Views from the Northwest Bronx

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.

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.

The UNHP Northwest Bronx Resource Center (NWBRC) is committed to bringing needed resources to our Bronx community. That commitment is renewed as we face this ongoing COVID-19 crisis. We know people need information about health, food, financial, and housing resources at this time.

You may have heard about an Eviction Moratorium during Covid-19, that prevents tenants from being evicted during the Covid-19 crisis. It is true that there are many protections for tenants in place, but tenants must act to be protected. A moratorium places eviction on pause but does not cancel owed rent- so eviction proceedings can begin on renters who owe back rent when the moratorium is lifted.

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. 

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.

With 13 UNHP Free Tax Preparation days behind us, 1,000 tax filers assisted and seven more service days in front of us, UNHP can proudly say that we are meeting, and possibly exceeding, our goals for our 2018 program.

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.

On June 15th, UNHP, over fifty guests and our panelists concluded our #ViewsNWBX blog series with breakfast, a presentation and discussion of the emerging community development and affordable housing issues raised in our locally-focused on-line essay series.