Views from the Northwest Bronx

“Only in the Bronx,” says someone in the crowd, reflecting on the celebratory official launch of the Bronx People’s Federal Credit Union. The atmosphere is celebratory and festive, but the deep commitment and heartfelt passion held by the Bronx residents and community groups in attendance for financial inclusion, access, and growth was also in the air.

UNHP is checking in with Bronx residents to see how well your bank and/or financial services are working for you. UNHP quiere escuchar de los usuarios de nuestro programa para ver lo bien que su banco y/o servicios financieros estàn trabajando para usted.

Thanks to roughly $500,000 of funding secured by UNHP through the NYS Weatherization Assistance Program, Edison Arms, a senior-citizen affordable housing development in Bedford Park will undergo a series of energy-saving renovations.

The UNHP Multifamily Research and Action Center has collaborated with the LISC Research and Evaluation team to investigate the effects of speculation in multifamily housing on tenants. Here we share a bit about the process and the role UNHP and our BIP played in this research.

On July 28th, UNHP held its annual Building Indicator Project meeting. Jacob Udell, Data and Research Coordinator, presented for UNHP about trends in the housing market. Elizabeth Oakley and Kim Darga from HPD discussed the importance of preservation and different tools HPD has to bolster affordable housing in NYC. Click to read a summary of UNHP’s presentation.

In this post, we will focus on financing trends among owners and investors in private, rent-stabilized housing in New York City. Below is an attempt to capture some of the changes in the housing finance landscape over the past number of months and particularly since the beginning of the current public health crisis. Without predicting the future, we hope to raise a number of questions as to where that market is headed and how tenants might be affected, with an emphasis on data and  examples from the Bronx. 

Among the many health and economic concerns facing New York City during the Covid-19 Pandemic is the ability of affordable housing projects to continue to provide the safe and quality housing that residents deserve. With massive unemployment requests and businesses closing indefinitely, rent collections are projected to drop significantly.

We always understood that some people had a hard time with the Community Reinvestment Act, which passed in 1977.

The NWBCCC Reinvestment Project and UNHP are featured in this essay by Gregory Jost, a former UNHP staff member, and valued colleague. The essay was originally published by Urban Ominibus and developed out of Greg's research for a book on redlining in the Bronx. It demonstrates how data was an important organizing tool in the early days of the Community Reinvestment Act and remains important today as displacement and speculation threaten the Bronx and other low-income neighborhoods in NYC.

UNHP is still buzzed from our Reclaiming Our Community Thru Affordable Housing, Art and Services Day on June 19th. The trifecta of events included a luncheon and information session for building operators, a ceremonial ribbon cutting at the mural created by The Royal KingBee and a well-attended Community Resource Fair.