and a direct service provider offering free housing and financial services to Bronx families and individuals.

The UNHP Northwest Bronx Resource Center (NWBRC) is committed to bringing needed resources to our Bronx community. That commitment is renewed as we face this ongoing COVID-19 crisis. We know people need information about health, food, financial, and housing resources at this time.

On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the third and largest COVID-19 relief package since the pandemic, known as American Rescue Plan into effect. While further guidance is needed - there are immediate benefits for many Bronx residents and families!

In the midst of tough times due to the health and economic impacts of Covid-19, there is still much to be grateful for in the Bronx and at University Neighborhood Housing Program (UNHP). Almost a year into our transition to remote work and UNHP has managed to find a way to make significant strides towards our mission.

You may have heard about an Eviction Moratorium during Covid-19, that prevents tenants from being evicted during the Covid-19 crisis. It is true that there are many protections for tenants in place, but tenants must act to be protected. A moratorium places eviction on pause but does not cancel owed rent- so eviction proceedings can begin on renters who owe back rent when the moratorium is lifted.