Views from the Northwest Bronx

On Thursday, May 27th UNHP hosted a Water and Sewer Seminar looking at the ongoing rise of rates and their impact on affordable housing. UNHP, a longtime advocate for water and sewer rate reform shared a brief history of the changes that brought about the never-ending increases and a call for involvement about proposed rate increases, a new metered billing rate, and a study of the rate structure.

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.

UNHP created the Home Ownership Database (HOOD) to reach out to homeowners of 1-4 family homes who have fallen behind on their City liens, such as water and sewer bills, and tax liens. A recent look at the data reveals that neighborhoods as different as the Upper East Side and Jamaica, Queens have much in common when it comes to delinquent City liens.

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.