Affordable Housing

By: Alex Bustillo, Bernice Boateng, Jeannette Perez, Isary Gutierrez, Crystal Mordiglia

Issue/Problem/Community Needs

• Financial burden for residents

• Low income families

• Fixed income

• Gentrification

Financial Burden for Residents

• With the cost of living going up and employment wages not increasing, it has become very difficult for residents to keep their homes.

• Low income families making between $20,000 and $40,000 a year spend around 44 percent of their income on rent, when families spend more than 30 percent of their income for housing, they are already considered cost burdened. They may even have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation, and medical care, according to an article in the Huffington Post.

• Criteria's to be eligible is a concern for low income residents, with many families already on the low income category.

• People with disabilities also fall into the low income category.

Fixed Income Residents

• Fixed income residents are the elderly population.

• With the elderly population living on a fixed income, this

makes it difficult for them to afford an apartment in their

local residents.

• Without there being more affordable housing available, it

can lead them to be forced into nursing homes or having a

greater chance of becoming homeless with no where to live.

Gentrification• For every 100 low-income household, there are only 29

affordable rental units available.

• Local neighbors and residents are being pushed out of their

community because they can’t afford to live there anymore

• As families grow it is crucial or them to advance and move to a

place with more space, but with minorities not being able to

afford rent where they are currently living, this forces them to

move somewhere else.

• Gentrification causes a huge change in local communities because

residents are forced to leave because of unaffordable living prices.

Rent Regulated Housing• Rent- regulated housing is the single most important component

of New York City’s housing for low-income workers. More than a

million low-income families, with incomes below the poverty lines

live in rent-regulated housing, compared to a little over half a

million in public and subsidized housing combined.

• Under rent regulation, landlords cannot terminate tenancy

without good cause, even at the end of a lease agreement. They

also cannot increase rents to effectively terminate the tenancy of

tenants. Rent regulation can give tenants a higher sense of

security and provides tenants with greater affordability to ensure

them with a place to live.

Rent Regulated Housing Cont./Vacancy Decontrol

• Unfortunately, legal provisions threaten to affect housing units

that are vacant. Legal provisions for the deregulation of vacant

units, known as vacancy decontrol, and rising costs of rents in

general are decreasing the effectiveness of rent regulation and

the ability of promoting affordable housing.

Vacancy Decontrol

• Vacancy decontrol is legislation by the New York State legislature

and legislation by the New York City Council, which allows for the

deregulation of apartments when their legal rents reach $2,000 a

month during a vacancy. Because other provisions allow for large

increases during a vacancy, any apartment can be deregulated this

way. This situation has been a large part of the increased rates in

rental units across the state.

Vacancy Decontrol Continued…

• Since 1993 landlords have been able to deregulate rent-stabilized

apartments and some rent controlled apartments upon vacancy. By

applying the “statutory vacancy bonus” rent increase to the previous

stabilized rent and making “individual apartment improvements” to

the vacant apartment, they can raise the legal rent to $2000, at

which point it becomes deregulated.

• For Example: if an apartment renting for the median affordable price

of $910 becomes vacant, the legal rent for a two year lease, will rise to

$1,092 based on the vacancy bonus. The individual apartment

improvements can then add one dollar to the rent for every $40 spent

on improvements, so $36,320 worth of improvements will result in a

$2,000 legal rent and a deregulated apartment. And in these critical

times the market is calling for higher and higher rent increases and

can support an asking price of $2000 a month for a rental unit.

Why is Vacancy Decontrol a Problem?• This policy has generated substantial losses in the regulated

housing stock. This represents a rapid shift in a market that is

meant to be stabilized. Vacancy decontrol is impacting the

low-income and all of its surroundings. It has caused the loss

of an estimated 300,000 rent regulated apartments over the

past decade. And a shrinking affordable housing stock which

will lead to record numbers within homelessness.

Target for Change

What Can Help?

• Two policy responses are needed; One to eliminate vacancy

decontrol and one to slow the rent increases on the regulated

housing stock. Repeal vacancy decontrol and reduce allowable

increases on the regulated stock of affordable housing that’s

already out there. Let newer generations be able to join rent

stabilized units at prices that were once more favorable.

• Younger renters are affected greatly, as they were not settled in

before deregulation spread throughout the city, and now deal with

finding residency within units that were once affordable and now no

longer are due to the vacant units that landlords have increased the

monthly rent to unaffordable amounts for young renters.

• Way to attack the crisis would be by penalizing landlords for not

registering apartments and auditing major rent increases without

waiting for complaints from tenants, especially for owners who have

a history of fraud. And most importantly, build it! The most effective

way to create affordable housing would be to build it.

Solve the problem• Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 10 year plan• $41 billion to preserve and build 200,000 affordable housing units• Implementing mandatory zoning• Increasing the number of homes for the lowest income New Yorkers• Launching a new affordable housing program for middle-income New

Yorkers• Doubling the Department of Housing Preservation and Development

capital funding for affordable housing• Development of small, vacant sites• Rent deregulation and protecting tenants• Expanding affordable and supportive housing for seniors• Offering energy-efficiency in exchange for long-term affordability• Creating new strategies to prevent and reduce homelessness, and

develop additional supportive housing

Organizations

• Few organizations involved with Affordable Housing are:

• Habitat for Humanity New York City builds affordable homes with first-

time home buyers throughout the five boroughs. They also advocate for

more affordable housing in the city and have a housing justice action

center on their site.

• NYC Housing Connect is the city portal for searching and applying for

affordable housing opportunities in New York.

• The Metropolitan Council on Housing is a tenants’ rights membership

organization with the motto, “housing for people, not profit.” They have a

tenants’ rights hotline for questions and a number of housing initiatives to

strengthen tenants’ rights.

Public Opinion

• Consideration of public opinion is important to the housing

development planning process because such opinions not only

influence the funding selected by private and public entities,

but also the approval of necessary zoning permits, building

construction, and overall community acceptance.

• Public housing developers benefit from researching public

opinions prior to moving forward on a project because such

polling helps organizations navigate the preparation and

implementation process of the housing development, thus

reducing opposition and increasing public support.

• Affordable housing development faces many obstacles.

Securing funds, assigning resources, and navigating the

housing market are just some of the complexities that must

be understood and overcome in order to provide those in

need with affordable living. One of the greatest obstacles

can be overcoming negative public perceptions towards

public housing. It is fitting for affordable housing advocates

and developers to obtain public support if they desire to

pursue a project with the least amount of resistance and

delay.

Negative Perceptions of Affordable Housing• Generally, opposition to affordable housing as a whole is

referred to as “NIMBY”, which stands for “not in my backyard.” Individuals and organizations categorized as part of the NIMBY opposition resist the development of affordable housing in their community.

• There are many underlying reasons that a person may not support affordable housing in their neighborhood. Opponents may engage in a variety of activities to discourage the development of housing in their area, such as: picketing, circulating petitions, and contacting their local representative.

• The most common negative public perceptions regarding affordable

housing include: 1) fear of increase in crime 2) fear of decrease in

property value 3) the belief that affordable housing properties are

unattractive and poorly maintained and 4) an ideological view that

affordable housing recipients do not deserve assistance.

• The goal of this study was not to determine conclusively whether

such beliefs are valid, but rather demonstrate the importance of

understanding public opinion and what affordable housing

organizations can do to overcome such beliefs in order promote

affordable housing.

• Public opinion is a dynamic force with numerous influences and complexities that can make it difficult to predict and understand. Many factors influence a person’s views of affordable housing beyond the most common negative perceptions described previously. A person may support affordable housing generally, but not understand how affordable housing is a solution for societal problems today. It is also common for a person to support the development of affordable housing as an overall policy, but just not support development in their community. Another possibility is that an individual may support the goals of affordable housing, but have disagreements as to how development should be funded and what entities should distribute the assistance. Whatever the reasoning or misconceptions, it is important for affordable housing advocates to understand the public’s opinion prior to housing development.

Combating Negative Opinions of Public Housing• Having identified the most prevalent negative perceptions of

public housing, we will now address the remedies for overcoming such potential opposition. Methods for overcoming opposition to affordable housing can be divided into three general categories: education and information, negotiation, and lastly, litigation.40 After having completed the initial “litmus test” of public opinion, housing organizers are ready to create an action plan to overcome any negative perceptions revealed during initial polling.

• Educating the public with the facts of public housing is the greatest tool in overcoming negative public perceptions. Providing information dispelling the most common misconceptions and stereotypes associated with public housing can be very effective in smothering NIMBY fires. While some communities require specific knowledge related to crime rates or property value in order to accept public housing, the majority of housing opponents simply need information demonstrating the necessity of affordable housing in their area.

• Negotiation is another tactic with which developers can overcome neighborhood opposition to affordable housing. By welcoming community input, developers are setting the stage for cooperation rather than a prolonged defensive-offensive game. A “joint problem-solving approach” that includes the concerns and desires of the community are often successful in seeing affordable housing come into fruition. Adaptations in the size or style of housing being built are changes often requested among community members.

• In most cases, litigation is used as a last resort. After providing information and making efforts to negotiate with a community have failed to dispel opposition, affordable housing advocates may consider if there are any statutes that would support their attempt to revitalize a neighborhood. Organizations may be able to sue if city zoning codes are not being upheld, or if the refusal to allow the development of affordable housing violates anti-discriminatory laws.

STRATEGIES AND TACTICS

ADVOCACY PLAN• COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT• EMAIL, PHONE CALLS, LETTERS• TESTIFY AT PUBLIC HEARING• SOCIAL MEDIA• PAMPHLET• NEWSPAPER, RADIO OR TV STATIONS

IMPLEMENTATIONTAKING ACTION• ATTENDED:• MEETINGS• POSITION STATEMENT /LETTER• INDICATING OUR STAND ON THE ISSUE• ASKING FOR SPECIFIC SUPPORT • TO HELP US IMPROVE OR RESOLVE THE CURRENT SITUATION

SOCIAL MEDIA• SHARED ISSUES, ARTICLES, FACTS AND MORE• FACEBOOK• TWITTER• INSTAGRAM

JOINED THE COMMUNITY SERVICE SOCIETYhttp://www.cssny.org

SIGNED PETITION https://www.change.org/