Views from the Northwest Bronx

The UNHP 2020 Affordable Housing Webinar & Fundraiser was held on Tuesday, September 22nd, and attended by over 100 viewers. A summary and a replay link can be found in this blog post. The webinar explored issues raised during this COVID-19 crisis - specifically the effect it has had on the NYC housing market - and what we think needs to happen as we move forward to ensure an equitable recovery.

Well-documented long-standing income, racial and ethnic disparities as well as health issues in the Bronx led to a disproportionate number of cases in the borough. 

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. 

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 was one of the sponsors of the 10/29/18 CRA at a Crossroads Forum; Understanding the Impact and Ensuring the Future of the Community Reinvestment Act. The well-attended Forum was held at the Lincoln Center campus of Fordham University and featured a speech by FDIC Board member Martin J. Gruenberg and a community development panel.

On June 28, 2018, UNHP hosted a well-attended forum on the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) as it moves towards modernization, 40+ years after it was first legislated.

“For immigrants - undocumented, new arrivals and even foreign-born citizens – access to banking is the first step to making sense of financial systems in the US”

Alternative Financial Services (AFS) – check cashing, rent-to-own stores, pop-up tax prep sites and pawn shops - are about equal in number to banks branches in the Bronx. The high interest rates and excessive fees, associated with these services, make it challenging to stay out of debt, let alone build wealth.

On Saturday, October 28, four nonprofit experts, three NYC agencies, four local banks and 127 Bronxites came together to make the UNHP Bronxtober Resource Fest a successful community affordable housing and financial empowerment day.