City Limits Magazine, March 1976 Issue

8/3/2019 City Limits Magazine, March 1976 Issue

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' ITY LIMITSI Association of NeighborhoodHousing Developers Inc.105 East 22nd Street . New'1brk, N.V. 10010 212 674 7610 March 1976.Vol. I No.2

Morris Hei ghts NeighborhoQ.dImprovement A s s ~ c iation::u .. r

A Study in Optimism

The Morris Heights NeighborhoodImprovement Association wasorganized in 1972 as a responseto a sudden and immediate housing c r i s i s . The opening of CoopCity seemed to spel l d isas terfor many Bronx neighborhoods,including Morris Heights. Thef l ight to Coop City of the predominantly blue-col lar workersfrom other Bronx neighborhoodsproduced a rea l -es ta te panic.Vacancies in so l id , six-storyelevator buildings were beingf i l led by new-comers to thearea , many of whom were poorand t ry ing to escape the exploit a t ion they had l ived with inareas l ike the South Bronx andHarlem. What they found was notmuch be t te r . Landlords, int r ad i t iona l knee-jerk fashion,had concluded that the i r areawas "on the way down" simplybecause many of the new tenantswere Black and Puerto Rican,and tha t those I r i sh and I ta l ianswho had remained were oftenelcierly and l iv ing on small ,fixed incomes. The "milkingprocess" had begun. Tenants,hopeful for a bet ter l i f e , werebeing subjected to the famil iarlandlord tac t ics of collectingas much rent money as the lawallowed (and sometimes more)while providing as few servicesas possible .

( ~ r a n d Ayenue j..n'Morris Height

From the outse t , Morris HeightsNeighborhood Improvement Associat ion was determined to ass i s ttenants in solving the i r OJmp r o b ~ e m s . T h e i r agenda was, andi s , the development of tenantp o w e r ~ ,Yet they believe thathousing is not an isola ted problem; but tha t it re la tes to thearray of issues effect ing thecommunity such as health service


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Morris Heights ....... (continued)unemployment, education, etc .The s t a f f that they have hiredref lec ts this philosophy.Roger Hayes, the Director, is a27-year old native of Chicago,t rained by Saul Alinsky - a namesynonymous with community organizat ions throughout the nation.Roger feels very strongly abouthow ass is tance to tenants isrendered. " If your goal is tobring about l as t ing solut ionsto problems l ike housing, youmust develop leadership withinthe community and the individualtenant organizat ions," he argued."In other words," he went on," i f a tenant walks in and asksus to get heat and I do i t forthe tenant it's simply a matter.of time unt i l the problem re -surfaces. On the other hand,i f a tenants ' associat ion is~ o r m e d and the tenant organizerserves only as a catalyst andt ra ine r , we've made a big steptoward a l as t ing solut ion." ,The makeup of MHNIA' s, s ta f f is,indicat ive of the resu l ts ofeffect ive organizing and leadership development. With the exception of Roger, a l l of thes t a f f were recrui ted from thetenant leadership of buildingsorganized during the organizat ion 's infancy.Nilda Ocasio, who 'formerly worked as an Executive Secretary a tlocal hospita l , is now such aski l led tenant organizer andexpert on tenants ' r ights thatmany a t the Bronx Housing Courtassume she is an at torney.Betty Terre l l , also an ace organizer , has begun to work on MorrisHeights ' subsidiary CommunityCorporation which is a nonprof i t operat ion that owns onebuilding, present ly managed by

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the tenants, and looks towardsreceiving other buildings thatlandlords, banks or the Citywish to dispose of. Eventualtenant ownership i s ant icipatedSharon McCrimmon, also a recruifrom her own tenants ' associat ion, is involved not only inorganizing in individual buildings, but has helped developtenant associat ion coali t ions .Steve Cruz, a former teacher,original ly star ted as a StudentIntern and now spends ful l - t imetenant organizing and workingwith the Community Corporation.Katrina Black, who works par t -t ime, not only organizes butcoordinates the fundraisingevents, including MHNIA's verysuccessful Disco Part ies .Lorraine Roman, the ExecutiveSecretary, was recrui ted whenRoger noticed her speedy keyboard technique while sheworked on a f lyer for her ownbuilding.Each year the s t a f f prepares adetailed report which chroniclethe i r successes, fa i lures , andplans for the future. I t i s a ,fascinat ing document that shouldbe must reading for everyone inthe movement. For ins tance,report ing tha t 48 multi-familybuildings, occupied by 1,263famil ies, were organized, theynot only documented the hundredsof vis ib le repai rs , but alsostressed the following:" ..... Our 'v ic tor ies ' cannot bemeasured solely by the physicalimprovements of a par t icularbuilding, but equally as important by the renewed committmenton the part of many tenants tostay in the . community and organize themselves for i t s preser -


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Heights ....... (continueo'The emergence of lobbyto provide securi ty forand screening committeesscreen and decide who wil lrent ing apartments in the i rconcrete signs ofcommittment. In one of thesuccessful ly organized1750 Davidson Avenue,e landlord and tenants openedjo in t bank account from whichl l monies col lected throughwere converted into fundsrehabi l i ta t ion of the

e s ty le of the s ta f f i s one ."personal in i t i a t ive ;" eachmember more or less worksprojec ts of the most in teres thim or herse l f . The resul t ,t surpr is ingly, i s an averageweek of 60-70 hours.e s t a f f has, however, blockedt time each week so tha t theyn keep in touch and help eachOn Monday mornings, ameeting i s held to goer the coming week's eventsto resolve any schedulingFriday afternoonse reserved for longer meetingswhich goals are debated,of each other ' stechniques are held,d problems are aired. Thealso meets regularly withe Board of Directors on overl l pol icy; d a y ~ t o - d a y adminiincluding hir ing and

i s the responsibi l i ty ofasked Roger how MHNIA's goaldeveloping long-term solutionsto the i r dealings withi ty agencies. "For instance,"p6inted out , "we had awith ERP when we began.i f I ca l l up I can get aof no o il withinhours. However ., tha t ' s notWe are presently in -

volved in di f f icul t negotiat ionswith Rent and -Housing Mainten- .ance Commissioner Dan Joy andare pushing very hard for a program of deputized community in spectors to verify heat-relatedcomplaints. Also,. . in keepingwith our overall philosophy,instead of meeting with himalone a t his off ice during theday; he's coming to MorrisHeights tonight. The communityis negotiat ing direct ly for.themselves - no intermediariesor spokesmen."

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(Morris Heights Tenant Leaders Meet

Roger struck me as a ser ious, butvery optimist ic , ac t iv i s t . Witha l l of the budget cuts and anobvious cooling off from the"hot" days of the la te Sixt ies ,: many people of his generat ion! seem to be discouraged. Why; i s n ' t he? "Fi rs t , " Roger chided,"the feel ing in Morris Heights i stha t , 'we weren ' t get t ing muchmoney, anyway.' And as for ourcity now being run by businessmen - i t always was; they' reSimply more vis ible now. As


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4Morris Heights . . (continued)for the so-called Seventies 'Blahs, I think perhaps thosepeople aren ' t on the s t ree tsenough. Sure, the Si'xties were' hot , but you also has a lo t ofone-issue ac t iv is t s . When thewar ended, they packed off toVermont. The Seventies are morerea l . I t ' s not as f lashy, butthe people I work with now knowthey ' re in for a long s t ruggle .They don ' t se t impossible goalsfor themselves and then af te r acouple of months qui t . Also, the 'movement' is a grass-rootsmovement - a l l o v e r the ci tygroups are emerging eV 'ery day.We're gett ing smarter , too. 'We're building coal i t ions bothwithin" our neighborhoods and across the City as well . TheAssociation of .NeighborhoodHousing Developers is a perfectexample!"' As we ended the interview, anelderly gentleman met us on thes t ree t in front of the GrandAvenue off ice . He had come to 'explain his absence a t the previous evening's t enant ' s meetinghis wife had taken ill and av i s i t to the local hospi ta l hadbeen necessary. Yet; he was so'anxious to learn how negotiat ionswith the landlord had gone, hehad hurried over to the off ice.Indeed, Morris Heights Neighborhood Improvement . Association hasreason to be optimist ic .

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Staff ProfiJe: Eraie Winston

Ernie Winston, Project Coordinato r of the CETA Job Training andRehabil i tat ion Program, is l i t e rally a man on the go. Our in terView, which began several hoursl a te , was frequently interruptedby phone cal l s from buildingsupply houses, archi tects , etc.I came to the conclusion thatwhat Ernie had lost in punctuali ty , he more than made up for incapabil i ty and tenaci ty . Coaxing and cajol l ing the supplier ,a five-minute phone cal l producea per foot reduction in thecost of oak-flooring which wil lbe used. This, he stressed, wastypical of the day-to-day tasksthat may, in isolat ion, seemsmall, but add up to successful lbringing in a job that is onbudget, on time and of last ingqual i ty .We began to discuss the differenbetween the private, prof i t motvated construction world and thaof community-based, non-profi thousing rehabi l i ta t ion. "In theprivate sector ," Ernie pointed o"the construct ion supervisor isabsolute dictator ." Ernie 's ro lwith Association member groups iquite di f ferent . One of his matasks is to foster t rus t and confidence between himself and thegroups: a task complicated by thistory of exploitat ion by "professionals" in poor communities.Yet, despi te th i s fac t , Ernie cot inues . to promote, encourage andass is t the development of localprofessional expert ise. He alsofeels tha t , "we must divorcesocia l philosophy from the proceof technology." Asked what hemeant by th i s statement he offerthe following i l lus t ra t ion : "Thcorrect technique or process of' ins ta l l ing sheetrock is withoutsocia l implications. On theother hand, i f the person i ns t al ing the sheetrock is underpaidand overworked, socia l , e th icaland moral implications are clear


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Staff Profi le : Ernie Winston(c ' td)In some sweat equitybecause of the his toryf exploi ta t ion and discriminat ionthe construct ion indust ry ,is a tendency to re jec t the

of that industry ' s technolErnie does not consider hims t r ic t ly a technician. Hewouldn't be doing whate is attempting to do now i f heI do have a strong sensef socia l committment, I worry thathe resul t s might f a l l short : i f ,s technicians, we f a i l to producehousing rehabi l i ta t ion onand turn out top f l ightwe wil l have fai led, notas technicians, but soc ia l -y as well . The buildings underrehabi l i tat ion in this proare planned to be cooperativeowned by many of theI f the work i t s e l f isot top quali ty , the resul t ingon the building need noi f we go over budget,ur social committment to providelow-cost housing to ourwil l have been anotherpromise; and f ina l ly , i f theto be t rained do not acquirehe level of sk i l l s needed to bein this highly-competif i e ld , not only wil l we havea bandaid to the problems ofthese t rainees wil lot be able to make monthly .C 0 0 p

rnie then re la ted some oersonalwhich sheds some l igh t onis approach to sweat equity andhe community housing movement.and raised in the small Newtown of Shrewesbury, Ernieor le ss grew up with sweatFor a member of the Blackthere was l i t t l e choice.fa ther , who passed awayErnie was three , bui l t a twohouse with his own hands onhe edge of town. In a l l , sevenof his family were to build

own small homes on adjacent

lo t s . As Ernie helped his unclesbuild the i r homes, and a t the ageof eleven, add two rooms to hisown, he became fascinated by theconstruct ion process. Also, eachof his uncles were employed indif fe ren t t rades , so that Erniebecame famil iar with a l l of them.Later , as he struggled to financeh is education a t Florida A & M andRutgers Universi ty , through jobswith construct ion companies,Ernie met head-on the cruelty ofracism, the closed doors of t radeunions and the everyday cheatingof the consumer by contractors.As his sk i l l s developed, he beganto look toward ut i l iz ing them forthe benef i t of low-income housingconsumers. What he found, ofcourse, was appal l ing. We neednot review the history of urbanrenewal for our readers here, however.Ernie ' s concerns about the successof the CETA project stem from hispride, not a personal pride so mucas a community pride. Part icular lat th is t ime, when we are beingobserved so closely as almost "thet es t case" for the movement. Hewants everyone to be aware of thetremendous responsibi l i ty we haveundertaken. He pointed out , quitecorrect ly , that when the Renigadeswent over budget, i t was not HDAwhich was cr i t ic ized in the newspaper , but the communi ty" 'group .In spi te of these concerns, Ernieis opt imis t ic : "I'm confidentwe're going to do this th ing, forone reason only. We have somethinout there in the neighborhoods thyou can ' t buy by l inear foot , butis absolutely essen t ia l - it'ssp i r i t and committment. Now, notonly are we building our own l e a dership ', but our 0wn "brain t rus t , "our own archi tec ts , our own lawyers , and our own construct ionworkers. Tbe system locked us oufor so long by re legat ing us to thCommun1ty Relations Department fo


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Staff Profi le : Ernie Winston(c'td)

a pat on the head. Now we :' re beginning to speak the i r professiona l jargon, understand f inancing,and on and on." With tha t , Ernieswitched on his favorite classicalFM s ta t ion, l i t his pipe, and begananother evening of paperwork.

111 ',,-,.,,,1, III' i ~ i gEElll" . IBm 71~ ~ ~ 8 III

11 ,1 [I) IBffilll, 1 1

CETAI CJCC Job TrainingProgram Launched At Last

After many months of f rus t ra t ionand delays, the Associat ion 'sCETA/CJCC Job Training Programhas a t l as t become a rea l i ty .At three rehabi l i ta t ion loanclosings, held a t the off icesof the New York City Housingand Development Administrationon February 9th, 10th and 11th,ci ty funds were f in 'ally madeavailable for the rehabi l i ta t ionby job t rainees, working underTit le I of the federal Comprehensive and Training Act (CETA)of vacant buildings a t 507-9and 533 East 11th Street , Manhat tan and a t 2149-51-53 PacificStreet , in Brooklyn. Actual rehabi l i ta t ion work was begun inBrooklyn on February 17th and onEast 11th Street ene week l a t e rThe CETA/CJCC Job Training Program i s a unique combination of_housing rehabi l i ta t ion, jobt raining and cooperative conversion. I t is the f i r s t timetha t federal job t raining fundshave been married to city loanfunds to leverage housing re -habil i ta t . ion ef for t s in the Cityof New York - and probabl i anywhere else .Under the program, local , commui ty-based housing groups act assponsors and developers of re -habi l i ta t ion projects . Unemployed neighborhood residents

- are recrui ted by the sponsorg r o u p ~ and are hired by theA s s o c ~ a t i o n under the federal lyfunded job t raining program.These t ra inees wil l receive afu l l year of work experience,on-the-job t ra ining while theyrehabi l i ta te the buildings.They work under the direct ionof ski l led ins t ructors and s i tesupervisors who, as fa r as poss ib le , have also been recrui tedfrom the local community.


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Job Training(continued)t ra inees receive wages ofper hour for a 40-hour

.. After six m o n t h s ~ providedperformance is s a t i s f a c t o r y ~ wages are increased toper hour. The costs ofto t ra inees , as well asand supervisors 'are paid by a grantf CETA funds which is adminisby the Association.e c i ty ' s rehabi l i ta t ion loansre being used to pay for theacquisi t ion of the(most are city-owned

n rem propert ies) are foraddit ional feature of theis the r ight of the job .to obtain a cooperativein the building theyProvided theyto contr ibute extra hoursf free "sweat equity" laborw e e k ~ t ra inees wil l receiveproprietary lease a t no down

e buildings are owned byDevelopment Fundwhirrh have been orgby the sponsor communityWhen rehabi l i tat ion isthe HDFCs wil l f i l eof Cooperative Ownershipnd wil l offer apartments toe t ra inees and other communitywho need decent housFor oLber than sweatt r a i n e e s ~ down paymentsy average $500-$700 per apartCarrying charges areestimated to run fromper room, per month.

e t o t a l p r o g r a m ~ when fullywil l involve 13and over 220 dwelliJ?gCity loans wil l aggre$2.4 m i l l i o n ~ which wil le c o m b i ~ e d with $ 1 ~ 0 4 9 ~ 0 0 0 of

~ E T A funds ~ 5 8 2 , 0 0 0 of grantfunds under the federal LawEnforcement' Assistance Act.The sponsors of the f i r s t projects on which work has begunare:A d o p t ~ a - B u i l d i n g , and,Ocean Hill-Brownsville TenantsAssociation.Additional projects are sponsored by:Renigades of Harlem,Peoples Development Corporation,Los Sures,Manhattan Valley DevelopmentCorporation,Bronx League Against Slum Tenements (BLAST), and,Bronx Residents Against SlumHousing (BRASH).Urban Homesteading AssistanceBoard (U-HAB) has rendered in -valuable assis tance in helpingto develop the program ands teer the buildings throughthe awful maze of HDA red tapeand bureaucrat ic iner t ia tof ina l loan clos ings .

( At Long Last Work! )


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8 Ladies and Gent lemenMeet the Real Roger Starr,

I t has taken a l i t t l e more than twoyears , but i t was probably bound tohappen. Sooner or l a t e r , our chieflocal housing off icer , Mr. RogerStar r , Administrator of the Housingand Development Administrat ion, hadto show his true colors . And now,in a series of rapidly-succeedingstatements , Mr. Starr is te l l ing uswhat he real ly thinks of poor andminority people and what publicpolicy ought to be re la t ive to theseres idents of our ci ty and the i rhousing and neighborhood needs.A few weeks ago, Starr unleashedhis f i r s t barrage, when he told agroup of Project Area Committeepeople tha t , as fa r as he was concerned, giving public funds to community groups was "l ike giving handgrenades to the PLO."Later , in an interview with JosephFried, housing repor ter fo r the NewYork Times, Starr advanced the ideathat the ci ty ought to induce theremaining res idents of our mostneglected and deter iora ted neighborhoods to leave by a del iberatepolicy of withdrawing public ser vices. In th i s way, we could",shrink" these communities intonon-existence and thereby savemoney by having to maintain fewerpolice s ta t ions , f i re houses, publ ic schools , l i b ra r i e s , and otherfac i l i t i es .Most recent ly , in speaking to ameeting of r ea l es ta te people,Starr announced a new notion ofwhat c i t i e s are a l l about. Thec i ty , he sa id , is a place where"peasants" are brought in to bet ra ined and used as factory workers . When the ci ty no longerneeds or can use workers fo r i t sindus t r ies , the government's jobshould be to keep the "peasants"down on the farms.So Administrator Star r has unfur l ed his t rue colors . Have nothingto do with community people, saysStarr . I f you support them, they ' l l

only get uppity and s t a r t demandthat the ci ty be run for the i r bf i t . Don't wast time or money ondeclining neighborhoods (never mthat i t was government neglect andisastrous r ip-offs l ike urban renewal that caused the decline inthe f i r s t place) - shrink them util they are squeezed out of exience. And f ina l ly , l e t us preserour old urban middle class cul turand ins t i tu t ions by keeping outthe " p e a ~ a n t s " (we wonder jus twhat that Aesopian word is rea l lysupposed to mean?) - a t leas t whthere are enough of them alreadyhere to do the 'di r ty , menial workwhich i s a l l they are ,good for .This is the man whom the Mayor hchosen to run the c i ty 's housingprograms; to oversee the spendingof more than $40 million a year ofederal Community Development Fuand $28 mill ion of housing ass i sance al locat ions . This is the mwho wants to b a i l o u t his SummerPlaymate from Greenwich, Connectcut , Richard Ravitch, from a $95million boo-boo a t Manhattan Plaby committing subsidies whichshould go to help the poor obtaindecent housing at, rents then canafford. This is the man who yeaago also wrote that resident part ic ipa t ion in urban renewal progrwas meaningless since the propergoal of urban renewal was to c h athe older res idents out of t he i rown neighborhoods.This is also the man who wants toreplace rent control with a newthat wil l guarantee that everyonwil l 'pay a minimum rent to insurprof i t s to landlords; the man whbleats in l e t t e r s to the Timesthat the Coop City tenants shoulbe publicly spanked for bit ing thhand that feeds them; that MitchLama tenants should be deprivedthe minimum protect ion of theMerola Law and be given automatipass-along rent increases whenevthe landlords ' costs go up; th isis the man who ins i s t s , tha t ~ i t yrea l es ta te tax abatements be gilandlords for making ordinary re


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and Gentlemen: (cont inued)and maintenance - which weto th ink the law requi red themdo.

c i t i z e ns o f New York:took a whi le , bu t we a re now, a tl a s t , able to in t roduce tothe r e a l , the one and only ,St a r r !

r9: I)/) 1At-. :00 f?tt(

9Govern ment Housino Programs,

Sec tion 221 (d) (4)

Unt i l th e advent of the 1974Housing and Community Development Act, the Sec t ion 221(d)(4) ,market i n t e re s t r a t e mortgageinsurance program was notthought of as a viable t o o l fo rf inanc ing housing r ehab i l i t a t i onin low or moderate income neighborhoods o f New York City . I ti s simply too expensive. Butwith the pos s ib i l i t y of housingass i s t ance allowances fo r lowerincome tenants under Sect ion 8of the 1974 Act , as wel l as th ev i r t u a l disappearance o f c i tyfunds under the Municipal Loano r Mitchell-Lama programs, the221(d) (4) program may prove tobe one o f the only games in townI t i s , in f a c t , exp l i c i t l y men-t ioned in the c i t y ' s ProposedCommunity Development Plan Amendment as a f inanc ing device whichit i s hoped may be used tof inance the r ehab i l i t a t i on o fbui ld ings which have been t a r ge ted th e c i ty fo r pr i o r i t yt rea tment .What fo l lows i s a necessa r i lycursory explana t ion of thebas ic fea tu res of the program.Sect ion 221Cd} (42 or the Nat iona l Housing Act i s in tended toa s s i s t in the f inancing o fmul t i - fami ly pro jec t s to provider e n t a l housing fo r moderate in come fami l ies (which may inc ludes ing le persons who are 62 yearso f age , or o lder , are phys i ca l ly handicapped or d i sp laced) .


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Government Housing Programs(cnt'd)The project must contain 5 ormore dwelling uni ts . I t may beei ther new construction or subs tant ia l ly rehabi l i ta ted andin ei ther case must conform toHUD Minimum Property Standards.Any individual , partnership orcorporation is el igible. Non-prof i t , l imited dividend, andcooperatives are inel ig ible forthe program, however.Presumably, a non-profit organizat ioncould be a partner of a privatedeveloper or rehabi l i ta tor andthereby become "el igible." .The HUD assistance is in the formof insuring a mortgage which theowner must obtain from a privatelending ins t i tu t ion. The mort- .gage may be for up to 40 yearsand may bear interest not inexcess of 8 1/2% per year . Themortgage may not exceed 90% ofthe HUD-FHA estimate of the re -placement cost of the project(there are also per uni t maximumcos ts , which are ample forsubs tant ia l or even gut rehabi l i t a t ion , but which may presentproblems for new construction inNew York City).Since HUD allows a 10% Builder 'sand Sponsor's Profi t and RiskAllowance which in the case ofrehabi l i tat ion is based on a p ~ proved development cost exclusiveof acquis i t ion cos ts ) , the developer may substant ia l ly reducehis cash investment by countingthe Prof i t and Risk Allowancetowards the 10% equity requirement.There are no income requirementsfor tenants , although the HUDregulat ions for bid discriminat ions against families with tenants . Rents must be suff ic ientin HUD' s judgment to make the pro-

jec t viable and must be approvas "marketable" for the type obuilding and area.Essent ia l ly , the 221(d)(4) program is the analogue for mult ifamily projects of the convent iona l FHA Section 203 "marketi n t e r ~ s t ra te" mortgage insuraprogram for one to four familyowner-occupied dwell ings.For fur ther information, seeRegulations fo r Moderate IncomMortgage Insurance (24CFR221.5HUD-FHA Handbook 4000.1 ("Digeof Insurable Loans"); HUD-FHAHandbook 4560.2 ("Rental Housifor Moderate Income Familiesfor Project Mortgage InsuranceInquire a t HUD Area Office, 66Fif th Avenue, New York, N.Y.,Multi-Family Underwriting Division, Office of UnderwritingStandards, Office of HousingProduction and Mortgage CreditU. S. Department of Housing anUrban Development, Washington,D. C. 20410.(Ed. Note: This is the f i r s ta planned series of ar t i c le s eplaining various government h o ing programs. As always, com-ments from our readers are welcomed, as are suggestions as tother federal , s ta te or ci typrograms which you would l iketo see described and discussedin future issues of "CityLimits") . -


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mmed. - Housing Conservationannounces a s ta f ffor Tenant Organizer.include strongto tenants ' r i g h t s ~ to work very long h o u r s ~ in tenant organizingabi l i ty to speak f luenta must. Residents of 'wil l be given pr ior i ty .to s t a r t is $120 per week.NFO: Gloria Milliken, 765-0526

1 The Association goeso the Movies-The March 1 Generalmeeting wil l includescreening of the New York Urbanf i l m ~ "God Bless thewhich deals . with the strugglef tenants to save and own the i rn homes. Bring your own popcorn!

3 ANHD Operations Com.10:30 A.M., Headquarters8 & 9 - National PuertoForum is sponsoring aOpportunity Fair , to befrom 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P . M . ~ the Park Avenue Armory,a t 643 Park Avenue at 67tht . in Manhattan. Further info:Charles Molina at 265-0505.

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March 8 = Southern Region MemberMeeting of New York State Tenants 'Coali t ion, to be held a t Lenox HilN e i ~ h b o r h o o d Houses, 331 E. 70th,a t :00 P.M. Agenda includes rentcontrol and funding of neighborhoohousing organizations. Furtherinfo: Barbara Chockey, a t 744-502March II - Next ~ e g u l a r l y schedulOperations Committee, ANHD Headqua10:30 A.M.March 23 - Columbia Univers i ty ' sGraduate School of Architecture anPlanning wil l hold a lec ture on"SubSidized Housing Since 1934" byElizabeth . Wood, to be held in theInternational Affairs Auditoriumat 5:30 P.M.April 6 Next regularly sched-uled general membership meetingof the Association, to be held a t6:00 P.M., place to be announced.April 8 & 9 - Spring Spruce-Up ofAssociation Headquarters. All areinvited to help paint , clean-up,and otherwise make the AssociationHeadquarters a place the movementcan be proud of. More deta i l swil l be mailed. Donations ofequipment, s u p p l i e s ~ furni ture ,and labor wil l be greatly apprecia


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12 Tenants Coalit ion News

The New York State Tenants Coalit ion i s hard at work promoting i t s1976 legis la t ive program. Volunt eer lobbyists spend an average oftwo days each week a t the StateCapi tal in Albany ta lk ing withlegis la tors .Late l a s t month the Coali t ion,which represents tenant and neighborhood housing groups from mostof the major urban areas of thes t a t e , launcned a pol i t ica l at tackon Governor Hugh Carey, chal lenging him to honor his 1974 campaign' pledges to repeal vacancy decont ro l and strengthen rent control ,and blast ing Carey's proposal toplace new cei l ings on welfareshel ter grants.On Tuesday, February 24, the Coalit ion organized i t s f i r s t 1976 minimobilization to Albany. Some f i f tyhousing ac t iv i s t s from Syracuse,New York City, Albany and Poughkeepsie joined the regular weeklylobbyists in vis i t ing l egis la torsa t the State Capital .At a press conference tha t morning,Coali t ion spokespersons took the i rgloves off and went ar te r Carey."For over a year we have been waiting for the Governor to deliver onhis campaign promises," said Coalit ion chairman Michael McKee. "Bynow i t i s obvious tha t Hugh Carey'sword, a t leas t for the tenants ofthis s t a t e , i s worthless." Thetenant organizer also expressedconcern tha t Carey, in his ro le aschairman of the New York City Emergency Financial Control Board,might even be preparing to weakenor phase out the c i ty ' s rent c o n ~ t ro l program. The Coali t ion hasprepared a new statewide rent cont ro l b i l l which wouid replace thec i ty ' s present hodge-podge of rentlaws and bring controls to parts ofthe s ta te currently uncovered.The Coal i t ion 's proposed b i l l wouldes tab l ish a new agency, the State '

COmmission on Rents and Evict ionThe new law would be applicableevery municipality in the s ta tewhere the Commission determinedhousing emergency existed, and wreplace the various confl ict inglaws now in effect with one unifosystem. No automatic pass-througor vacancy increases would be alled; ra ther , owners would have toapply for increases and open thebooks to demonstrate the i r needincreases on an individual bui ldbasis . The Coali t ion maintainshas found solutions to the admins t ra t ive problems which have plagpast rent systems.Carey's Campaign Promises

At the press conference copies 'oCarey's 1974 campaign l i t e ra turewere distr ibuted; in l ea f l e t s , pstatements and posit ion papers ththen-candidate committed himselfthe repeal of vacancy decontrolan open book system of rent cont"Candidate Carey was a l l too eagto jump on the tenant bandwagon,declared Barbara Lea of the SyraPeoples Housing Coali t ion. "Hecr i t ic ized Governor Wilson for fing to support stronger rent conG o v e r n o ~ Carey, on the other hanonly ta lks to bankers and busineexecutives. He needs to l i s tena few tenants for a change."

Oppose Welfare CutsThe Coali t ion also blasted Careyproposal to eliminate the presensystem of f lexible shel ter granttheoret ical ly based on the actuacost of apartment renta l s , fo r HRelief recip ients in one- and twadult households. Carey wants timpose a "f la t grant" rent systemsimilar to the federal SupplemenSecurity Income program, which hbeen cri t ic ized as fal l ing shortthe actual housing costs of manyS.S.I . recip ients ."The only rat ionale offered forproposed cut ," said Coali t ion Se


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Com munity Deveopmen t :Lawsuit Planned

For the many community housinggroups tha t t e s t i f i ed at thepublic hearings in January andFebruary on the Amendment to theCity 's Fi r s t Year CommunityDevelopment Plan and on theSecond Year Plan, there was muchvalid cause for dismay and f rust r a t ion . More and more of thel imited federal funds, which theAct seems to say should be spentfor the housing and re la tedcommunity development needs ofthe poor and near-poor res identsof New York City (43% of ourCity 's households l ive on lessthan $6,000 a year and pay 35%or more of t he i r income for rentaccording to a 1975 survey bythe U.S. Bureau of the Census),are being al located for privatebusiness development, sewers inQueens and Staten Is land, seasideboardwalk rehabi l i ta t ion and otherpurposes tha t sound and smell morel ike pol i t i ca l pork-barrel payoffs than projects to help the .needy in a ci ty on the brink of"disas ter .And the biggest boondoggle of a l lseems to be the al locat ion ofhuge sums for HDA and City Planning Department "administrat iveexpenses." (We calcula te tha tHDA is get t ing for th i s purposean amount equal to more than onequarter of the aggregate appropriat ions for a l l of the communitydevelopment programs tha t it wil lbe administering.)Many community groups fee" tha twhat the ci ty is doing with thesefunds i s not only immoral andoutrageous, but also probablyi l l ega l .

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As Ruth Garcia of Adopt-A-Buildinsaid to the Board of Estimate onFebruary 10th, (and l a te r reportein the Daily News, February 11th"When you apply to the federalgovernment, you use the SouthBronx, Brownsville, the LowerEast Side to show how many poorpeople the ci ty has, but whenyou get the money, you use itfor Queens sewers and FordhamPlaza shopping centers insteadof for the areas that helpedget you the funds. That 's cal leda r ip-off ."Our many pleas for simple fa i r ness and just ice seeminglyfa l l ing on the deaf ears of theci ty fa thers , the communityhousing movement is planningfurther act ion. At a meetingof the Pra t t Conference Coali t ion(an ad-hoc organizat ion of community groups and individualswhich has been monitoring andcr i t ic iz ing the Community Development P ~ a n s since December,1974) held a t the Wilkie MemoriaBuilding in Manhattan on Feb. 6ththere was a unanimous vote by the100 persons present to invest igatthe poss ib i l i ty of a lawsuitagainst the U.S. Housing andDevelopment Department and theCity to prevent the ci ty spendingi t s block grant funds for purposes unrelated to the immediateneeds of i t s low and moderateincome res idents .Staff of the Association and thePrat t Ins t i tu te Center forCommunity and EnvironmentalDevelopment are beginning toconsul t with public in teres tlawyers (including attorneysassociated with Ralph Nader) tosee what can and needs to be don


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I f HUD and New York City aresued over misuse of federal com-munity deyelopment funds, it wil lnot be the f i r s t t ime. The in sensivi ty and pol i t ics -as -usua lat t i tude of our ci ty off ic ia ls 'are not so dif fe ren t , it seems,from loca l office-holders andbureaucrats elsewhere. And someof them, a t leas t , are get t ingthe i r proper come-uppance.Only l a s t month, a U.S. FederalCourt in Connecticut held tha tseven suburban municipali t iesoutside of Hartford cannot re ceive community development fundsunt i l they make provisions inthe i r Plans for housing forlow and moderate income pe'oplewho are now confined to l iv ingin substandard housing in Hartford 's i n n e r ~ c i t y neighborhoodsbecause those suburbs exclude them.That lawsuit was brought a t theinsis tance of a few progressivemembers of the Hartford CityCouncil, with aid from theNew York City-based SuburbanAction Ins t i tu te . We wil l beconsulting with that o r g a n i z a t i o n ~ and would welcome any New York. City Council members who want topart ic ipate in our legal act ion.Further developments wil l bereported in subsequent issues of"City Limits. '. Meanwhile, anyone interested in helping th i sef for t should contact Bob Schura t the Association or Ron Shif f man a t PICCED (622-5026).

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TENANTS COALITION (cont 'd)tary Kevin Sheehan, an organizerwith the United Tenants of Albany," is tha t i t would prevent home re -l i e f recip ients from obtaining l a r -ger shel ter grants than S.S.I . In stead of remedying the in just icesui'fered by aged, blind and disabledS.S.I . recipients , Carey wants toextend th is unfairness to other poorpeople. The anticipated savings often mill ion dollars is small compared to the size of the s ta te def ic i tand the to ta l cost of welfare programs, but the hardship on poor people would be severe."

Funds for Housing .GroupsOne of the Coali t ion 's major prior-i t i e s i s a b i l l to provide fundingfor non-profi t housing groups. Aswith any legis lat ion with a pricetag on i t this year, the b i l l is .pol i t i ca l ly di f f icul t to se l l ."Everyone agrees i t ' s a good idea,"said Will ie Chabrier of the Associat ion of Neighborhood Housing Developers, "but so fa r no l egis la torseems eager to take the pol i t ica lheat and f ight for the necessaryfunds." To demonstrate the needand .the poten t ia l benefi t the Associa t ion is planning a tour for'l egis la tors of a number of community housing organizat ions.The next mini-mobilization to Albanywil l be a Tuesday in la te March orearly April . Anyone interested ingoing should get in touch with KathySanders a t the Association (674-7610)or Barbara Chocky a t Lenox Hil lNeighborhood Assn. (744-5022). TheCoali t ion is also coordinatinggrass roots pressure on legis latorsin the i r home dis t r ic t s ; area-wideor borough-wide legis lat ive commdttees are being formed. Coali t ionlobbyists are avai lable to helplocal housing groupsorganize .thisgrass roots effor t ; they wil l meetwith local groups for planning purposes, and wil l accompany d e l e g a ~ t ions on vi s i t s to the i r local legi s l a to r s , i f desired. Get in touchwith Sanders or Chocky to discuss

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City Limits Magazine, March 1976 Issue

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Transcript of City Limits Magazine, March 1976 Issue