A Year Into Covid: Views from the Northwest Bronx - a 3 Part Series
In 2020, UNHP posted three blogs about the impact of Covid on community-based affordable housing, multifamily finance, and on Bronx residents. As the Bronx was especially hard-hit by Covid-19, UNHP felt it was important to share the impact on Bronx residents, and multifamily rental housing as it emerged. 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 three posts last year were published in April 2020, just one month after the pandemic shut down NYC and the devastating health and economic impact began to unfold covered the three ways in which UNHP works. Below are the new posts with links to the posts that they reflect on from 2020.
UNHP as a Community-Based Housing Developer
Part One provides an update from our 2020 post, The Struggle to Preserve Affordable Housing through COVID-19. UNHP shared the challenges of preserving community-controlled affordable housing as rent dipped, but expensive regulation and steady increases in operating costs, like insurance remained high. Updated in 2021, the struggle to preserve affordability remains amid widespread rental losses and delayed rent relief. Read the first 2021 A Year Into Covid blog post written by UNHP Director of Real Estate, Brendan Mitchell here: A Year into the Pandemic: Affordable Housing Faces Challenges Old and New.
UNHP as a Bronx-focused Researcher
Part Two provides an in-depth update on our 2020 post, Trends in Multifamily Housing Finance During Covid 19. Building off our 2020 post to ask key questions about where the market for rental housing in NYC stands today, and how dynamics of distress may play out, with a particular focus on bank portfolios of multifamily housing. Data on the real estate market and multifamily lending is sparse and difficult to interpret, and as a result, this post relies on both quantitative analysis and a mix of anecdotes, insights from the real estate trade press, conversations with lenders, and bank quarterly earnings call transcripts. Read our 2021 A Year Into Covid blog post written by UNHP Director of Research and Data with assistance from Caroline Kirk, UNHP Data Analyst, A Year into the Pandemic: Trends in NYC Housing Finance
UNHP as a direct service provider working with Bronx residents
Part 3 focuses on the impact of the pandemic on Bronx residents and updates on our 2020 post about our community as Covid-19 hit: The Devastating Consequences of Covid- 19 and Inequity in our Bronx Community. 2021 updated, A Year Into the Pandemic: Taking Stock of the Bronx looks at the health, unemployment, loss of income, overdue rent payments, and the threat of evictions. Written by UNHP Data Analyst, Caroline Kirk, the blog highlights pictures and stories from the community as well as data and charts on economic and social indicators.