New Research: 601 Buildings with Vacant Condos Found in 9 NYC Community Districts

New Research: 601 Buildings with Vacant Condos Found in 9 NYC Community Districts

Monday November 02, 2009 | New York City

Brooklyn— In a survey of nine community districts across the city, Right to the City-NYC (RTTC-NYC) identified 601 vacant condominium buildings, according to new data released today. One hundred fifty members of RTTC NYC, a coalition of New York City community organizations, joined with elected officials today to call on Mayor Bloomberg, Speaker Quinn and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to convert vacant condos into permanently affordable housing for very low- income people.  

Over the last three months, hundreds of members and allies of RTTC-NYC conducted a canvass of 298 census tracts in districts in Downtown Brooklyn, Bushwick, the Lower East Side, East, Central and West Harlem, the West Village, Chelsea and the South Bronx. The coalition selected these areas because they are within communities where their member organizations are actively working. 

"Right to the City is working to document the full picture of empty condos and stalled construction in low-income communities," said David Dodge, the Right to the City Coordinator and one of the primary researchers on the project. "Right now, the City is not sufficiently documenting this problem, so this research fills an important gap in the existing data.  We are hoping the city will take a close look at these numbers and work with the Right to the City to make these vacant condos available to low-income people."

RTTC identified empty buildings in the six neighborhoods they surveyed: Downtown Brooklyn (CD 202): 126 Buildings; Lower East Side (CD 303): 116 Buildings; Bushwick (CD 204):108 Buildings; Harlem (CDs 309, 310, 311): 99 Buildings; South Bronx (CDs 101, 103): 93 Buildings; W. Village/Chelsea (CDs 302, 304): 59 Buildings.
 
In addition to the street survey, over the upcoming months, the RTTC-NYC will be working with the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy and the Urban Justice Center’s Community Development Project to conduct secondary research about the buildings, including vacancy rates, average price of units, owners, and foreclosure status.  
 
Speakers at the press conference cited the rapid development of luxury condominiums over the last several years—many in neighborhoods where low-income people live—and noted that, at the same time, the number of units that are affordable for low-income families has decreased precipitously.
 
"Thousands of units of vacant luxury condos are scattered throughout low-income communities in New York City," said Earline Fisher, a member of Community Voices Heard and the RTTC-NYC. "We ind it totally unacceptable that people are sleeping on the same streets that are lined with empty housing. We are here today to demand that Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council convert these  condos into housing that is truly and permanently affordable to low-income people."

Elected officials speaking at the rally noted the importance and timeliness of this research and the need  for bold government action to convert vacant condos in New York City.

"The luxury condominium steamroller has threatened to overrun low income and working families all throughout New York City. This survey helps to document the extent of the problem and provides a
foundation for the government to develop an aggressive policy that will transform vacant, market-rate units in to affordable homes," said Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and HPD have already allocated $20 million to convert some condos into moderate-income housing through the Housing Asset Renewal Program (HARP).  RTTC- NYC believes that while HARP is a good start, the program, in its current form, will be insufficient to ease the housing crisis facing low-income New Yorkers.

"HARP is a step in the right direction but it will not create housing that is really affordable to a low- income person like me,” said Jill Reaves, a member of New York City AIDS Housing Network/V.O.C.A.L. and RTTC-NYC. “A person that is making up to $69,000 a year is eligible for HARP.  I don’t make that kind of money. That does not sound affordable to me.”

Right to the City-NYC is asking the Mayor, Speaker Quinn and HPD to reform HARP by ensuring that the units converted through this program are permanently affordable to very low-income people.  Additionally, after the first year of this pilot program, the group is advocating for an increase in funding to ensure that more units are made available to those most in need of housing in NYC. Right to the City-NYC is an alliance of grassroots, primarily membership-based organizations working in low-income, immigrant and other communities of color in New York City.  Developing vacant condos into affordable housing is one of thirty-three demands included in their 2009 policy platform, prioritized because of the impact gentrification is having on low-income communities and because of the immediate impact this policy would have in improving the lives of low income people.


"RTTC NYC wants the city to convert these condos to curtail development policies that promote the gentrification of low income communities, and to address the current wave of displacement occurring in our communities,” said John Tyus a member of Families United for Racial and Economic Equality and RTTC-NYC.