city limits magazine, august 1978 issue

8/3/2019 City Limits Magazine, August 1978 Issue

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CITY LIMITSCOMMUNITY HOUSING NEWSAUGUST 1978 VOL. 3 NO.6

NEW SELF -HELP LOANAIDS POOR IN HOUSING

LEVENTHAL TO AIDES:'USE IT OR LOSE IT'

City Limits editors Bernard Cohen and Susan Baldwin interviewed HPDCommissioner Nathan Leventhal on July 24. The subjects includedHPD's plans fo r the management, rehabilitation and maintenance of thethousands of buildings the city is acquiring; the productivity of housingrehabilitation programs and the city's commitment to all of its neighbor-hoods. Excerptsf rom that interview follow.

Q. You worked in this department in 1972 and 73 underformer Mayor Lindsay. We'dlike to ask you how has the

by Susan BaldwinA gentle breeze blows down Man

hattan's Columbus Avenue fromthe high ground around the Cathedral of St. John that looms in thebackground. And, as his ManhattanValley neighbors enjoy this briefreprieve from summer's heat,Nidson ("Nelson") Martinez doeson-the-street repairs for a gypsy cabdriver and talks cautiously about thebold but untried plan to financehousing rehabilitation that he willsoon begin to test."We've been waiting two-and-ahalf years for this loan from thecity, and I don't think my family


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DIRECTLOAN continuedprogram was too costly, did nothing to leverage privatemoney and, therefore benefited too few buildings.Proponents of sweat equity have argued that other

loan programs with interest rates of more than one tothree per cent force rents out of the reach of poorpeople.The loan agreement will cover lOOper cent of therehabilitation costs and will be repaid over 30 years atone per cent interest. Dubbed "sweat-contractor

sweat," it permits tenants to undertake gut rehabilitation, using their own "sweat" labor at the beginning of .the job and for the finishing touches, while majorconstruction work is done by professional contractors.

"I have made the decision to issue the letter ofcommitment to 991-993 Columbus Ave., and theyshould be getting it very, very soon," said JeffreyHeintz, the newly-appointed assistant commissioner ofrehabilitation at the Department of HousingPreservation and Development (HPD).

"I know they are anxious to get on with the project,and I know it has been taking a bit longer to issue thisletter than we had expected," he explained, noting thathis department is in the process of developingprocedures and guidelines for the Direct Loan program .The final draft of these regulations will be published inthe City Record in August.

" I t seems as if we have been working with thesepeople for eternity, and I wouldn't blame them one bitif they started to believe this .[program] would nevercome off," said Charyl Edmqnds, the project coordinator at the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB), the advisory organization that developed the

Direct Loan program, Heintz explained, it that it wants .the program to avoid running into snags tha! mightrelegate it to the pile of other failed city prograI!ls thatonce seemed headed for success."W e see 991-993 as the prototype for the others,"Heintz said, "and we are hoping-beginning with the

letter of commitment, the development of theguidelines, our discussions of the tenants' responsibili-, ties for sweat equity, right up to and including signingthe building over to them- that we will move assmoothly and quickly as possible."Under this program, tenants will be responsible forthe demolition work on the site. A seed money loanfrom the Consumer-Farmer Foundation of $14,000 tocover demolition ($9,000) and initial architecturalexpenses ($5,000) will be granted with the issuance ofthe city's letter of commitment.

Upon completion of the demolition, the city andtenants will meet with the construction lender and set upthe timetable with the contractors for fundamentalsystems work in the building, and CommunityDevelopment funds earmarked for the project will beplaced in an interest-bearing escrow account. Tenantswill also place their first month's rent at the proposednew rate in an operational account.

The small, cramped, gutted apartments on the site,that once featured bathtubs in the kitchens and toilets inthe hallways, will be modernized into two duplexes andtwo five-room apartments for larger families and pairsof studios, two, three, and four-room apartments, for atotal of 12 units. The rents will range from $125 permonth for the studios to $225 for the duplexes.According to Heintz, no money will be advanced bythe city for the work until a permanent mortgage iswritten after the contractors' work is completed. Up to


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with a small income for their phase of construction.As recently as a year ago, Alexander Garvin, HPD's

former assistant commissioner of rehabilitation andhousing preservation, said of the Direct Loan proposal,"We're not considering a 100 per cent loan program andwill not consider it, because we just don't have enoughmoney."Although the city has expressed its willingness toexperiment with the Direct Loan program, proponentshave questioned its low funding priority in the CD IVbudget.

"In ou r most recent meeting, attended by a numberof groups and HPD officials," said Edmonds, "themayor even sent a letter requesting the guidelines for theprogram . . . We think this is fine, but I don't see howmuch can be developed in this direction and why he's sointerested if only $1 million is to be spent on DirectLoans . This certainly won't go very far."

The $1 million allotment in the CD IV budget toSweat Equity (Direct Loans) has annoyed numerouscommunity groups who were led to believe last year andduring the CD meetings earlier this year that the CD IVbudget was to include $5 million for Sweat Equityprojects.Asked by City Limits to comment on this drasticbudget cut, HP D Commissioner Nathan Leventhal hadthis to say in his recent tape- recorded interview with theeditors: "All of ou r numbers were somewhat reduced aswe went through the budget process, but we have thatmoney obligated in a lump sum . . . 1f sweat equity,which is a very difficult and complicated process, but ifsweat equity can use more than a million and participation loans less than we've projected it should use,then I'll put more money in sweat equity. I'm not boundin . Those numbers are just for general guidance as towhat makes up the lump sum . . . "

day's work, glad to talk about the program despite itspotential pitfalls."I want to believe them, the city, when they say they

will come down here with the letter," says Martinez, ashe does last-minute, delicate splicing and reassemblingof some fine wiring with his big, coarse hands and agilefingers. He looks up the street again and reiterates, "Allthey have to do is come here with the letter, and we'reready to start . . . All the poor people here in thecommunity want nice housing and this will be good forthe neighborhood."

An older man, Reyes Medina, who came here 22 yearsago from the town of Aguadilla in Puerto Rico and hasspent all his time between West 108th and 109th Streetson Columbus Avenue, comments on the past andfuture.

"It 's been 22 years for me on the block and 20 for myson . This is my New York and it is the same thing formy son and the family . . . New York. It's right here forus." 0City Limits learned on deadline that the letter of com

mitment for the city's first Direct Loan has been issuedto Martinez.


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SHIP STEERS UNCERTAIN COURSEby Bernard Cohen

Twenty-two families have been living in newly rehabilitated homes for free-some for as long as nine months-because of government's failure to complete the finalstep in an innovative housing program.The prolonged delay poses no immediate problem forthe home-owners-to-be. They are living in virtuallybrand-new housing without having to make mortgage ortax payments.Nevertheless, critics say the inability to finish off theSmall Home Improvement Program (SHIP) is troubling, particularly when the city says it recognizes howcrucial it is to have much more productive programs tomeet its growing volume of sub-standard housing.Coupled with the delay is a vagueness about the city'sintentions to continue SHIP. "W e have not made anydecisions about the future of SHIP at this point,"Assistant Housing Commissioner Jeffrey Heintz said.Arnold Tucker of the East New York DevelopmentCorp., a non-profit housing organization that hasplayed a substantial role in SHIP, said the programseems to be in limbo. "I don't see them pushing foradditional buildings," he said.

SHIP was launched last year when the city purchased26 HUD-owned homes in a 16-block area in the EastNew York section of Brooklyn. Contractors employedby the city have finished the gut rehabilitation of mostof the two- and three-family homes. East New YorkSavings Bank is providing the mortgage loans, whichare federally insured.The subsidy in the program is that the city pays thedifference between the actual cost of rehabilitation(approximately $50,000 per building) and the selling

) ... ,

Left to right: Rose Young, owner of 521 New Jersey Ave.;Susie Allen (in doorway) and Minnie Street, co-owners of 523 .half a dozen buildings not in the SHIP program aresporting new coats of bright paint, another sign that theblock is heading up.These women are among the more recent arrivals toSHIP buildings. Hazel Coward and her children move.dinto a home at 585 Wyona Boulevard in East New Yorklast November. She has been waiting to become agenuine home owner ever since.Most SHIP home owners intend to rent out the


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loan insurance commitment, without which the bankwould not provide the mortgage loans, has expired.FHA has renewed the commitment once and wasrecently asked for a second extension.

Tom Giles, HPD's chief architect for housingproduction, said 11 of the buildings received final FHAapproval in July. Ellis said she hoped closings on thesebuildings would take place in August.The delay has been particularly frustrating for Tuckerand ENYDC, which marketed the SHIP buildings.Tucker, a housing specialist, says that while the currenttenants have a good deal for the moment, the programneeds to go forward if the sharp decline of East NewYork is to be reversed." I t is frustrating to me as a black man that I have soldthese homes to black and Hispanic people under theSHIP program that, unless it continues, will have builtup their hopes using their limited monies with the 30-year debt on a dream that cannot be totally fulfilled,"Tucker said.Still in the wings is the East New York Savings Bank,which has committed $1.6 million for mortgages. "W eare concerned that here is a program for our area thatjust hasn't happened," said Paul B. Murray, presidentof the savings bank. He stressed the bank's continuedcommitment to SHIP, but added, "W e feel we're notthe ones who ought to push this. I t ought to be pushedfrom the other end. "The city is committed to rehabilitate 21 buildings inBrooklyn's Sunset Park section under a somewhatdifferent version of SHIP. Work began in May on thefirst two. The city may do 14 more buildings in East

New York, and there have been some reported discussions about trying out the program in Bedford Stuyvesant and in Jamaica, Queens.Heintz said that if the program is continued, it will

more likely adopt the Sunset Park model under whichthe city sold the buildings to a nonprofit communitybased housing organization, the Sunset Park Redevelopment Committee, rather than retain ownershipduring construction as in East New York. The advantage is the reduced role played by the city.Cost is the major factor in considering an expansion,Heintz said. The city had expected the buildings wouldcome in at about $48,000 each, but the actual coststurned out to be 10 to 20 per cent higher, he added.He and Ellis blamed the overruns on the difficulty ofpredicting expenses with rehabilitation, citing staircase.sand shot water and sewer connections as being morecostly than anticipated. Tucker asserted that the pricewas also driven up by the city's admitted slow pace ofpaying contractors for completed work.Despite the uncertainty over the future of the SHIPprogram, there is general agreement that it is potentiallya very useful weapon in the city's arsenal of housingprograms.

"From a housing strategy standpoint, SHIP is veryimportant," said Heintz, because it is not limited toprivately owned housing and because the loan coversacquisition costs (unlike the federal 312 low interestloan program, for instance).

"W e are in the process of evaluating SHIP, its impacton the neighborhood and its role in our overall housingstrategy," he said. 0Three adjacent SHIP buildings give this part of the block on New Jersey Avenue an almost elegant look that is spoiled by abandonedbuildings on both sides.


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GAITHER ASSUMES HELM OF ANHD

David GaitherDavid L. Gaither, an administrator with years of

experience in delivering social services tounderprivileged communities, is the new executivedirector of the Association of Neighborhood HousingDevelopers.His appointment to the post was effective June 7.Gaither also serves as project director of theAssociation's $5 million CETA VI (ComprehensiveEmployment Training Act) program.

Gaither served in this e x ~ c u t i v e capacity in Oaklandfrom April, 1912, until July, 1975. During that periodhe was instrumental in directing a seed money grant toOakland Rehab Inc., a non-profit community-basedorganization that specialized in the rehabilitation ofvacant properties in East Oakland and the restoration ofone and two family homes in West Oakland which,upon completion of the renovation, were sold to arearesidents at modest prices."I would like to see the same thing happen here insome of our communities," he said, noting that Oakland residents were able to buy rehabilitated homes inthe western section of the citY' with high ceilings andlarge, modernized kitchens for between $30,000 and$35,000 that look like they're worth $65 ,000."Funding for the rehabilitation of the homes camefrom HUD channeled through the local developmentagency and had FHA mortgage backing.Under Gaither's direction, the Community Resourcesoffice also set up a pilot urban outreach program in EastOakland, a neighborhood that many feared wouldbecome the" first abandoned area on the West Coast."This program offered such social services as legal aidassistance, health care, daycare for working mothers,and housing consultation.In his estimation, this depressed neighborhood wassuccessful in its struggle for better social servicesbecause it learned to influence public officials, privateinvestors, homeowners, and tenants to work hard forcommunity revitalization. While in Oakland, he followed an open (anti-executive session) policy andpermitted the local television station to cover his board


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CITY WILL ISSUE 'SIMPLE' LEASEHousing officials predict that by September 1 ahandful of city-owned buildings will have tenantsinstalled as managers under a newly-developed, simpleinterim management lease."I know of 25 buildings that are ready to go rightaway and of 50 or 60 buildings that are waiting to getinto the [management] lease program," said CharlesRaymond, deputy commissioner for property management at the Department of Housing Preservation and

Development [HPD]. "After the beginning of September, we are hoping to take in at least 20 new buildings amonth . . . We are shooting for 200 buildings in the program next year."September 1 is the deadline for the transferof all cityowned multiple dwellings from the Department ofGeneral Services (GSD) to HPD.To qualify for the interim lease agreement, tenants orcommunity groups acting on their own behalf would

have to submit a resolution signed by 60 per cent of thetenants supporting the idea of the interim managementleaseand a list of the tenants' names and apartmentnumbers; a certificate of liability insurance coverage,with the city as the co-insured, of at least $100,000 eachperson, $300,000 maximum and $50,000 propertydamage; and bylaws or articles of association listinggroup officers or meeting schedules of the organization.Acknowledging that 200 buildings is a small number,when estimates for the year of tax-foreclosed, In Remproperties range up to 25,000, Raymond asserted, "Iknow this is a drop in the bucket, but it is a start.

"When I first started work here [HPD], I was aware

repair of the buildings.At the present time, rents collected in city-ownedbuildings are paid directly to GSD's Division of RealProperty (DRP), which turns this revenue over to thecity's General Fund.Observers associated with the Task Force on CityOwned Property believe that OMB wants the city tocontinue to receive all rents, and remit them periodicallyto tenant management groups. Such a system wouldmake difficult if not prevent orderly administration ofthe buildings' budgets by tenant managers and couldlead to problems with their creditors, these observersmaintain."A s you can see," Raymond said of the plan to lettenant groups collect rents, "this is going to create avery large revenue problem even if you are only talking

about 200 buildings using their rent monies to run theirown buildings."According to Raymond's estimates, if 200 buildingswith an average of 20 units per building with rents of$100 each were to use the ren t rolls to run the buildingsfor one year, the loss to the city's General Fund wouldbe $4.8 million."The city naturally has a problem with this [proposal]as it is loss of revenue and also because we have beentalking to them about allocating some $23 million in citytax levy money to cover fuel and utilities for the

buildings," Raymond said.The Community Development IV budget for In Remproperties, approved May 23 by the Board of Estimate,


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7-A LAW GIVES TENANTS A WAYTO SEIZE A BUILDING-LEGALLY

by Margaret GillermanPart I of a two-part seriesAround the corner from the Canaan Baptist Churchin Central Harlem is a massive granite, brick and marbleapartment building called the Warwick. Its chiseledcornices and scrolled pillars belong to an age whenHarlem was a home for the prosperous and a choice sitefor land speculators.Upstairs on the second floor of the Warwick lives a70-year-old, soft-spoken Southern woman named LauraBatey. She has lived here, across the street from theHope and Love Florist, for nearly half a century.Mrs. Batey remembers when the nearby corner of116th Street and Eighth Avenue was not a marketplacefor young heroin junkies, before Harlem was tagged aslum, before the apartment building across the streetwas abandoned and boarded up.She also remembers when her own home at 92 St.Nicholas Ave.' began its steady decline, in about 1965.First the frills-the dumbwaiters and fancy gas lampsdisappeared. Then, non-essential services such aspainting, plastering and maintenance stopped. Finally,the landlord neglected to make emergency repairs .Tenants still talk about the day a young boy fell to hisdeath in the elevator shaft because the landlord forgotto replace the safety gates."Every year the building got more and more rundown, and nothing changed, and no one helped us,"Mrs. Batey remembers. "But we stuck together, becausewe're kind of a family at 92. We kept hoping all along

landlord.This takeover by a band of elderly black tenantsmost living on Social Security-was legal.Today, two years after the takeover, the tenants saytheir home is again a decent and relatively safe place tolive. It is more: 92 St. Nicholas Ave. is proof that ararely-invoked New York housing statute-Article 7-Aof the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Lawcan work. And throughout the city, a growing numberof tenants and attorneys, housing workers and community organizers agree that the little-known law meritsmore attention.Article 7-A gives tenants of apartment buildings theright to take their landlord to court and to demand aremedy for intolerable and dangerous living conditions.The statute, enacted by the New York State Legislaturein 1965, protects tenants on rent strike and then goes astep further.

I f tenants in a building can show that their landlordhas neglected to repair conditions that imperil "life,health or safety," an organized tenant group can ask theHousing Court to replace the landlord with an administrator approved by the tenants. The court then appoints an administrator to collect rents and use thefunds for repairs, fuel, utilities and maintenance.The administrator can also rent vacant apartments,bring dispossess proceedings against non-paying tenantsand delay payment of taxes until after all repairs are


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and 7-A administration continue.The statute says the building must revert to landlordmanagement after all repairs are completed. But thisnever happens, said Joseph Shuldiner, former directorof the Housing Litigation Bureau. "No building is everrestored to code compliance. Repairs are never completed and the owner never comes back."The number of 7-A buildings in New York is unknown. What statistics there are suggest that, until thisyear, the city did not promote the statute as a serioushousing remedy. Nor have the courts enforced the lawas vigorously as the legislature intended, advocates ofthe statu te charge.Harry Joslin, chief clerk of the Landlord-TenantCourt, estimated that only 212 Article 7-A proceedingswere initiated between October,1973 and June,1977. Ofthese, only 50 were initiated by the city. The rest werebrought by tenants. The city has never compiled recordson how many cases tenants won or how many petitionsreached trial. An independent survey of 135 Civil Courtjudges in 1972 showed that 75 to 80 per cent of petitionsfiled never reached trial.Bernard Hanft, who has brought more 7-A actionsthan any other individual attorney, charges that thosewho have power to promote use of 7-A "deliberatelywon't.""Look at the-8outh Bronx and the Lower East Side,"he said. "Why aren't there more 7-A's? Because ofgovernment funded housing groups and legal services,who won't advise tenants to file a 7-A petition, andbecause of judges who won't appoint an administratoronce a case comes to triaL"[Asst. Housing Commissioner CarlO. Callender saidthe city will be taking a more active role in seeking tooust irresponsible landlords through 7-A and otherprograms. Since March, four city attorneys have been

For the first time, tenants could take action to ' oustdeliquent landlords.Tenants on strike and tenants in buildings the landlord had abandoned had learned to pool their rents toobta in essential services. "But tenants needed someonewho could run things and contract for repairs withoutgetting ripped off," Schuldiner said. "What theyneeded was an administrator-and a law to protectthem from landlord reprisals."The law aroused controversy from the beginning."The statute, originally, was typical of middle-classlegislative nonsense, with built-in restraints on its use,"according to Schur. For instance, a tenant could not beappointed administrator, but a lawyer, accountant, realestate manager or even the landlord could.Amendments in 1974 drastically reformed the law,including a prohibition against appointing a landlord orlienor as administrator. The law now permitted tenantsto be appointed.Initial hostility remained, however. Many legalservices attorneys-those who would seem to be logicaladvocates of the law-refused to touch it. They said thestatute put an unfair financial burden on tenants-andgot landlords who caused the problems and the government, which should take over responsibility, of f thehook.Mary Zulack, director of Bedford Stuyvesant LegalServices, explained: "7-A holds out a promise to tenantsthat cannot be met. Anytime a building is so bad that ajudge will appoint a 7-A administrator, the tenants' rentprobably won't cover the major repairs that need to bedone. I f 7-A fails, the blame is put on the tenants, whodidn't cause the problem to beginwith."In addition, she said, a 7-A administrator can evicttenants as easily as a landlord.Another critic, Civil Court Judge Lester Evens, said


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LEVENTHAL continuedQ. This agency has changed its name from a develop-

ment agency to a development andpreservation agency.Is there a policy to follow a change in the name?A. Yes. We have brought together most of our rehabilitation programs in a new office called the office ofrehabilitation. We have a new assistant commissioner incharge of that. And we have a separate office now forneighborhood preservation and they work together. Interms of what is going on in the department of development now, most of the resources, if not all, are beingdevoted to rehabilitation and preservation of housingrather than new construction. So I think the organiza

tion of the agency reflects that plus we have a new officeof property management which reflects the fact that onSept. 1 we're going to take over the jurisdiction of allthe In Rem properties. And that is also in my judgmenta housing preservation program. Putting that in ahousing agency makes a great deal of sense rather thanin keeping it in the Division of Real Property, which isnot primarily geared to be a housing agency.Q. You mentioned the In Rem situation. We're

wondering, do you think the program will go into placesmoothly on Sept. I?A. Well, I think there's no question things arealready going into place but that on Sept. 1 undoubtedlythere will be a certain amount of confusion and certainamount of things not fully in place. That is one of themajor reasons I was hoping that we could get it untilApril first, an extension of the date, because that wouldbe after the heating season. The thing I am mostconcerned about frankly for the first six months of theprogram, since it is coming on Sept. 1, is that tenantswho are living in these city-owned buildings-regardlessof what their rent status is, whether they are on welfare

start the process all over again. But that is such aneducated guess-it's not even terribly educated becausewe found that the Man,hattan vesting was not as largeas we had originally anticipated because of the rate ofredemptions. We do not expect the same high level ofredemptions in the Bronx and no one really knowsabout Brooklyn.Q. When will the Queens vesting be finished?A. I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if it was wellinto the winter time. We are not in control of that. Myinterest is that it be either as rapid as possible so that wecan get them into the city system before the winter timeor that maybe it be after the winter. But that's probablynot going to happen. I t will probably be in the middle ofwinter. Weare taking steps, however, to try to head thatoff in the sense of boiler inspections. GS [GeneralServices Department] has a program called Operation Heat which is designed to look at as manybuildings as possible which appear to be going In Remand check the boilers and repair boilers, get ready forthe winter. I think I sense from both talking to electedofficials and by the community representatives thatcome to talk to me that they feel that the people we'vehired here, the people who are going to be running theprogram, care a great deal about the people who aregoing to be living in those buildings. And that whilethere are going to be mistakes and while there is going tobe inevitable confusion, that basically there is going tobe an administration that wants to see that the maintenance of these buildings is done in such a way that keepsthe tenants as comfortable as possible.

Q. There hits been a perception as long as the buildings were under DRP that that was not the case and Iwonder what you are doing to instill in the people youhire a different kind of attitude?


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A. We have decided definitely for a decentralizedstructure. We have locations for at least fourManhattan offices that we're negotiating for. I can't saywhere exactly, probably because we haven't negotiatedthe leases yet. I think Chip is working on locations ofsome Bronx offices now. The idea is to have people outthere, who know the community, who know the areasinvolved, who know the problems, who aren't perceivedas being downtown Manhattan bureaucrats when you ' retalking about housing in the South Bronx.

Q. Are the managers being trained to inform thetenants of all their options-that they can go into community management, that they could possibly sign alease?A. That is going to be largely the responsibility ofour management alternatives unit. They are going to bedeveloping a program to see that not only do we haveprograms as opposed to just city management of theproperty and limited involvement of the tenants. Rightnow the 'Rems' are going through a process of trainingwith the Housing Authority, which is essentially training in the nitty-gritty program of what it takes tomanage this type of property. We will have a wholeprogram to sensitize the real estate managers to thesealternatives once we're a little clearer on what thealternatives are. Right now I don't have to tell youabout the limited scope of our community managementand direct sales programs. One of the reasons we transferred that over into property management is to insurethat those programs really become an arm of the In Remprogram and that we channel tenants who are interestedinto those programs rather than have it in some otherpart of the agency.

Q. I understand that there may be about 150 or 200buildings that are in situations maybe throughout the

obviously too far gone for that and we ' re going toencourage tha t tenancies be consolidated and that whenwe have a program going in the building down the blockthat's 50 per cent empty and we have another buildingthat is really very far gone with three tenants in it we'regoing to try and encourage those tenants who want torelocate into the building that we think we can mount asuccessful program in.

Q. You're going to try and encourage or you're goingto move?A. WeB, we're going to try and encourage first.Q. Then?A. I believe that if our programs are successful we

should have minimal problems in convincing tenants.It's not like we are going to take a tenant in Brooklynand say, 'You're living in the South Bronx from nowon' or vice versa. But we are not going to be maintaininga building with 30 units and only two are occupiedwhich needs a new boiler. We are not going to be buyinga new boiler for that building. I mean that is an insaneprogram. We don't have the money to do that and weare not going to do that. I would hope we have a successful program that would mean the tenants want todo that because it would be moving into better housing.

Q. I think that the issue of how you are going todetermine the viability of a building is a crucial one andone that the people we're in touch with are veryconcerned with.A. We are going to be working with the samecommunity groups we have been working with from thefirst day we took over to work out those issues . Thething that has changed is that we do not come down onhigh and say 'here is how we are going to do it.' Thevery questions you're asking about are going to bedeveloped in conjunction with all the community groups


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Q. I' d like to bring up the productivity of the city'srehabilitation programs. In general the perception isthat both the housing rehab and loan programs fo r lowincome neighborhoods have pretty low productivity.This is an area we were led to believe you were not asfamiliar with as some of the other city housing pro-grams when you were here before. My question is, whathave you done to familiarize yourself with these pro-grams and do you see it the same way we do, which isthat they have too low productivity?

A. Well, there is no question that we are dissatisfiedwith those programs. Let me answer your question firstby saying that every 10 days or so we have a meeting inthis room. I call it a CD 3 meeting, but it's really aprogram meeting. A major criticism of this agency isthat we do not obligate our CD money. Last year wehad $22 million left over, unobligated, just lying there.Now that is unacceptable to me. I t is unacceptable to themayor. And so I have a meeting which I get all thecommissioners in and the program directors and I say,'What have you done with your CD money? Okay, youhaven't spent it? It's gone.' I'll give it to somebody whocan spend it. And that has a remarkable effect. It turnsou t that we start using our CD money a lot faster. Andwe now project that by the end of this program year,which is Aug. 31, virtually all the CD money will beobligated. And interestingly enough, for the first timethe only major unobligated funds will be in staff. That'sthe general view. I am intimately familiar with therehabilitation program. I t is fair to say the Article 8Aprogram is moving along at a very good pace. Theparticipation loan program by the end of CD 3, Ibelieve, you will see a major increase in the scope of theprogram and the number of units and dollars being putout there. We have spent months working with the

Q. Why do you say we don't have a communitymanagement program?A. Because I don't consider a program with under

100 buildings a program yet. We've got to haveprograms of quantity considering the housing problemswe have in New York. I'm not really interested inprograms of 100 buildings.

Q. How many programs-I mean participation loansyou don't have 100; 312 program you don't have 100;direct sales you don't have 100; direct loan you don'thave 100. You don't have too many housing programs.A. Well that's right. That's the idea. That's thedifference between what we're going to do in thisadministration and what was done in the past. We'regoing to have programs of volume consistent with themoney we have.Q. Are you taking a more active role in monitoringyour own programs?A. I am taking a very active role in the management

of every program in this agency.Q. Are you doing that personally?A. Bob Davis [deputy commissioner for operations]and I are personally going over every audit, reviewingevery draft response, meeting with every commissioner.I just finished a marathon series of meetings on settinggoals for the next year with every commissioner in thedepartment. I know every number. I go over everynumber of what their targets are for the entire year andwe're going to have monthly meetings and they aregoing to have to explain their discrepancies betweenwhat their goals were, what problems they're havingand what they were supposed to achieve. I think it is fairto say that my philosophy of management is a veryintimate relationship with the programs.Q. What effort are you making to hire minorities, to


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neighborhoods in this city. The ones that are strong wewant to keep strong; the ones that need help we want tohelp. And we're going to continue to do that.

Q. There is the feeling because of the mayor's toughstand for example on rent collection in city-ownedproperties without any sort of balance on the other siderecognizing how bad conditions are in some of thesebuildings, there is a feeling the mayor does not careequally about all neighborhoods.A. That is not, first of all, his position. The mayor'sposition is as follows: where the city is providingessential services rent should be paid; where the city isnot providing essential services, it should agree with acourt if necessary on a schedule for providing thoseservices in order to get rent payments. The mayor'position has never been and is not now that tenants whoare not receiving heat or hot water should be evicted ifthey don't pay their rent. 0

HPD GRANTS WAIVERFOR 590 PARKSIDEHP D has cleared the way for acceptance of 590Parkside Ave. in Brooklyn into the community management program.HP D Deputy Commissioner Charles Raymond

approved the building in mid-July, despite the fact thatthe rehabilitation cost is expected to be somewhat overthe limits normally set by the community managementprogram.

Raymond granted a waiver after one of his assistants,

NEW TENANTS RIGHTS MANUALA recently revised manual on tenants rights, writtenjointly by the Prospect Lefferts Gardens NeighborhoodAssociation in Brooklyn and the city's Commission on

Human Rights, is available at no cost.The 58-page booklet explains tenants' rights an d

landlords' responsibilities under the law and describeshow to research vital information about a building.It also covers protection of tenants rights includinghow to form a tenants association and determine strategies. An appendix lists organizations that assist tenants

and shows samples of important forms.The manual is available from the New York City

Human Rights Commission Neighborhood Stabilization Program at 52 Duane St. in Manhattan. The telephone number is 566-5569. 0

CO-OP BANK PASSESThe U.S. Senate has given its approval to creation of

an independent national bank for consumer cooperatives, and President Carter is expected to follow suit.Supporters of the legislation say that the National

Consumer Cooperative Bank, which will providesubstantial financial and technical assistance to all kindsof cooperatives, could be operational by next spring.

The Senate approved the legislation 60 to 33 on July13. The bill must go back to the House of Representatives, which passed a somewhat different versionlast year.The legislation authorizes $300 million over five yearsfor loans to stimulate the creation and growth ofhousing, consumer goods, health, energy, food, credit


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_CITY LIMITS.published monthly by the Association of Neighborhood Housing

Developers, Inc., 115 East 23rd Street, New York, New York 10010(212) 674-7610

Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bernard CohenAssistant Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Susan BaldwinDesign and Layout ................................ Louis FulgoniCopyright 1978. All rights reserved. No portion or portions of his News-letter may be reprinted without the express wrillen permission of theAssociation of Neighborhood Housing Developers. Inc.

HPD APPOINTSIN REM CHIEFSWith an eye to strengthening its newly formed office

of property management, HPD has created two newadministrative positions to oversee the influx of cityowned buildings, City Limits has learned."We were under the gun to set up a department that

could handle this new critical workload," said DeputyCommissioner Charles Raymond, "and for this reason Idecided to set up my department this way, with threeassistant commissioners."Charles Poidomani, formerly of HPD's seal-up anddemolition unit, will serve as assistant commissioner ofIn Rem housing, and head up an administrative staff ofabout 20.Philip St. Georges, the 27-year-old director of theUrban Homesteading Assistance Board, and a formerHDA employe dealing with low income cooperativeconversion and sweat equity, will ' become assistantcommissioner of property management alternatives and

Property at the Department of General Services tobecome director of In Rem operations for Manhattanand the Bronx, under Poidomani. An In Rem directorfor Queens and Brooklyn remains:to be chosen. 0ARTICLE 7A continueddecent housing they wouldn't otherwise have. "What'sdecent housing? Ask any tenant. It's heat, hot waterand electricity on a regular basis. It's seeing repairsmade when they have to be made. Fair rents and controlover how you live your life."

It is an effective approach to coping with decay andabandonment, other advocates say. "Article 7-A is thecheapest, most efficient housing remedy the city couldhope for," said Schur, who has also directed non-profitneighborhood development agencies. "It not onlyprotects tenants from landlords who refuse to takeresponsibility for buildings. And it not only saves thecity's buildings. It saves the city money."For some tenants, like those of 92 St. Nicholas Ave.,self-management is a way of life. The story of Mrs.Batey's struggle for decent housing began when theelevator man told her the landlord was giving up thebuilding. 0 Continued next monthCOMMUNITY MGT. AUDITThe city comptroller's office is wrapping up an audit

that will attempt to weigh the effect of the communitymanagement program on housing conditions and neighborhood stabilization.The audit, different from an earlier study of fiscalprocedures in the community management program, isexpected to be completed in August and released in


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Grand Opening-Allan Thaler, right, the architect fo r 927 Columbus Avenue, Manhattan, points out apartment detail to neighbor LillianFinn and to Joe Cruz, project coordinator for the Manhattan Valley Development Corp. (MVDC), which recently co mpleted the 12-unit gutrehabilitation to house low a nd moderate income tenants. Rents range from $125 for studios to $225 for two-bedroom units. A crew of 10trainee-laborers and their supervisiors were paid throughout the one-year project by a $150,000 grant from the city's Criminal JusticeCoordinating Council, in a joint program devised with the Association of Neighborhood Housing Developers to train ex-offenders in theco nstruction trades. MV DC invited the neighborhood to celebrate the opening of 927 Columbus with a dinner party on July 13 and guidedtours of the building.

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Association of NeighborhoodHousing Developers Inc.115 East 23rd Street New York, N.Y. 10010

IN THIS ISSUE First Direct Loan SHIP Leventhal Interview.7 -A Simple Interim Management Lea ses

NON-PROFIT ORG.U. S. POSTAGEPaidNew York, N.Y.Permit No. 3372

city limits magazine, august 1978 issue

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