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NEW YORK - This past March, Congressman Charles Rangel, Senator Charles Schumer, New York State Assemblyman Keith Wright and droves of Harlem residents gathered to draw attention to six, at-risk, affordable apartment complexes – Morningside Apartments, Hudson View I, Mother Zion, Canaan IV Towers, Gloria B. Harding Apartments, and Hudson Piers Rehab Phase I.
On Tuesday, advocates and elected leaders celebrated the progress that has been achieved to date, announcing the renewal of agreements that would keep nearly 400 apartments in Central and East Harlem affordable as part of the federal Section 8 program. The agreements were the culmination of months of work between a coalition of groups including Tenants & Neighbors, the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB), the New York City Branch of Local Initiatives Support Organization (LISC) and local elected officials.
Congressman Rangel (c.) thanks advocacy groups and HUD for working together to keep affordable housing alive in Harlem. (l. to r.) Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, City Coiuncil member Inez Dickens and New York State Assembly member Keith Wright. credit: Wyzmenn Media Group.
Rangel, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, was joined at the press conference by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, New York State Assembly member Keith Wright and New York City Council members Inez Dickens and Robert Jackson.
He thanked HUD officials and advocacy groups for working together to find a solution to the situation at Canaan IV Apartments (95 Lenox Avenue ), Hudson View I (544 W. 145th Street, between Amsterdam and Broadway), and Hudson Piers Rehab Phase I (1626 Amsterdam Avenue at 140th Street). He urged the landlords at the remaining developments (Morningside Apartments on 109th Street at Columbus Avenue; Mother Zion at 140th and Frederick Douglas Blvd; and Gloria B Harding on 143rd and Broadway) to follow suit and preserve their buildings in the program.
"These victories demonstrate what can be achieved when tenants, advocacy groups, HUD and elected officials work together to preserve our community and maintain Harlem as a place for families and moderate income individuals to live," stated Congressman Rangel as he stood alongside the tenants at Canaan IV Towers on 114th and Lenox Ave. "The fight, however, is far from over. Each apartment that falls out of affordable housing is a major loss that threatens the future of this city. We must continue to work together to ensure that working families have an opportunity to live in the neighborhoods that they have helped build."
“HUD has no higher mission than creating and preserving affordable housing,” said Regional Director Sean Moss. “That is why we are so proud to join forces with Congressman Charles Rangel, the owners and a host of housing advocacy groups to preserve hundreds of rental units in Harlem as an important affordable housing resource. We salute the congressman’s diligence and dedication and hope that his efforts can be replicated in other parts of New York City.”
Advocates and tenants praised Congressman Rangel, Senator Schumer, and HUD officials for their diligent and proactive advocacy - a standard they hope will be replicated in other districts around the city.
“At a time when we are losing so much affordable housing throughout the city, Congressman Rangel’s personal efforts to save each of these buildings is not only extremely important, it’s a template for the kind of political activism we need in every district,” said UHAB Executive Director Andrew Reicher.
Dickens and other elected officials agreed.
"The issue of affordable housing is one of our most critical challenges," said City Council member and Majority Whip Inez Dickens. "It is important that those who have raised families and firmly laid down roots to help build their community should be protected against displacement and possible loss of their homes. "
“There is no more pressing issue in New York City right now than the need for affordable housing,” said Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer. “I want to thank Congressman Rangel for his leadership in helping to preserve our stock of affordable housing and saving the homes of hundreds of tenants.”
KEEPING HOUSING AFFORDABLE
Affordable rents in these six buildings are maintained through a housing program known as project-based Section 8. Under the program, private landlords sign a contract with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that allows tenants to pay 30% of their income towards rent. However, landlords can opt-out of the program when their contracts reach their expiration date, wreaking havoc on low-income families who are forced to endure the difficult process of applying for Section 8 rental assistance vouchers.
With the contracts of these six Harlem complexes set to expire within a nine-month period, local and elected officials, led by Congressman Rangel and Senator Schumer set out on a strategic campaign to persuade landlords to consider staying in the subsidy program.
These local efforts to maintain affordable housing units have been augmented by Rangel's work in Washington to try to create new housing stock. Recently as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, he helped shepherd the passing of The American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act into law. The law provides tax incentives and other measures that helps address the shortage of affordable housing options in cities and towns in New York and across the United States.
"The law expands and improves the low-income housing tax credit, which is the largest source of federal support for the construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing," said Rangel. "It also increases volume limits on housing bonds to finance low-income rental housing and first-time homebuyers, while also providing states with greater flexibility on how to use those bonds efficiently."
Denise Scott, LISC NYC Managing Director, said that the organization looked forward to working with government and local partners to implement the solutions and programs contained in this bill.
"This is a tremendously significant piece of legislation," said Scott. "Not only will it bring help to homeowners at risk of foreclosure, and to communities hard-hit by the crisis, it will also expand the tools and resources available to develop affordable rental housing, by making tax credit investment more attractive and expanding tax-exempt mortgage bonding authority. It also creates, in the Housing Trust Fund, the first new federal housing production program in a generation. "
Locally, the bill promises to create thousands of affordable housing units in New York state. It provides a ten percent increase in the credits allocated among states, and an $11 billion increase in tax-exempt bond authority to support single family and rental housing. Also included in the package is a provision to enable cities and towns to more efficiently use tax-exempt bonds in the effort to develop affordable rental housing. This move will enable New York City to issue significantly more bonds so that it can support the development of thousands more rental units for low-and moderate-income families.
As a result, as many 10,000 affordable housing units are estimated to be built across the state, with at least half located within New York City. Housing advocates agree these changes will result in additional units of housing and, especially, more units for lower-income families.
"The National Housing Trust Fund provisions of this bill will provide tenants and their allies with a vital new resource to preserve rapidly depleting affordable housing to ensure that New York's neighborhoods are stable, diverse communities with affordable housing for all - not only for the wealthy," said Tenants & Neighbors Director of Organizing and Advocacy Patrick Coleman. "Recognizing that construction of new housing alone cannot solve the housing crisis, Congress took the right step to allocate funds to preserve existing affordable housing."
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