DC 37 Housing Committee’s annual conference aims to increase affordable housing


As thousands of Big Apple apartment dwellers are being squeezed out by high rents and gentrification in neighborhoods from Baychester to Bay Ridge, the DC 37 Housing Committee is working to improve housing options for union members. At its annual conference April 26, DC 37 members learned to keep a roof overhead and break free of the city’s skyrocketing rent trap.

“This is a critical time in the struggle,” said DC 37 Housing Committee Chair Barry Jamison. “We have to fight to maintain the quality of life we deserve. And we want to make sure the gains we’ve made at the bargaining table are not swallowed up by ever-rising housing costs.”

At the “Challenge of the 21st century: building, managing and preserving affordable housing” conference, a daylong event at DC37 headquarters, housing experts discussed the union’s campaign with grassroots organizations like Tenants and Neighbors to renew and strengthen rent regulations set to expire June 15. Other topics included labor’s partnerships with banks, to make mortgages available, and with government, to increase the supply of affordable housing in the city, and a proposal to invest city pension funds to develop affordable housing for all New Yorkers.

Know what’s available
“The challenge to finding affordable housing is knowing what’s available and understanding how to qualify for it,” said Wesley Wainwright, senior vice president of the JP Morgan Chase Lending Unit. The bank cosponsored the conference and is the union’s partner in an Affordable Mortgage program, which to date has helped more than 600 union members become first-time homeowners. “Home ownership is the means to gaining access to capital and wealth,” he added.

Gentrification in the Bronx, Brooklyn and upper Manhattan is a growing concern for longtime community residents who are being pushed out and cannot afford the exorbitant housing costs. Housing committee members Ralph Carbone, the president of Rent Regulation Services Employees Local 1359, and Municipal Employees Legal Services Director Joan Beranbaum moderated panels that explored options including Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s $3 billion commitment to build more housing throughout the city over the next three to five years, as well as preserving and maintaining the city’s supply of affordable housing.

HPD Deputy Commissioner Kimberly Hardy noted that long or closed waiting lists for NYCHA, Mitchell Lama buy-outs and reduced subsidies for Section 8 vouchers have created barriers to affordable housing. “New York City’s severe housing crisis means apartments meant for two people are often being shared by two families,” she said.

Easing the crunch
To ease the crunch, the HPD has developed a matching funds program, Ms. Hardy said, which would give homebuyers who qualify up to $10,000 for a down payment to purchase a one-to-three family home in designated areas of the city. Additionally, HPD is planning to create 65,000 affordable apartments by building 27,000 new units and renovating 38,000 existing units in the five boroughs. To learn of new and renovated housing available citywide, DC 37 members can go to www.nyc.gov/hpd.

Guest speakers also fielded members' questions before the group dispersed for workshops on tenants’ rights and homeownership.

As the conference ended, Local 924 member Martin Velasquez and his wife, Julie, also a DC 37 member, said, “We now have more information qualifying for mortgages and opportunities for home ownership. It’s more than we’d ever learn if we went to a neighborhood realtor.”

“New York City is unique in that it’s a city of renters,” Committee Chair Jamison said. “The conference helped members know their rights as tenants, how to organize and make sure that affordable apartments exist and remain available. It also helped working families see homeownership is still a possibility.”

—Diane S. Williams