Views from the Northwest Bronx

Housing, especially rental housing in New York City, exists with two purposes: to provide homes for people and families, and to be bought, sold and rented as commodities. Today in Part Two, we focus on prices and profitability of housing from the investor side, and a huge surge (perhaps another bubble) in the market.

Housing, especially rental housing in New York City, exists with two purposes: to provide homes for people and families, and to be bought, sold and rented as commodities. Most of the battles around housing arise in the tension between these two purposes.

UNHP is currently working on a study of water and sewer costs in Bronx multifamily buildings and plans to use the information to jump start a conversation about rates and affordable housing in the New Year.

Thanks to the new high-efficiency Lochinvar condensing boilers, 111 families in three UNHP buildings will be warm this winter.

West Farms Social Services joined forces with University Neighborhood Housing Program (UNHP) to host a well- attended Credit and Savings Extravaganza at the West Farms Square affordable housing development on Wednesday, November 5th from 1 to 7pm.

​It's no secret that the housing stock in New York City is aging. Here in the Bronx, the median age of multifamily apartment buildings is 87 years. In Community Board 6 it's 98 years old.

​At the Northwest Bronx Resource Center, UNHP works every day to bring needed, crucial financial help and resources to the residents in our community. Our resources offer alternatives to predatory services and assist local residents take the steps needed to achieve their financial goals. This work can be time-consuming and requires persistence and follow-up by the participant. It is gratifying to us at UNHP when someone can resolve a problem and move forward. Mr. Preston Patterson is one of those stories.

It was a packed house on Wednesday, June 11th, for the UNHP Credit Extravaganza! The informative and well-attended credit resource fair was sponsored by the UNHP Northwest Bronx Resource Center at Refuge House. 55 Bronx residents attended the event which included two credit presentations, hands-on help printing out their credit reports, a brief credit report analysis and access to services from a variety of non-profits.

The New York State Department of Financial Services last week released the Final Guidelines for Bank Lending to Multifamily Properties Under the Community Reinvestment Act. UNHP welcomes these final guidelines to ensure that banks only receive credit for quality multifamily loans, and not just the overall quantity of loans.

As expected, the New York City Water Board approved a 3.35% water and sewer rate increase to take effect on July 1, 2014. The Board was approved unanimously.