Views from the Northwest Bronx

On April 27th, UNHP celebrated 40 years of work toward our mission at Serviam Hall in the Bronx with Bronx residents, partners, staff friends, and supporters.

Long-time UNHP Board members, John M. Reilly and Joseph P. Muriana share their conversation focused on Bronx community development and their work as valued community partners and members of the UNHP Board.

Forty years is an accomplishment for any community organization and one that University Neighborhood Housing Program (UNHP) does not take lightly. Check out the UNHP timeline with pictures and highlights of our history and accomplishments.

UNHP staff and Bronx residents who are frustrated with NYC affordable housing lottery have come together through a newly formed group called Bronx AHORA to fight for more deeply affordable units, a transparent process, and more free assistance to help housing seekers through the complicated and frustrating process.

On Thursday, January 26th UNHP hosted a lively bilingual zoom called ASK the Banker connecting Bronx residents with Chase Bankers. As UNHP reflects on our 40th anniversary it struck us that UNHP and Bronx residents have been “asking the banker” for more than forty years.

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.

"This is What We Do" is a series of events that illustrate the unique ways that UNHP works towards its affordable housing and Bronx community service mission as well as an effort to raise funds for that work through sponsorships and donations. Click on this post to learn about the events we have planned and how you can take part.

For the third event in our virtual series and fundraiser, This is What We Do, UNHP brought together 31 Bronx housing operators from 12 organizations to discuss the issues that affect the housing they oversee to understand trends and emerging issues that jeopardize affordability. It is also What We Do to escalate these issues and seek to address the policies behind the issues. Read the full summary to learn more.

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.

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.