Views from the Northwest Bronx

Data is currency; it has an economic worth that can be purchased, traded and leveraged. Individuals and entities have always leveraged information to create opportunity. OpenData seeks to equalize the balance of power by increasing accessibility to municipal data.

March Madness at UNHP means a busy schedule of free financial services for senior citizens, including four mobile free tax preparation days at low-income senior residences and a Homeowner Resource Fair with foreclosure prevention services for at-risk older homeowners in our community.

Fourteen individuals from eleven NYC community groups joined UNHP and Research Specialist, Joseph Contreras, in the Heiskell Enterprise Center for Technology at Refuge House on Friday, February 19th to brush up on Excel tips in order to better use the UNHP Building Indicator Project (BIP) data as part of their community-based housing, organizing and neighborhood work.

On February 23, lenders, non-profit, for-profit and HPD representatives squeezed into the conference room at the offices of Enterprise Community Partners to listen to UNHP's latest update on the Building Indicator Project (BIP) as well as income and pricing trends in the Bronx.

For most Bronx residents, affordable housing means the housing that they live in now, but many Bronx residents are on the verge of becoming homeless; struggling to get by, facing high rent burdens and compensating through overcrowded living situations.

​Siena House, in the Highbridge section of the Bronx, is marking its 25th anniversary this year and Concourse House, in the Fordham-Bedford neighborhood will turn 25 in 2016. Both “houses” provide safe, transitional homes for homeless women and their children as well as on-site social services, childcare, housing assistance, job training and life-skills support.

As part of our work to preserve affordable housing, UNHP developed the Building Indicator Project (BIP), a database that leverages public data to gauge physical and/or financial distress of multifamily properties in New York City. While the database is used to highlight the current conditions of multifamily housing, we also track the historical performance of each building. History is important – keeping a record of the past tells the story of the building.

Held at Fordham University's Lincoln Center Campus, UNHP's Cost of Water Forum was attended by 80 people interested in learning about and discussing equitable water rates, conservation strategies and UNHP's proposal to cap water rates for affordable housing.

On April 29th, a group of UNHP staff, affordable housing managers and building owners testified in front of the Water Board at their Bronx hearing held at Hostos Community College. UNHP shared its newly issued “Affordable Water for Affordable Housing: A Proposal for An Affordable Housing Cap for Water and Sewer Rates" report with 5 members present at the Bronx Water Board hearing.

Coinciding with the NYC 2015-16 Water Board Hearings, UNHP released Affordable Water for Affordable Housing: A Proposal for An Affordable Housing Cap for Water and Sewer Rates today. UNHP, a longtime advocate for water and sewer rate reform, is proposing a water and sewer rate cap for affordable housing.