City Limits Magazine, December 1988 Issue

December 1988
$2.00
C I T Y S Q U A N D E R S F E D E R A L A I D ? D P O R T R A I T O F A N O R G A N I Z E R
M A Y O R S A Y S N O T O A R V E R N E A F F O R D A B L E H O U S I N G P L A N
Tell it to
the Judge
2 CITY LIMITS December 1988
Citv Li",its
Volume XIII Number 9
City Limits is published ten times per
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Association for Neighborhood and Hous-
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Pratt Institute Center for Community and
Environmental Development
Urban Homesteading Assistance Board
Board of Directors'
Bonnie Brower. ANHD
Harriet Cohen. Community Service
Society
Robert Hayes. Coalition for the Homeless
Rebecca Reich. UHAB
Andrew Reicher. UHAB
Richard Rivera. Puerto Rican Legal
Defense and Education Fund
Tom Robbins. Daily News
Ron Shiffman. Pratt Center
Esmerelda Simmons. Center for Law and
Social Justice
Jay Small. ANHD
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City Limits (ISSN 0199-0330)
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Editor: Doug Turetsky
Business Director: Harry Gadarigian
Contributing Editors: Peter Marcuse.
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Copyright e1988. All Rights Reserved.
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City Limits is indexlld in the Alternative
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Cover illustration by Maria MaHala
EDITORIAL
A Thousand Points of Light
Go Out. .. On Strike!
George Bush, President Elect
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C.
Dear Sir:
Representing several'of the "thousand points of light," we have noticed
that many words were spoken during the recent election but little was
said about the issues we struggle with daily. The nonprofit and voluntary
agencies active in day care and health care, housing and hunger, drug
and alcohol rehabilitation, economic development and social ser-
vices - the thousand points of light - are only visible because the
bright light of federal support and programs has nearly been extin-
guished over the past eight years.
You recently said, "When I said I wanted a kinder, gentler nation, I
meant it." Those are hopeful words. But when you also state that your
first priority is aid to the contras and pledge to continue the ReaganlBush
record, there is ample reason to doubt the type of actions you are plan-
ning. Let us suggest a different plan of action:
1. Political Leadership. We need a leader that makes hard choices
and legislative proposals - not speeches. A leader that understands
that in our economic system if some become wealthy others will , by
necessity, be poor. A leader that does not equate poor people with
"welfare cheats" and catsup with a vegetable.
2. Government Programs. The federal government must get back
in the "business": the business of social services, education, housing,
health, day care, jobs and the myriad of programs that define a caring
and compassionate nation. A nation determined to bring the benefits
of its affluence to all its citizens.
3. Support for Local Nonprofit and Voluntary Agencies. The
"thousand points of light" figured brightly in your campaign rhetoric.
Having recognized their value, you must now encourage them with your
leadership and financial support. Now is the time to support your vision.
These agencies will continue to shine even when government support
is switched on. And it should be your goal that the federal government
will never again abrogate its responsibilities, leaving only the "thousand
points" to light the way for the nation's poor and disenfranchised.
We in New York are used to politicians who speak their mind out
loud, even when no thought is included. We are not good at lip reading.
Maybe we missed something during the campaign and your lips said:
"In the Bush administration, being poor in America will not mean living
in poverty."
But we think not. Maybe the "thousand points of light" need to go
on strike on the day after your inauguration, January 21, and come to
the Capitol to shine their light on your new home. Maybe the brightness
will help you see the darkness across the rest of the country. 0
.....X.523
INSIDE
FEATURES
When Communities Tell it to the Judge 12
Community and homeless advocates are turning to the
courts to make the city and state respond to local needs.
But it can be a slow, painstaking process.
DEPARTMENTS
Editorial
One Thousand Points of Light Go Out...
On Strike! . . .. ..... .... ................. 2
Short Term Notes
Housing Action Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 4
Tenants Appeal MCI Ruling ... . ........... 4
City Ups Ante . ..... ........ . ........... . 4
Feds Threaten Tenants' Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Homeless Groups Sue Feds ... ; ............ 5
Neighborhood Notes ......................... 6
Pipeline
Battle for the Beach . .. . ... ...... . . . ...... 7
City Views
Bringing Community-Based Development
Home ... ........ .. . ..... . ............. 20
Letters ................................... 21
Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 23
December 1988 CITY LIMITS 3
Portrai t/Page 9
LawsuitslPage 12
SubsidieslPage 16
SHORT TERM NOTES
HOUSING
ACTION WEEK
Manang the beginning of an
effort to make housing policy
one of the primary issue5 in the
1989
Housing Action Week will
include a citywide series of
events starting Dec.-nber 10th
and culmi nata with a mass
march on Dec.-nber 18th. Initial
plans for the weeldong action
wwe announced in OCtober at
a rallyf.aturing the Rev . .Jesse
JacksOn.
The principle behind
Housing Action Week is that
running for
municipal office has to respond
todemOndsfora housing
agenda,. says Paul Gorman, a
co-coordinator of the event.
neighborhood forums
and rallies by local
and citywide housing and
homel8ssness groups, Housing
Action Week organizers plan 10
distribute educational mat.rials,
recruitvoluntaers and regislar
voWs for the 1989 elections.
The neigl:lborhood rallies will
focus on such issues as acceler-
ating the renovation of city-
owned apartments and target-
i ng those apartments for loWer
income famit .. s than under the
city's plans, anti-
legislation,
stronger t8nant protection rules,
stricter enforcement of housing
codes and opposition to disin-
YeStment from poor communi-
ties.

Action on ssness and
Housing and WBAI, Housing
Action Week is support.d a
wide range of hoUsing and
homeIessness advocacy groups,
religious institutions and Distrid
Council 37 and Local 1199 of
the Drug, Hospital and Health
'1t'sa
level of cOalition and collabora-
tion that I haven't seen before,
says Gorman.
He is corefulto explain that
the organizers are !,ot seeking
10 form
group. Gorman describes the
action week coordinators and
voIuntaers as a 1Ioating rank
and file providing Han instru-
mentfor unitY' amang the
existing advocacy groups.
"This many thinking
about housing In the context of
the 1989 elections is v!!y prom-
ising, Gorman. U Doug
TuretskY
TENANTS APPEAL
MCIRUUNG
for the Ansonia
Residents Association chal-
the permanency of
Malor Capital Improvement rent
hikes last month in the Appellate
Division of the First Distrid.
lower court judge Cannen
Ciporick had previously ruled
that the MO rent hike al?proved
by the state's Division of Hous-
ing and Community Renewal for
Ansonia Associates, owner of
the landmark Ansonia Hotel on
73rd St. and Broadway, was
permanent.
Tenant lawyers argued
before the aPP!lllate jUc:bts that
once the cost of the
paid for the
rent should be rolJed bock 10 the
previous level. David a
lawyerwith Carlson & Ng,
which is representing the tenant
group, pointed 10 the use of the
word 'amortized' in the MCI
law. Amortized, he Iold the
court means the expense
shou(d be paid off over a flxed
period of time and does not
imply permanency.
Lawyers for the owners and
DHCR responded that if MCI
rent hikes are not permanent
there is no incentive for land-
lords 10 make improvements.
Since the improvements were
permanent, ihey.continued, the
rent hikes should be permanent
100.
Ng that a perma-
nent increase hod the adverse
effect of encourc:'9irv landlords
10 let buildings detenorate in
order 10 qualify for the MCI
hike. Ng also noted that there
are a number of lax abotement
and credit programs that al-
readv make it financially attrac-
tive fOr landlords 10 im-
provements 10 their property.
Additionally, an im-
provement 10 a building signifl-
contly increases its market
value.
Two similar cases are also
now winding their way through
the courls. In a separate action
brought by Ansonia tenants,
tourt Judge Kristen
Booth Glen ruled that MO's
were not permanent rent hikes.
The Bryant Avenue Tenants
Association has also flied a case
challengi ng the permanency of
their Me-liased rent hike (see
sloryon 12). "Whatwe're
after is a definitive interpreta-
tion of the law,'" says Andrew
Scherer, an atlomeywith Com-
munity Action for Legal Serv-
ices.
The appellate court ruling on
the Ansonia Residents Associa-
tion suit will be eriticallo these
other cases. That decision is
currentlY pending. D G.,da
Gould
CITY UPS ANTE
To encourage more land-
lords 10 rent ap,:artments 10
homeless families, city officials
are working on plans 10 restruc-
ture the Emergency Assistance
Rehausing Program by increas-
ing flnancial incentives and
relaxing requirements 10 flx
housing code violations. Unat-
tractive rents and long bureau-
cratic have been blamed
for keeping landlords out of the
program, which is run by the
city's Human Resources Admini-
stration.
Under the proposed revi-
sions, federal Section 8 subsi-
dies will boost rents 10 market
value. o.....ners would continue
10 receive a one time "supple-
menr determined by the home-
less familY s size. For renting a
three-bedroom apartment 10 a
family of four, a IOndlord would
be pOyed about $650 in
montl1ly rent and a $9,800
supplement. Spread out over a
32-month period, the length of
the lease, the rent and supple-
mentwould anountlo abOut
$956 monthly.
Peter Smith, president of The
Partnership for the Homeless,
has long advocated for increas-
ing EARP rents 10 entice more
bUilding owners inlo the pro-
gram. "t should bring in a lot
more landlords,'" he says. "Ten
times the apartments need
10 clear families out of the we/-
fare hatels are out there," Smith
says.
Participating landlords
currently receive the bonus and
the maximum public assistance
shelter allowance. For a family
of four that amounts 10 $312, a
rent 100 low to spur interest
among private owners. ''They
can't operate the building on
public assistance rents,'" says
Rebecca Weiss of the Urban
Homesteading Assislance
Boord.
With the introduction of
federal Section 8 subsidies 10
boost rents to market value, a
third player would enter the
EARP program-the New York
Ci!Y Housing Authority. Before
admitting an apartment inlo the
pre>gram, the housing authority
will do an inspection. That role
is played by the city's
Department of Housing Preser-
vation and Development. Many
advocates welcome the switch,
given that the delay-ridden HPD
inspection process often pushes
away even the most determi ned
landlords.
half the supple-
ment is contingent on the re-
moval of the building's housing
code violations. But getting
inspectors to follow up, espe-
cially duri ng the wi nter season
when heating complaints drain
the unit's manpower, is often
difficult. ','ve heard of four 10
six months for delays," says Bill
Groth of the Single Parent Re-
source Center. Many landlords
enrolled in the program simply
give up.
In addition 10 speeding
inspections, the pIOns under
discussion call fOr relaxing some
standards. Instead of requiring
a violation free buildi ng, just the
EARP apartment will be
checked. ''The building could be
a dump as long as the apart-
ment is o.k.," says Verone
Nelson, a supervisor in HPD's
Ag,..."."t Compliance Unit.
Most housi ng advocalas are
taki ng a wait and see attitude.
"The program has been around
a long time and tMre have been
a lot Of UP.' and downs,' says
Groth. "They're tryi ng 10 wOrk
out the kinkS because they're
trying 10 keep it alive.'
HRA officials would neither
confirm nor deny that any of
these changes are in the Works.
o
FEDS THREATEN
TENANTS' RIGHTS
New l'"fI!9ulations drafted by
the federal Department of Hous-
ing and Urban
would drastically change the
agency's lease and grieYance
procedure for lenants in public
housing, advocates chorge.
"The rwtW regulations attempt 10
eliminate 2O,years of long and
hard fought for lenant protec-
tions,' says Roberta Youmans of
the National Housing Law
Project.
Th. regulations
would .nd the administrative
l1I'Vi ..... process and give local
housing authorities greater
latitude for evicting tenants. In
addition, tenants would no
longer be able 10 file grievances
CJ9<:Iinst their local housing
authority for failure 10 provide
services. The rwtW HUD regula-
tions from recommenda-
tions by George
Bush's task force on regulatory
reli.f.
But some think the proposed
regulations are mare than just
P.Ort of deregulation. "W. see
that (the I?ropos8d regulations)
as part of the general scheme of
moving tenants out of public
housing and privatizing the
public housing slock,' Jim
Haughlon, chairman of the
National Tenants Organiza-
tion's legislative committee.
Th. proposed regulations
would alloW eviction of a lenant
who's guest breaks housing
authority rules and alters lease
succession so family members
are not .ntitled 10 Hi. apartment
if the p8!"SOn named on the lease
d"1eS. Other proposed changes
include the local
housing authOrities sole discre-
tion for transfaring tenants 10
another and
rent hikes efr.ctive immediatelY..
Youmans says the
regulations were deY81op8d
primarily by HUD and the Na-
tional Association of Housing
and Redevelopment OfficialS,
without input from public hous-
ing t.nants or advOcates. "Itwas
basically done behind closed
doors,' she
NAHRO has alreacly P.Jb-
lished a book on how public
housing officials can implement
the n .....
Youmans. The association sells
the book for $12510 nonmem-
bers.
Th. National Housing Law
Project won a temporary re-
straining order in laderal court,
blocking HUD's plan 10 put the
regulations in effect last manth.
Hearings on the regulations
have also been
o Doug Turetsky
HOMELESS
GROUPS SUE FEDS
Homeless advocates seeking
10 force the federal government
10 meet its obligation 10 house
the homeless won one and lost
on. recenrly in federal district
court. As a result, the
ment may hav.1o provide
additional federal buildings for
homeless sh.lters, but does not
have 10 make availabl. fore-
closed housing units 10 local
governments and nonprofit
organizations for use by the
hom.less.
Although the National Coali-
tion for the Homeless won an
initial victory in its suit against
the for failing 10
provide unused federal proper-
ties suitabl. for the homeless,
litigation will cantinu. against
the Department of Housi ng and
Urban Development, accoi-di ng
10 Maria Foscarinis, the coali-
tion's Washinglon, D.C. -based
counsel. "HUD is doing every-
JI ... Dorsey calls City HaD Park ho ... o:
City ollie"" fooi 1ft. ".,.",1",. 01 lit. Ito_'." JlTOUp Ho",_arcllou"cI
tall _II", '"" "., ww '0 COII""U. lit. pro,"' "'., "tall 0" Ju"o r.
thing it can 10 get around the
McKinney Act and is cantinuing
10 break the law,' charges
Foscarinis.
On Seplember 30th, U.s.
District Court Judge Oliver
Gosch issued a preliminary
injunction prohibiting HUD and
other govemment agencies from
disposing of federal properties
until they comply with the
St8'Nart B. Mckinney Act, which
requires federal agencies 10
make available unused or
underutilized federal buildings
10 lacal govemments or non-
profit organizations for use as
homeless shelters. "The bottom
line is that the law soys
ment buildings can't stand
vocant as long as people are
homeless soys Foscarinis.
In its class-action suit on
behalf of a homeless N8'N York
City man and three other non-
profit the coali-
tion cited the fact that since the
McKinney Act look effect in
1987 the govemment has
identihed only 12 properties as
suitable forfue homeless and
made only four of these avail-
able for use as homeless shel-
ters. The coalition presented a
govemment list of more thon
1.300 Pr0..P-8rties and thousands
01 acres of federal land desig-
nated as unused or unwanted
by various federal agencies.
The list, which Foscarinis notes
is justa partial invenlory of the
properties available, includes
700 acres of land and 7010 80
buildings in N8'N York Stale.
Th. coalition will rerum 10
court December 5th for a fi nal
judgement on the case, but
not wait that long 10 seek addi-
tional judicial relief. HUD re-
cenrly issued new criteria 10
exclude the bulk of federal
property from the McKinney
law, soys Foscarinis, indicating
that rwtW actions may be filed as
City Umits goes 10 press.
In a suit filed by the
National Housing Law Project,
Judge Gosch rej8cted the argu-
mentthotthe law requires HUD
10 make available 10 the home-
less some of the private proper-
ties foreclosed under its Federal
Housing Administration mort-
gage insurance program rather
than selling them on ille open
market.
Judge Gosch ruled thot the
properties foreclosed by the
FHA are not govemment prop-
erty and thus not subject 10 the
requirements of the McKinney
Act. But Gosch's ruling
the NHLP did leave the door
open for additional legal action.
He said that the group had
raised serious questions about
HUD's pal icy of disposi ng fore-
closed FHA properties solely 10
maximize profit on them (see
City Umits, December 1987).
This n:IOY not comply with HUD's
mandate under t+ie National
Housing Actio provide safe,
dec.nt and affordable housing
for all Americans.
National Housing Law Proj-
ect attomey Roberta Youmans
says the group plans 10 appeal
the decision. But Youmans
notes thot the NHLP suit would
affect relatively f ..... properties
in the N ..... York City area be-
cause there are f..... FHA fore-
closures in the city. Texas and
Colorado lead the nation in
FHA foreclosures by a wide
margin. 0 Christina
Ro .. omando
The BroDl[
Prospective mayoral candidate
Richard Ravitch has been picked by
borough president Fernando Ferrer to
head a group that will produce re-
commendations for a long range de-
velopment plan for the Bronx. Ferrer
also selected Bernd Zimmerman, for-
merly head of the city planning de-
partment's Bronx office, to become di-
rector of the borough president's new
planning office. Zimmerman had
been working on a major South Bronx
redevelopment plan that critics
charge will cause displacement of the
area's poorest residents (City Limits
May 1987) ...
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice
Diane Lebedeff has put a crimp in
plans for Tibbets Gardens with her
decision that an additional Environ-
mental Impact Statement is required.
The original plan and EIS did not in-
clude a school. The City Planning
Commission had said the additional
EIS for the school wouldn't be neces-
sary, but the judge disagreed. In a
separate decision, Judge Lebedeff
ruled that there is nothing wrong
with the city's use of capital funds to
subsidize the middle income project.
Brooklyn
An investigation by the Human
Rights Commission has found no
proof that Hasidic Jews have a block-
busting plan for Crown Heights.
Local black residents have com-
plained that Jewish residents aggres-
sively solicit black owners to sell
their homes. The commission sees no
evidence of any organized effort by
real estate brokers or agents to push
blacks out. Findings of an organized
plan by real estate professionals is
necessary for the legal definition of
block-busting. Private individuals
soliciting owners to sell their homes
is not, by definition, block-busting.
Manhattan
A moving-in ceremony was held
last month at the Cube Building, the
nation's first co-op renovated espe-
cially for homeless families. Located
on the corner of Second Avenue and
First Street, the formerly abandoned
city-owned building was rescued by
the Cooper Square Community De-
velopment and Businessman's As-
sociation. The city sold the building
to the group for $11,000 two years ago.
Funding for the $2.2 million renova-
tion came from a $1.3 million state
grant and a $800,000 interest-free
loan. The building is home to 22
families who bought their apartments
at prices ranging from $477 to $750
and will pay monthly carrying
charges of $275 to $301. The Urban
Homesteading Assistance Board will
conduct workshops to aid the new
co-opers in managing their build-
ing ...
Congress has deferred a special pro-
vision in the 1986 Tax Reform Act that
gave the Riverwalk project some $45
million in tax breaks. Sponsored by
Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the
provision defers the part of the 1986
act that preserved the old investment
tax credit and accelerated deprecia-
tion rules specifically for Riverwalk.
The special tax benefits had been
sponsored by Long Island Con-
gressman Tom Downey at the request
of Mayor Edward Koch (see City
Limits, August/September 1988). The
Moynihan provision defers these be-
nefits indefinitely.
Queens
Members of the United Civic Coun-
cil of Queens have expressed dismay
at the planning commission's failure
to address the problem of over build-
ing in some borough neighborhoods.
Residents of neighborhoods where
small homes predominate but zoning
allows for bigger buildings are upset
because developers are buying homes
on adjacent lots and demolishing
them to make way for apartment
house construction. Civic association
leaders say their communities do not
have the services to handle the addi-
tional residents.
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PIPELINE
Baffle for the Beach
ket-rate development outlined in
their Request for Proposals will gen-
erate $200 million in tax revenue to
city coffers and the development will
produce $40 million in annual taxes.
But QCO member Father John
Amann believes such projections are
a smokescreen. "All of a sudden the
tax base is so important," says
Amann, noting that the land has sat
dormant for 24 years. Amann and
other QCO members believe that city
officials see the Arverne site as a de-
veloper's plum - too good a site for
working-class housing.
BY DOUG TURETSKY
FOR MORE THAN TWO DECADES
a windswept piece of beachfront
known as the Arverne Urban Re-
newal Area has sat vacant. That same
308-acre site on the Rockaway penin-
sula in Queens is now the stage for a
high-stakes development battle be-
tween the city and a church-based
group wanting to build 3,200 units
of affordable housing.
Last month, Mayor Edward Koch
announced plans to sell the site-
the largest the city owns - for mar-
ket rate development. But the Queens
Citizens Organization, with the back-
ing of Bishop Francis Mugavero, in-
tends to fight that decision and push
ahead with its own plans for the site.
Developer LD. Robbins , whose
Nehemiah-style housing in Brooklyn
has become a national model for af-
fordable housing construction,
would build the homes.
Using a $300 million price tag for
mandatory infrastructure improve-
ments and a $25 million opening bid
for the land, the city has sought to
cut QCO out of the running for Ar-
verne. City officials say money raised
from the sale of the Arverne site will
be used to build subsidized housing
elsewhere, beginning with 800 to
1,000 units in nearby Edgemere. But
QCO organizer Mike Gecan says,
"There isn't room for 800 to 1,000
units and they know it. There's only
room for 475." He believes the city
is pulling a calculated bluff. "They
don't want it to look like a seat on
the back of the bus."
Riding shotgun now are plans by
eight other developer teams. They re-
sponded last year to the city's request
for expressions of interest for build-
ing in Arverne (see City Limits, De-
cember 1987). Among them are al-
liances of some of the biggest and
most politically-connected names in
real estate development - the Zec-
kendorf Company and Starrett Hous-
ing, the Lefrak and Milstein organiza-
tions , Forest City Enterprises and
Park Tower Realty, Hovnanian Enter-
prises and The Related Companies
and the Gotham Organization and
General Atlantic Realty.
The city' s decision to opt for mar-
ket-rate housing on the Arverne site
dovetailed with the desires of many
in the Rockaway area. All the local
elected officials, the major civic
groups and the community board en-
dorse the decision. Citing the fact that
the Rockaway area has the lowest av-
erage household income in
Queens - 25 percent of the
borough's public assistance reci-
pients reside there - they say mar-
8
a
...
o
~
ti
j
~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~ ~ ~ ~ - - ~ ~ ~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~ 8
A place an the beach:
A sketch of the Queens Citizens Organizatian's proposed project.
ket rate housing is badly needed to
attract more affluent residents. They
also say the community is currently
unable to support local shops and
businesses. "You can see how the
economy just fell out of the place,"
says Ed Remsen, a longtime area ac-
tivist who heads the Rockaway De-
velopment and Revitalization Corpo-
ration.
But not all local residents believe .
benefits from the arrival of affluent
neighbors - city officials estimate
the new residents will need annual
incomes of at least $65,000 to afford
the new housing - will trickle down
to them. "The city is trying to sell us
on a plan by saying the market-rate
housing will make the area better,"
says Maureen Meany, a QCO suppor-
ter. "But we know the trickle-down
theory hasn't worked in the federal
government and it hasn't worked in
Atlantic City. "
City officials project that construc-
tion of the 7,000 to 10,000-unit mar-
The toughest job for the Koch ad-
ministration may be deciding which
of the major development teams
vying for Arverne should get the site.
Several of them are already working
on projects that have put them in
good stead with the Koch administra-
tion - like the Milstein and Lefrak
projects slated for the Clinton and Se-
ward Park urban renewal areas . .
There are personal connections as
well. For example, Jim Capalino,
who's working with the Forest City/
RatnerlPark Tower group, is a former
Koch campaign manager. Bruce
Ratner is a former consumer affairs
commissioner. The Gotham/General
Atlantic team includes Phil Aarons,
former head of the city's Public De-
velopment Corporation. Starrett
Housing president Robert Rosenberg
is a former deputy housing commis-
sioner. And over the years, many of
the developers interested in Arverne
have also been prodigious campaign
contributors.
Gecan and other QCO leaders be-
lieve that the connections these de-
velopment teams have to the city's
highest officials are part of the reason
the Nehemiah plan has been rejected
for Arverne. They also believe that
the success of Nehemiah in East
Brooklyn is an embarrassment to
Koch administration officials who
have struggled to get the city's own
affordable housing programs on
track.
According to a May 1988 Depart-
ment of Housing Preservation and
Development computer report, the
Nehemiah plan has produced homes
at a lower cost than any other home-
ownership program. The New York
City Partnership's units cost approx-
imately $99,000 and the projected
cost of apartments in the Real Estate
Board's Affordable Housing program
is $132,000, according to the report.
Nehemiah homes in Brooklyn cost
$55,500. Both the Partnership and
Real Estate Board programs rely on
more public subsidies than
Nehemiah.
But Koch administration officials
charge QCO needs large subsidies to
build at Arverne. Pointing to the list
of some $300 million in infrastruc-
ture improvements the city is de-
manding from the eventual de-
veloper - including street improve-
ments, two public schools and a fire-
house - officials say it would cost
$80,000 to subsidize each Nehemiah
home.
Mike Gecan disputes the city's
figure. Some $70 million in sewer
and street improvements are in-
cluded in the basic Nehemiah plan,
says Gecan, adding that Mayor Koch
acknowledged that fact in a meeting
with QCO leaders. Gecan also argues
that additional sewer costs projected
by the city are only necessary for
high-density construction - not the
QCO proposal. A $25 million park is
also unnecessary, says Gecan, be-
cause a two and a half mile
beachfront park will be created as
part of the project. QCO leaders insist
they are seeking no more subsidy
than the $10,000 per home no-in-
terest loan that was part of the Brook-
lyn Nehemiah development.
City and local officials may also be
guilty of false advertising in respect
to who could afford the QCO homes.
While generally referring to the
homes in the QCO plan as sub-
sidized, the idea has been planted
that Nehemiah means an influx of
3,200 poor households. In fact, the
Nehemiah homes require a house-
hold income between $20,000 and
$50,000. "The city's call for market
housing in Arverne denies cops,
teachers, transit workers, nurses
ticket agents, firefighters and almost
all working people their best chance
for homeownership in New York
City," charges Amann.
Based on its Brooklyn track record,
Nehemiah may also be one of the rare
instance where trickle-down actually
works. Some 40 percent of those who
bought Nehemiah homes in Brooklyn
had previously lived in public hous-
ing. With more than 200,000 families
on the waiting list for public housing,
Nehemiah offers a way to free up
badly needed units.
But Mayor Koch argues that Ar-
verne could be home to 10,000
families, while QCO wants to build
only 3,200 units. That would deprive
up to 7,000 families of a home, says
the mayor. Amann scoffs at that cal-
culation, noting that the city esti-
mates the market rate housing would
be for families earning $65,000 or
more.
Responses to the city's RFP for Ar-
verne are due February 28. The
Queens Citizens Organization plans
to keep pressing its fight - and
promises to invite the mayor to the
ribbon cutting for its first homes in
Arverne.D
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Ask for: Bala Ramanathan
PROFILE
Catherine Herman:
Portrait of an Organizer
BY LYNDA CRAWFORD
"THE PRIEST AND THE MORTI-
cian are often the power brokers in a
neighborhood," explains Catherine
Herman. So when she became the
first director of the St. Nicholas
Neighborhood Preservation Corpora-
tion in 1975, Herman took a tour of
the community with the local fu-
neral home director.
During the tour, Herman saw the
vacant Catholic Medical Building,
which the city had targeted for a pro-
gram for troubled teens. Local resi-
dents didn't see the program as ear-
marked for their children any more
than the 2,OOO-pupil high school the
city had on the drawing board for the
area - most of the local kids went to
parochial school. Herman went to
work, and the medical building be-
came the neighborhood's first hous-
ing for senior citizens.
The senior center was a boost for
the many elderly in the area - more
than the borough average - but also
for the young people who were leav-
ing because of a housing shortage.
When some of the seniors moved into
the new housing, the younger gener-
a t ~ o n of neighborhood residents took
their elders' apartments.
Herman and her colleagues learned
a great deal about working with com-
munities in the year she spent run-
ning St. Nicks. "I think we really
learned the pace at which you can
work with a community and how
others have to take the lead. The
leadership really comes from other
people in the neighborhood, " says
Herman.
"Sometimers that makes you crazy.
Maybe that's not where you want to
go. Maybe they're not as altruistic as
you think people should be, or maybe
they're really not going to go out and
embrace their brethren on the other
side of the ethnic dividing line,
which you'd love to see. But they are
going to get there at their own pace
and in their own way. And that's the
only way it's going to happen."
Herman first went to school in
Pittsburgh to study psychology, but
quit at 19 to pursue a growing interest
Public activist, private person:
Catherine Herman re/a"e. at home.
in urban planning. "God knows why,"
she says now, "It's a bizzare thing to
be attracted to."
She left Pittsburgh for a city govern-
ment job in Boston, but funding for
the position eventually was cut. This
led her to Brooklyn's Pratt Institute,
which was offering students a pro-
gram coupling their last two years of
college with graduate study in urban
planning.
"I'd never been to Brooklyn before,
and when I got here in December of
1969, I found it the most stimulating
place I'd ever seen," says Herman. So
enthused, she remained at Pratt for
10 years, first as a student and then
working for the Pratt Center, which
provides technical assistance and ser-
vices to neighborhoods (see City
Limits, October 1988). Her work at
Pratt Center led her to St. Nicks, a
section of Williamsburg known for
the local parish.
One thing led to another, and Her-
man became director of the nascent
St. Nicks community group. A store-
front operation with salaries paid
through the federal CETA program -
but without a dime of expense
money - St. Nicks handled every-
thing from walk-in tenant problems
to social services. After assessing
community needs and the availabil-
ity of public resources, Herman and
the local residents pushed ahead
with plans for the senior housing
center.
Back to Pratt
After a year at the storefront, in
which she laid the framework for a
community organization that has be-
come one of the strongest in the city,
Herman returned to Pratt Center. But
she continued to focus on the Will-
iamsburg area, this time on the issue
of redlining. She started researching
the banks in the area and found that
for years many of them had given no
mortgages in the neighborhood.
Here were hard-working people,
putting all their money in the local
banks, says Herman, but they
couldn't get a mortgage from these
banks. Meanwhile, these same banks
were expanding into the suburbs and
handing out mortgages there.
"It was interesting to come up with
glaring concrete proof," says Herman.
"And looking up the data was some-
thing that a lot of people in the com-
munity could all do together. In addi-
tion, we would get involved with in-
dividual cases of families that were
trying to get a mortgage and
couldn't."
Community residents formed the
Greenpoint-Williamsburg Committee
Against Redlining to pressure banks
with neighborhood branches - the
Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Lincoln,
Dime and Anchor savings banks - to
negotiate a mortgage plan. When a
bank wouldn't negotiate, neighbor-
hood people took to the streets. "We
did a demonstration every Monday,
and it seemd like every Monday it
snowed," remembers Herman.
The anti-redlining effort attracted
many community people. They liked
unmasking the banks' practices and
dealing directly with bank officials.
"They could also understand what
the impact was on their community
if they didn't act," says Herman,
"which was that people were not
going to be able to live there any
longer. Eventually they couldn't get
home improvement loans, they
couldn't keep up their property, no-
body cared about their neighborhood
and, in time, it could sink into the
ground. That was really the banks'
agenda. It was: 'Who cares, we're dis-
investing. '"
The anti-redlining committee suc-
ceded in its efforts, winning a 10-
point agreement with local banks.
The agreement included a commit-
ment to make $1 million in mortages
available over the next two years to
community residents.
Changing Times
By the late 1970s, the situation
changed. The city's fiscal crisis had
eased and bank loans were plentiful
in the neighborhood. Speculators ar-
rived, buying up small apartment
buildings and letting them deterior-
ate. "What we saw happening were
individual private owners using a
building basically as collateral for
loans to get money to buy another
building. They didn't go out with
tenement X, finance it, sink money
into it and make it a showcase. It was
a business. They sold it to each other,
had holding companies. It was purely
collateral. .. only something to milk,"
says Herman.
"By talking to a lot of people in
different community groups, the pic-
ture came out loud and clear that the
way to turn the issue around for Will-
iamsburg was to look at the tenants.
Normally you wouldn't think of ten-
ants in terms of redlining, you'd think
of the owners. But in Williamsburg,
it was really the tenant suffering. The
banks had redlined those tenements,
which had led to the situation where
they were all owned by these guys
who were milking them."
success slory:
Having survived several slumlords, 176 S. 8th St. is the Triang/.'s first law incom. rental housing
rehab.
Herman and local community lead-
ers swung into action, forming the
Building Survival Fund in 1977.
Again, they, went to local banks, ask-
ing for contributions of $5,000 or
$10,000, depending on the bank's as-
sets, for a loan fund administered by
members of the anti-redlining com-
mittee. Loans from this fund were
given to tenants who had assumed
responsibility for operating their
buildings because the landlord had
allowed conditions to deteriorate.
The tenants had to work in
conjuction with community group
like St. Nick's or Los Sures.
The fund gave them emergency cash
for fuel or boiler repairs or other es-
sential services that couldn't be met
by the tenants' cash flow.
All the banks that signed on to the
earlier agreement, except Anchor,
kicked in to the survival fund. "I can't
say whether they bought into it be-
cause they cared or what," says Her-
man. "Some of them actually sent
people out and we set up tours, going
to three or four of the buildings that
we were talking about funding. They .
saw the tenants, they saw the boiler
room, they saw how well-kept the
building was, and they really under-
stood the situation. "
. Of the 40 to 50 loans given by the
survival fund, only a couple have not
been repaid. Herman and half a
dozen other committee members still
meet occasionally to report back to
the banks on what's been done.
"This is something you dream of,"
says Herman, "where you can write
a check to a tenant leader that night
and they can go out the next day and
secure their front door or get their
boiler fixed."
Moving On
In 1979, Herman decided to leave
Pratt Center and was unemployed for
five months. During that time, she
considered changing her life com-
pletely and switching to another line
of work. But once again Herman was
drawn to Williamsburg, this time to
the Triangle area, where a largely His-
panic community was being forced
out by slumlord harassment, fires,
. lack of services, and pressures from
8
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...
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...
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f
an expanding Hasidic community.
"I had a lot of options, and I didn't
have to do it but I found it had more
meaning for me than ever to be there,"
recalls Herman. "Politically, these
people were the scourge of the earth.
The city and the powers that be
would just as soon see all the poor
people move out of the city and fol-
low those lousy jobs into the exurbs.
"And here was a community that
was a neighborhood. It was the old
Schaefer Brewing Company neighbor-
hood. There were a lot of
brownstones, small-scale buildings,
some middle income buildings, and
there was something compelling
about how graphic the situation was.
You could see, month by month,
people getting forced out of their
buildings. A building would burn
and 20 families would have to move.
This was long before the first home-
less issue. These were the early home-
less people, the early doubled-up
people," she says.
"You had a public resource like the
Housing Authority that was biased
against these people. They had been
shown in court to do everything they
could to rent to whites, given their
choice. Basically, you had a sort of
mini-genocide happening."
Acting independently, Herman
would show up every week at the
Epiphany Church, where meetings
were held and a community group
was formed: the Committee for the
Redevelopment of the Southside
Triangle. Together with Brooklyn
Legal Services Corp. A, they made it
very difficult for the Hasidic commu-
nity to move ahead with its plans to
purchase land and buildings. There
was a sizeable portion of land cleared
from an early urban renewal project,
and every time Hasidic leaders tried
to buy portions from the city, Herman
and company would show up at
Board of Estimate meetingss and
scream about what was happening in
the neighborhood.
This produced a stalemate, with
neither side making gains , but Her-
man felt the Hispanics couldn't hold
out as long as the Hasidic community .
They were losing ground daily as in-
dividual buildings were sold,
emptied and renovated for the more
affluent ethnic group.
In the midst of this, Herman went
to work for the Brooklyn Catholic
Charities as associate director of
housing. She continued her indepen-
dent involvement in the lhangle, but
eventually proposed that Brooklyn
Catholic Charities get involved. Cath-
olic Charities was uncomfortable
with the idea, explains Herman, be-
cause it didn't see its mission as being
an advocate for a neighborhood. But
because there was a parish in-
volved - and Hispanics are the fas-
test-growing Catholic population III
the U.S. - Catholic Charities agreed,
and Herman was able to concentrate
her energies on the Thiangle.
Thrning Tables
The committee decided it needed
a scheme to somehow make the mar-
ket power that was a threat to the
neighborhood work for them, a sort
of "jujitsu" approach, says Herman.
"Unlike other impoverished areas,
there was a market for this neighbor-
hood, " says Herman. "There was this
inevitable push to expand on the part
of the Hasids. They had money, they
could pay for the land, and we tried
to find a way to make their power
work for us. "
They devised a cross-subsidy plan,
where parcels of city-owned land
could be sold to the Hasidic commu-
nity but the money from the sales
would go into a fund for rehab or con-
struction of low income housing in
the area.
After winning approval from the
Board of Estimate, Herman and a rep-
resentative from the Hasidic commu-
nity sat down, and, over a long period
of time, divvied up who got what.
Hasidic leaders were able to buy
much of the land they wanted, which
then enabled three buildings with 55
units of low income housing to be
scheduled for construction or renova-
tion.
"Pathetically, though," says Her-
man, "it's 10 years later, and we're
just now starting construction on the
first one."
They also made a trade-off with the
city, accepting a market-rate co-op in
the area in exchange for a 150-unit
public housing project. They also
hope to use the cross-subsidy money
to reduce the price of middle income
housing being built in the area by the
New York City Partnerhship from
$80,000 to $50,000 a home, a price
more affordable to local families.
The last piece of Herman's Thiangle
plan is to ensure that the afforda-
ble housing being built goes to the
local Hispanic population. "What we
want to achieve is equity for the His-
panic community," says Herman, ad-
mitting that goal doesn't quite jibe
with current fair housing laws. Her-
man expects to end her involvement
in the Thiangle as Los Sures becomes
the operative group, overseeing the
building and management of the
cross-subsidy projects and represent-
ing the neighborhood's interests.
For Catherine Herman, it's time to
go on to another neighborhood's
struggle. "It's always a long process,"
she says. "Every project takes at least
five years, no matter what. Before you
know it, it's nine years later. I guess
that's why it's got to have some mean-
ing." 0
Lynda Crawford is a freelance writer.
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FEATURE
Shelter Suits
When Communities
Tell it to the Judge
BY RICHARD RIVERA
n the past 10 years, as homeless-
I
ness has increased and the sup-
ply of housing that poor and
moderate income families can af-
ford has decreased, communities
have turned to the courts to secure
their rights. These cases have sought
to establish the right to shelter for in-
dividuals, families, children and
mental patients. They have argued for
shelters that are liveable and free of
health hazards and sought to preserve
basic constitutional rights for people
forced to live in shelters. More re-
cently, there has been litigation to
protect rent affordability and prevent
the displacement of people from their
communities as a result of upscale
development.
We take for granted that the state
and the city have a legal duty to pro-
vide shelter for the homeless. But
only nine years ago, no court had ever
held that the state and city had the
legal obligation to actually provide
anyone with shelter. Indeed, the city
and state claimed that they were not
required to create shelters of any kind
as long as they made public assis-
tance rent subsidies available.
In 1979, a group of homeless men,
aided by the Coalition for the Home-
less, challenged the city and state's
position in the pioneer right-to-shel-
ter case Callahan v. Carey. The home-
less men claimed that the city and
state have an obligation under Article
XVII of the New York State Constitu-
tion to provide them with shelter.
This provision requires the state to
provide for the aid, care and support
of the needy. Since they were home-
less and could not find habitable and
affordable housing in the city, the
men argued, the state and city were
constitutionally required to provide
them with emergency housing that
met minimum standards of habitabil-
ity. Nearly two years later, after the
court refused a motion to dismiss the
case, the city signed an agreement in
court committing itself to provide
emergency shelter for homeless men
that satisfied minimum standards for
beds, cleanliness, space, sanitary
facilities, overcrowding and other
physical requirements.
Limitations
Although Callahan was historic in
establishing a right to shelter, it had
limitations. It applied only to home-
less men - not women or families.
It did not concern or create a right to
permanent housing. Instead, it led
the city to create its "barracks-style"
shelter system. As these shelters be-
came overcrowded, lawyers for the
plaintiffs and the Coalition for the
Homeless have repeatedly gone back
to court charging the city with violat-
ing the terms of the Callahan agree-
ment. Despite these limitations, Cal-
lahan inspired subsequent cases that
expanded the right to shelter for other
segments of the homeless popula-
tion.
Eldredge v. Koch, for example, ad-
dressed the right to shelter for home-
less women. When signing the Calla-
han agreement, the city stated that it
would establish shelters for homeless
women that satisfied the same physi-
cal conditions required for men's
shelters. But homeless women and
their advocates claimed in court that
the city was not fulfilling its promise
and was denying homeless women
equal treatment. In Eldredge, home-
less women won a ruling that the Cal-
lahan stipulation's minimum stan-
dards had to be applied equally to
men and women's shelters.
While neither Callahan nor Eld-
redge dealt with the rights of home-
less families, McCain v. Koch did. In
McCain, families already living in
hotels and motels for the homeless
sued the city over the conditions of
basic habitability in these facilities.
They complained about lack of furni-
ture, bedding or appliances; apart-
ments without adequate heat, hot
water, plumbing or electricity; and
unguarded buildings infested with
rodents and vermin and plagued with
crime. When the plaintiffs in McCain
brought their lawsuit, the city and
state had not yet developed regula-
tions that established minimum liv-
ing standards for the hotels and
motels used for emergency shelter.
One of the first significant victories
in McCain was the lower court's rul-
ing that once the city undertakes to
provide shelter it "must ensure that
the shelter meets minimal standards
of cleanliness, warmth, space and
rudimentary conveniences." The rul-
ing noted that a shelter that doesn't
meet these minimal standards "is no
shelter at all." In short, by providing
sub-minimum shelter the city was ef-
fectively denying any relief to the
homeless.
City Appeals
This ruling did not end the matter.
The city appeale.d the lower court's
decision and the first appeals court
reversed the lower court, ruling that
courts could not tell the city what
minimum standards its shelters had
to satisfy. In the appeals court's view,
these questions were the sole discre-
tion of the city.
This time the plaintiffs appealed to
New York's highest court - the New
York Court of Appeals. By the time
the case reached this court, however,
the state had adopted regulations that
were stricter than the lower court's
minimum standards. The city said
these regulations gave the plaintiffs
their victory and left nothing for the
court to decide. In any event, the city
argued, it has no legal obligation
under any state or federal law to pro-
vide homeless families with
emergency shelter. Absent such a
duty, it could not be forced to provide
minimally habitable shelters.
But the Court of Appeals agreed
with the lower court and held that
once the city undertakes to provide
housing for h o m e l e s ~ families, it has
to make the shelter minimally live-
able. Since the new state regulations
were stricter and more detailed than
the requirements that the lower court
had imposed, the court's minimum
standards did not conflict with state
law and were therefore valid.
Like Callahan and Eldredge, Mc-
Cain was a shot in the arm for the
right-to-shelter movement. But it,
too, has limitations. McCain only
deals with the right to emergency
housing, not the right to permanent
housing. Still, it held that the courts
could set minimum standards of
habitability for emergency shelters,
as long as those standards did not
Telling it to the judge:
Community octlvists ore using the courts with increosing frequency.
conflict with existing law. dividuals have won other litigation
But having the right to liveable victories. In Slade v. Koch, for exam-
shelter and getting the city to provide pIe, families with pregnant women
it are separate matters. Future rounds or children under six years of age and
of litigation are likely on the city and families whose members have physi-
state's compliance with the state cal, psychological, or medical impair-
homeless regulations enacted during ments sued the city under the regula-
the McCain case. Various organizations adopted during the McCain liti-
tions are already advocating to im- gation. In Slade, the plaintiffs
prove conditions in emergency hotels claimed the city was violating those
and motels and have alerted the city regulations by referring them to bar-
and state to existing violations. racks-style (Tier I) shelters. Under the
Nevertheless, McCain is important regulations, such families could only
because it supports the power of the be referred to congregate shelters that
courts to order basic housing stan- had ' private sleeping accommoda-
dards for homeless shelters, at least tions for individual families, meals
where such standards do not conflict and other services (Tier II shelters).
with existing law. Due in large part Based on the regulations, the court
to the organizing effort that de- held that the city could not place
veloped around McCain by the Coal- these families or others like them in
ition for the Homeless and others, the Tier I shelters.
state enacted regulations that define In Koster v. Webb, homeless
the rights of homeless families living families in Nassau County won a fed-
in shelters. These were important eral court ruling that New York City
accomplishments. and State have an affirmative duty
Foundation
Building on the foundation set by
Callahan, homeless families and in-
under the federal Aid to Families
with Dependent Children statute and
New York law to provide homeless
families with emergency housing. In
Barnes v. Koch, homeless families liv-
ing at the Catherine Street Shelter
won a decision requiring the city to
remove lead paint and limiting the
length of time the city could house
people at the shelter until the lead
paint was removed. The case of Lam-
boy v. Gross successfully challenged
the city's practice of leaving homeless
families with children in welfare offi-
ces overnight; contrary to a state di-
recti ve requiring social service dis-
tricts to immediately provide hous-
ing to homeless persons.
Besides the tragedy of not having
a permanent place to live, homeless-
ness exposes people to invasions of
privacy, threatens the unity of the
family, and can interfere with the
right to vote. Some of these problems
also have been resolved through the
courts.
The case of Gonzalez v. Martinique
Hotel Affiliates challenged the Mar-
tinique Hotel's imposition of a "no-
visitor" policy. Among other claims,
the hotel's families challenged this
policy as a violation of their state and
federal constitutional rights to pri-
vacy and association. In 1986, the
court issued an order prohibiting the
hotel owners' no-visitor rule.
In Consentino v. Perales, homeless
families sued New York City and State
for failing to provide them with
emergency and other housing ser-
vices that could avert or shorten the
placement of children in "voluntary"
foster care. In 1987, these families
won a court ruling that the city's fail-
ure to provide such service violated
state and federal law. The court or-
dered the city to develop a plan to
provide such services and directed
that the plan had to be comprehen-
sive - not just a short-range solution
to the problems of the families cur-
. rently before the court.
In Pitts v. Black, a group of home-
less people sued the state and city
election boards for not allowing them
to vote because they were living in
shelters. Before the case ever went to
trial, the boards signed an agreement
permitting people living in shelters
to vote. The court also ordered the
election boards to allow people living
on the street to register to vote.
Permanent Housmg
Up to now, no court has held that
the state or city has an obligation to
provide people with permanent hous-
ing. In the meantime, communities
have won important legal victories
that helped the struggle to preserve
the affordability of rents and the abil-
ity of people to pay rent increases.
The case of Jiggetts v. Grinker may
do for permanent housing what Calla-
han did for emergency housing.
Jiggetts challenged public assistance
rent allowances that are insufficient
to pay escalating rents in privately
owned buildings. The plaintiffs in
Jiggetts claimed that the city and
state's refusal to pay rent arrears above
the rigid rent maximums established
by the state threatened to cause their
evictions and render them homeless.
They argued that such a policy viol-
ated the New York and federal con-
stitutions, including Article XVII of
New York's constitution invoked by
the plaintiffs in Callahan.
Refusing the city's motion to dis-
miss the case, the court ruled that the
state has a legal obligation to help
public assistance recipients raise
their children in their home. Accord-
ing to the court, this requires that a
"certain meaningful minimum [rent]
standard must be set to make the sta-
tute viable" and that current public
assistance rent levels are totally in-
adequate. The court ordered the city
to pay the difference between the pub-
lic assistance shelter allowance and
the actual rent the named plaintiffs
had to pay while the case is pending.
The city and state have appealed this
decision.
Jiggetts is significant because it rec-
ognizes the direct relationship be-
tween escalating rents, inability to
pay, evictions and homelessness. The
Jiggetts decision, if upheld, would
provide a "true safety net" for some
of the most vulnerable families , pre-
Community organizers, housing
advocates alUi often de-
bate whether litigf'tJbn helps or
hurts community struggles to pre-
serve and create low and moderate
income ' ally, two
views
One view is tha.t the struggle for
affordable housing can only sue-
ceefl if eo pnitit}!" qrganize. are
motivated ad, "$&t their own
goals and agenda. develop strategy
and ultimately make the decisions.
According to this litigation
effOrt be-
cause it takes too long and causes
people to lose interest. Also, litiga-
tion is contrplledby .iigid court
rules and I>J'otocoland seems to
give too much influence to
and the courts. Frequently, these
rules confiiqt with a'community's
goals and strategy and divert li-
mited community resources.
The other view recognizes these
dangers and?:knows that lawyers,
including T '*public' interest"
lawyers. are riot paragons of humil-
ity. .But this group argues that
sooner or later a litigated solution
may be Why should low
income communities be any differ-
ent than Of
ers who strategize with "th&ir"
lawyers, ...
make decisions based on that ad-
vice? " ... ,
There are/two ways 'to meiibra
the success of
vent their economic displacement
and thereby stem the tide of home-
lessness. But Jiggetts does not cover
everyone. It only applies to families
on public assistance who are living
in privately owned buildings.
A recent Suffolk County court rul-
ing builds on Jiggetts significantly. In
Sharp v . Perales, current and future
public assistance recipients claimed
they could not find permanent hous-
ing because the public assistance
shelter allowance does not cover the
real cost of rents. As a result, those
persons living in homeless shelters
cannot get out, and those living in
housing they cannot really afford are
threatened with homelessness.
One way is by looking at the out-
come. Qid $es:tUt establish a rignt
fa she1tin-, ' pr&sefve constitutloilal
rlRhts and rent affordabiUty or re-
sUlt in more affordable housing?
In,short . , have *",ctu"}:
ally the . ' "'rj''!
The second measure of success
looks at a suit's effectiveness as an
Arthur Kinoy. 'z
. a "fawyerwho his dedicated his
career to representing poor and
minority communities in the labor
and civil rights wrote
in hisaut()biogtaphy Rights Oil
'li'ial: The Odyssey of a People's
Lawyer: ..... the test ofSMCfj$s filr a
people's Jawyeris nol alway$ the
technical wibningor losing of'the
fonnal proceeding. Again and
again, the real test was the impact
Of the legal on the inOJ:ale
and understanding of the p'eople
involved in the struggle. To the de-
gree that the legal w(i)rk helped to
develop a sense of strength, an abil-
ity to fight back, itwassuecessful. " ,
Although there have been many
victories, it is too early to say that
litigation has strengthened the
ability and will of poor and minor-
i!)r communities to fight for the
nousing they need. One tl,ting
seems clear: As Kinoy argues, this
is a judgment that the client - not ,
tb<J lawyer - makes. OR.R.

I
Only nine years ago, no court had ever ruled that the city and
state had a legal obligation to provide anyone with shelter.
Plaintiffs claimed that the state was
unlawfully permitting building own-
ers to charge rent increases in excess
of 6 percent yearly and to maintain
these cumulative increases as a per-
manent part of the rent (see Short
Term Notes for related lawsuit).
The lower court has held that the
Bryant Ave. tenants have raised a
strong legal claim and prohibited the
state's rent regulators from allowing
landlords to increase these tenant's
rents more than 6 percent per year.
Since then the city has appealed this
decision. Recently, the New York
Court of Appeals denied the city's at-
tempts to have the case dismissed on
technical grounds.
Not my job:
Advocates had to go to court to force the Koch administration to provide shelter for the homeless.
Not all cases have led to court vic-
tories. Recently, the New York Court
of Appeals issued some unfavorable
rulings in the area of exclusionary
zoning that do not help the struggle
against gentrification and displace-
ment in communities like
Chinatown. The score card on cases
asserting community rights under the
Uniform Land Use Review Procedure
and the state and city Environmental
Review Acts has been somewhat
mixed, but here, too, there's been
stunning legal victories. This is par-
ticularly true of Chinese Staff and
Workers Association v. City of New
York, in which the New York Court of
Appeals held that the city must con-
sider secondary displacement when
approving housing and development
plans.
Meanwhile, they claimed, the county
was paying up to $50,000 per family
for emergency homeless hotels and
motels.
The plaintiffs claimed this situa-
tion violates federal law and the u.s.
and New York constitutions (includ-
ing Article XVII) because the defen-
dants were failing to comply with
their legal duty to provide for the
needs of dependent children and
their guardians. The court agreed
with the plaintiffs that "the policy
and practice in issue... generates
continuing prejudice to the plaintiffs,
the public and to the defendants
themselves .... " The court held that
the county's rental assistance "has
not been genuine or meaningful" and
ordered the county to pay the plain-
tiff's actual rental cost, which it deter-
mined would be about $700 monthly.
Although this is $214 greater than
New York State's maximum rent al-
lowance, it is substantially less than
the cost of housing a famil y in a hotel.
Together, Jiggetts and Sharp have
broken new legal ground in the strug-
gle for permanent affordable housing.
These decisions are based on the
state's constitutional and other legal
obligations to aid the needy, on the
recognition that homelessness dis-
rupts families contrary to law, that
homelessness and escalating rents
are intertwined and that the general
welfare is not served by increased
homelessness. Jiggetts and Sharp are
also based on common sense. The
courts realize it is more "cost-effec-
tive" to pay actual rents that may ex-
ceed existing public assistance rent
caps than to pay exorbitant sums to
welfare hotel owners.
Bryant Avenue Tenant's Associa-
tion v. Koch is another legal struggle
to preserve housing affordability. In
this case, tenants challenged the pol-
icy of awarding private landlords rent
increases for Major Capital Improve-
ments. By state law, landlords are per-
mitted to recover the cost of an MCI
by raising rents 6 percent for five
years. At the end of this period, the
base rent must revert to a level that
excludes the 6 percent MCI increases.
Community leaders and their
lawyers have filed many other cases
as part of the struggle for affordable
housing and community empower-
ment. Some, like the suits to block
the Metrotech and Atlantic Terminal
projects, are still winding their way
through court. Other cases, like the
NAACP suit against the Town of Hun-
tington and the anti-discrimination
suit at StarrettCity have just recently
been decided. Beginning with the
cases outlined here, City Limits will
report on such "people's litigation"
on a regular basis. D
Richard Rivera is a staff attorney with
the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and
Education Fund.
PROGRAM FOCUS
Did City Davvdle on Use of
Federal Rehab Subsidies?
BY BEVERLY CHEUVRONT
NEW YORK CITY'S USE OF FED-
eral funds for low income housing
rehabilitation has been so
"mediocre" and "haphazard" that the
U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development has threatened
to recapture millions of dollars and
reallocate it to other cities.
Thousands of Section 8 housing
certificates and vouchers, designed to
help low income tenants in rehabili-
tated apartments cover post-renova-
tion rent increases, sat so long in the
city's Department of Housing Preser-
vation and Development offices that
HUD recently transfered 2,800 vou-
chers to the New York City Housing
Authority.
In a November 1987 report and a
series of scathing letters, HUD out-
lined problems in HPD's use of the
federal Section 17 rental rehabilita-
tion program and the Section 8 cer-
tificates and vouchers that accom-
pany it. But Calvin Parker, HPD's di-
rector of development analysis for
program planning and policy
analysis, says HUD is scapegoating
New York and other cities for pro-
blems with the rehabilitation pro-
gram. "Its fancy new program wasn't
being used, and this is true through-
out the nation," he says. "The rules
and regulations make it very difficult
to work in New York City."
HUD criticized HPD for 1) delays
in committing and spending Section
17 funds; 2) inefficiency in issuing
rental subsidies; 3) failure to meet
housing quality standards; 4) failure
to recruit women and minority con:
tractors; and 5) the possible displace-
ment of low income tenants.
Renovation Loans
Created in 1983 to provide renova-
tion assistance in low income build-
ings, the Section 17 rental rehabilita-
tion program primarily assists three
city programs. These include the Ar-
ticle 8A Loan Program, which pro-
vides low-interest loans for major
capital improvements; the Participa-
tion Loan Program, which links low-
interest loans with private financing
for rehabilitation funding; and the
city's Division of Alternative Man-
agement Program, which uses the
funds to repair city-owned buildings
before they are sold to tenants or pri-
vate landlords.
Some critics fear that HPD, facing
threats of losing federal funds, may
have increased spending indiscrimi-
nately in order to allocate this money
quickly. Among programs ques-
tioned are DAMP's Private Owner-
ship and Management Program,
which subsidizes private manage-
ment firms to rehabilitate occupied
city apartment buildings that are then
sold at substantial discounts. A favor-
ite of the Koch administration,
POMP's budget was increased from
$10.5 to $40 million this year, includ-
ing increases in repair subsidies. (See
City Limits, August/September 1988).
City Limits has obtained copies of
correspondence between the two
agencies detailing conflicts over the
Section 17 rental rehabilitation pro-
gram.
Just over a year ago, on Nov. 17,
1987, HUD complained thatHPD had
committed only about $27 million of
a total of about $60.4 million in Sec-
tion 17 funds. " ... only 84% of FY84
and FY85 funds have been commit-
ted with no commitment of funds for
FY86. At best, only 19 percent of the
City's FY84/85/86 program funds
have been spent on completed pro-
jects, although the National goal is
55%," Joseph Monticciolo, then HUD
regional administrator, wrote to
former HPD Commissioner Paul
Crotty.
"Although we understand the
numerous problems encounterd by
the City in making a program of this
nature work, the Department cannot
allow funds which are needed and
can be used elsewhere in the Nation
to remain uncommitted for such a
substantial period of time," Montic-
ciolo stated. He ordered HPD to make
weekly progress reports on Section
17 projects, adding, "If progress does
not improve significantly, I will rec-
ommend withholding all or a portion
of the City's FY88 Rental Rehabiliti-
ation funding."
Doing Our Best
Crotty refused to comply with the
demand for weekly reports, calling
the request "unprecedented" and
"inordinately burdensome." In his
Dec. 11, 1987 letter, he added, "We
share your concern regarding the
rapid utilization of uncommitted
Rental Rehab funds and we are doing
our utmost to commit the balance on
a timely basis."
Ten days after sending its letter,
HUD issued an audit report stating:
"HPD has issued only nine Section 8
certificates and 349 vouchers of its
combined available total of 7,878.
This occurred because HPD policies
did not require: 1) maximizing the
use of Section 8 vouchers and certifi-
cates; 2) requesting applications from
potential Section 8 tenants in an ex-
piditious manner; 3) processing Sec-
tion 8 tenant applications expediti-
ously; 4) selling or otherwise
eliminating projects within a reason-
able time; and 5) conducting HQS
(housing quality standards) inspec-
tions in a timely manner."
As a result, the audit found, "over
$33 million of allocated Section 8
funds for this program were not used
to accomplish program objectives. In
addition, tenant applicants must wait
many months before Section 8 vou-
chers and/or certificates are issued."
Moreover, 67 percent of 114 in-
spected rehabilitated units failed to
meet housing quality standards, ac-
cording to the audit. "As a result, ten-
ants continue to reside in substan-
dard units," it stated.
Among the buildings included in
the inspection were five Brooklyn
buildings in the POMP program man-
aged by Peter Burgess, who has come
under intense fire from tenants and
housing advocates for poor condi-
tions and excessive evictions in his
buildings. HUD's inspection results
were so dismal that the audit recom-
mends that "HUD not make any
rental rehabilitation payments for
DAMP projects until there is assur-
ance that Section 8 HQS require-
ments have been met."
The audit, which was issued by A.
Paul Kane, HUD's regional inspector
general, stated that 81 percent of the
units inspected in 8A Loan buildings
failed to pass, with such defects as
holes and cracks in walls, floors and
ceilings; water leaks; exposed electri-
cal wires; mice and roach infestation
and extensive peeling paint. Under
this program, federal funds are allo-
cated for major systems repairs, with
At least the boiler _ric.:
But a fundamental part of the pro-
blem may be that HUD limits its sub-
sidies to $5,000 per unit. "We needed
a much higher scope for work in the
apartments," explains HPD's Parker.
He says HUD will be ammending the
program with a waiVei' for higher
HPD con.ide,. a project complete il file major capital improvement. po .. in'pection.
the owners' commitment to repair
apartment interiors.
Apparently, some owners simply
do the major impovements and never
complete their portions. In two 8A
projects inspected, with a total of 104
units, $178,111 in repairs were
funded by HUD, with that amount
matched by the city. An additional
$116,401 was supposed to be spent
by the owners. "As of February 28,
1987, the voluntary owner-funded
work had not been completed, al-
though 100 percent drawdown of
HUD funds had occurred for the two
completed projects," the audit found.
Part of the problem arises because
HPD considers a project complete
when the major capital improve-
ments pass inspection, the audit re-
ports. Work required to be done by
the owner is checked only in an indi-
vidual apartment if the tenant re-
quests Section 8 assistance. In the
two audited projects, 37 tenants
applied for Section 8 assistance. The
HUD inspection of 10 of those units
revealed that seven failed to meet
standards.
costs. "The rental rehab program re-
quired you to deal with tough build-
ings, but it gave you a limited amount
of money to deal with it."
Deadline
While HUD's audit uncovered no
legal transgressions, auditors said
that widespread problems indicate a
potential for violations. "The extent
of noncompliance found indicated
that with respect to items not tested,
HPD may have violated laws and reg-
ulations which prescribe RRP re-
quirements," it stated.
After release of the audit, difficul-
ties continued, and on May 23,1988,
Acting Regional Administrator Ed-
mund R. Davis fired off an angry letter
giving New York City a June 30 dead-
line to commit its FY86 and FY87
funds. If New York City did not com-
mit about $10.5 million by that time,
it would lose the money.
Davis said that HPD had promised
to commit all of its $7.5 million FY86
grant and all but $3 million of its
FY87 funds by June 30, 1988. But a
recent ' HUD report indicated that
"none of your FY87 grant has been
committed, and only 17% of your
FY86 grant has been committed. Fur-
thermore, only 9% of your cumula-
tive grant funds have been disbursed
and only 4% of your cumulative grant
funds have been drawndown for
completed projects. Finally, the is-
sues raised in our November 17,1987
Audit Report have not beend resol-
ved and voucher usage in Rental Re-
habilitation projects is virtually non-
existent."
On Target
The city is on target with this pro-
gram, HPD Commissioner Abraham
Biderman responded in a June 3,
1988 letter to Davis' replacement,
Acting Regional Administrator
Geraldine McGann. "I am truly at a
loss to comprehend why you believe
the City is not doing its best to utilize
its Rental Rehab grant," he wrote.
"I am most disturbed that your ul-
timatum has been delivered without
forewarning, that it selectively cites
statistics in a manner which distorts
~ HPD's substantial achievements, and
m that it contains unreasonable de-
mands and deadlines for HPD to com-
mit Rental Rehab funds. What I find
even more disturbing, is the fact that
these demands have been imposed
despite HPD's considerable efforts to
implement the program in a way
which meets the needs of New York
City, which efforts are known to and
acknowledged by HUD staff," Bider-
man continued.
He added that Davis' figures were
incorrect, and HPD had committed
all of the nearly $32 million FY84-85
grant, and expected to commit the
$7.5 million FY86 grant and $2.3 mil-
lion of the FY87 grant by June 30.
McGann shot back: "Obviously
you are unaware of the history of our
communications with your Office. In
my opinion, the absence of direct in-
volvement on the part of various HPD
Commissioners in the formation and
management of the City's Rental Re-
habilitation program has been a pri-
mary cause of New York City's
mediocre performance."
In her June 24, 1988 letter to Bider-
man, McGann added, "I do not view
the City's commitment of its entire
FY84/85 grant by April 4, 1988 as a
sign of success ... Prior to the recent
designation of a full-time program
coordinator, the City's Rental Re-
habilitation Program was adminis-
tered in a haphazard fashion reflect-
ing the low priority given HUD pro-
gram issues and concerns by top HPD
management.
". . . Voucher use also has been
abysmal. Voucher utilization was
non-existent before HUD staff were
sent in the Fall of 1987 to assist HPD
in the processing of vouchers," she
wrote, concluding, " ... HUD can no
longer wait for HPD to determine
whether it can make good use of the
Rental Rehabilitation Program. If
New York City is unable to use its
Rental Rehabilitation funds in a
timely fashion, the funds will be re-
allocated to other cities which have
a demonstrated capacity to use
them."
McGann attached chronologies of
communications with HPD over pro-
gram performance and voucher use.
Despite these criticisms, HUD agreed
to allocate a new grant of about $20.8
million for the current year.
But in a July 18, 1988 review of the
program, the agency expressed con-
cerns about the city's "outreach to
minority and women contractors"
and "concerns about a satisfactory
tenant assistance plan to minimize
displacement." Given HUD's record
on fair housing issues and the federal
government's attitude towards af-
firmative action over the past eight
years, there's a certain irony in these
charges.
About Face
While HUD has been vitriolic in its
letters about the rental rehabilitation
program, agency officials take a low-
key approach when talking to arepor-
ter. "We had some concerns a few
months ago, but since that time, the
city has come back and presented us
with evidence that it is moving
ahead," says Joan Dabelko, HUD's di-
rector of community planning and
development. "HUD feels that its
(New York City's) progress is satisfac-
tory, and we are not threatening to
do anything with rental rehabilita-
tion funds."
Jack Johnson, manager of HUD's
economic development program,
also downplays the earlier criticisms.
"At that time, there were problems
with the program's start-up." he says.
Just like home:
A HUD audit recommended holding rehab payments until federal standards were met.
"We feel now that those early pro-
blems have been addressed. It is a big
program, and there is a learning curve
wi th understanding the rules and reg-
ulations and how they can be adapted
to fit the situation in New York City."
Dabelko refuses to discuss HUD's
audit allegations. "The city's re-
sponse to the audit findings are still
under review ... It is premature to
comment on this." She adds that
Hun has asked HPD to create a track-
ing system for its recruitment of
minority and women contractors,
and a "full-scale review" will follow.
And HPD's Section 8 vouchers and
certificates were only "borrowed" by
the housing authority, not taken
away, adds Francine Kellman, spec-
ial assistant to the regional adminis-
trator. "The housing authority had an
immediate need for them" and HPD
will get the vouchers and certificates
back when it is ready to allocate
them, she explains.
The New York City Housing Au-
thority will use the 2,800 transfered
vouchers and certificates toward its
waiting list of 82,000 families who
have applied for Section 8 assistance,
according to Harold Sole, director of
leased housing.
Those vouchers and certificates
will be returned to HPD through tur-
nover in housing authority usage, ac-
cording to HPD's Calvin Parker. "The
city was never opposed to the con-
cept of loaning them, and our only
concern is that we get 100 percent of
them back in a timely fashion," he
says.
Parker points out that while the
housing authority has a waiting list
for Section 8, HPD must go through
a complicated and time-consuming
process before it can allocate the cer-
tificates and vouchers. This includes
designing a program, signing loan ag-
reements and other documents , com-
mitting the funds , waiting for com-
pleted construction, then awaiting
rent increases to go into effect.
"The purpose is not to use it (Sec-
tion 8) in a scoreboard, but to use it
because tenants need it. In New York
City, tenants are not being displaced.
They get assistance when they need
it, " Parker continues. "The work is
being done, the buildings are being
improved, and tenants are not being
displaced."
The rental rehab program has
primarily provided the city with
housing vouchers. Certificates,
which are valid for 15 years, are
much preferred to vouchers, which
are good for only five years. "HUD
changed the certificate program to the
five-year program so the Reagan ad-
ministration can say it's assisting the
same number of people with less
budget authority," says Parker.
HPD's problems with the rental re-
habilitation program arose because it
had to revamp existing programs to
match new requirements, claims
Parker. One of the first difficulties
was that HUD initially would not
allow these funds to be used in city-
owned buildings. Since that pre-
cluded a large portion of the city's
most deteriorated housing, New York
City had to lobby for a regulatory
change that would allow it to apply
the money to DAMP buildings. Al-
though an amendment has been ag-
reed to, Parker says HUD has not yet
issued new regulations.
In addition, HUD refused to release
rental rehab funds until these build-
ings are privately owned, which can
be a long process, especially in cases
like POMP, where Board of Estimate
hearings are necessary. Con-
sequently, the city applies its own
funds up-front, then draws upon
HUD funds. "A project can be three-
quarters complete, but it doesn't
show on HUD's computer. HUD is
worried because its computer system
shows nothing, but if they let us draw
down our own funds now, things
would look a lot better in their ac-
counting system," says Parker.
This Catch-22 requirement makes
it appear that New York City is not
using rental rehabilitation funds in a
timely manner, he explains. Parker
says the city had an even tougher
time applying rental rehabilitation
funds to the PLP program because it
dramatically increased the paper-
work and restrictions faced by pri-
vate owners.
Fears that HUD's threats to recap-
ture funds may have prompted HPD
to spend money on undeserving pro-
jects is unfounded, Parker says. "It 's
basically untrue," he replies. "These
funds are all going to projects that
meet the program's requirement. " 0
Beverly Cheuvront, formerly editor
of City Limits, is public affairs direc-
tor for the Community Service
Society.
providing complete architectural and engineering services to non-profit developers
NEW CONSTRUCTJON, REHABILITATION AND CONVERSIONS
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GROUP HOMES, HPD RFPS, DSS/HHAP RFPS
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CHRISTIANSON/HARRIS ARCHITECTS
458 BERGEN STREET BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 11217 (718)398-1440
CITY VIEWS
8ringing Community-Based
Development HOlJ1e
BY TALTON F. RAY
THE PHRASE "COMMUNITY-BASED
development" is as fundamental as
the ABCs to the grassroots groups in-
volved in neighborhood revitaliza-
tion. But in corporate boardrooms
across the nation - and even among
many foundation boards - this con-
cept remains a mystery.
Demystifying this process is a pri-
mary goal of the newly created Coun-
cil for Community-Based Develop-
ment. A recent survey underscores
the lack of knowledge in this field.
The council identified the 10
magazines most commonly read by
top management people - Time,
Newsweek, Forbes, and similar
giants - then tallied the number of
articles that related to community-
based development. The result was
stunning. Since 1981, these
magazines had published only eight
articles on neighborhood-based de-
velopment issues - just over one per
year.
This will come as no surprise for
many City Limits readers, who know
from personal experience the diffi-
culty of explaining community-based
development to the uninformed.
When it competes for the attention of
private funders, the movement labors
under serious handicaps. There are
four that I consider especially criti-
cal.
First - and most basic - it's un-
familiar. Those who head private-sec-
tor institutions understand the im-
portance of higher education, or the
arts, or health care. They encounter
the homeless frequently on the
streets. When approached for support
on these causes, they understand
what you're talking about. By con-
trast, it is a rare corporate, foundation
or even religious leader who will have
had firsthand experience with the
work in our field.
Confusing Concepts
Second, the concept of commu-
nity-based development often ap-
pears vague and confusing. We realize
that much of the value of the move-
ment derives from the process. But
talk about convoluted financing pack-
ages, bewildering political negotia-
tions, structuring of coalitions, and
so forth, and watch your listener's
eyes glaze over. We've got to find ways
to tell our story simply, to make it
easy to grasp.
Third, community-based develop-
ment often is viewed as ineffective
because it occurs on a small scale.
We must remind people that the
movement is still very young. In those
cases where it has had time to mature,
whole communities have been trans-
formed. The skeptics must be encour-
aged to consider existing renewal ac-
tivities and project their results in
three or four years. they will discover
that the impact can be substantial.
Finally, many believe that commu-
nity-based development is the re-
sponsibility solely of government,
not of private institutions. In my judg-
ment, this view reflects a basic misun-
derstanding of the subject - which
essentially is a collection of private
initiatives involving the decisions of
neighbors to join together to achieve
common objectives. Private support
absolutely is essential to help ensure
independence, flexibility and integ-
rity.
Developing methods to overcome
these handicaps is the goal of the
council , which was started in March
1988, by a consortium of corporations
and foundations with long histories
of supporting community-based de-
velopment. Led by such institutions
as BP America, ARCO and AMOCO,
and MacArthur and Ford founda-
tions, the group concluded that
neighborhood-based development
has demonstrated its effectiveness,
and both needs and deserves much
greater support from private institu-
tions throughout the country. It estab-
lished the council to raise aware-
ness - particularly among private-
sector leaders - of the accomplish-
ments and potential of the move-
ment, and over time to increase sub-
stantially support from private
sources.
How will the council accomplish
these goals? First, its active board of
trustees includes 10 CEOs of major
corporations, foundations and religi-
ous and other nonprofit institutions,
all prominent players in the commu-
nity-based development field. A 28-
member advisory committee of de-
velopment professionals augments
the work of our two-person staff.
Picture Story
One of our first undertakings is the
publication of a photographic essay
depicting how community-based ef-
forts resulted in the transformation of
10 different communities throughout
the nation. Designed as an art book
with high-quality pictures, the pro-
ject will give readers a vivid image
of renewal. We currently are develop-
ing a prototype chapter, using a South
Bronx neighborhood as the example.
If the book is feasible, it will be
accompanied with a traveling photo
. exhibit, w.hich will be set up in corpo-
rate and foundation headquarters
around the country. At the same time,
we are working to develop lively case
studies of successful neighborhood-
based projects.
The council also is researching
data on the field, beginning with in-
formation on the level of both grant
and social investment support from
foundations, corporations and religi-
ous institutions.
Getting media attention will be a
primary goal, because we believe it
is essential to developing widespread
awareness of our field. We will be
seeking methods to get national
magazines, newspapers and televi-
sion to provide the coverage that com-
munity-based development needs
and deserves.
Finally, the council will take advan-
tage of the stature and credibility of
its board and members to stimulate
fresh discussions of neighborhood re-
vitalization efforts. We currently are
planning sessions in Portland, Ore-
gon; Kansas City, Detroit and Los
Angeles, with the objective of draw-
ing more players into our game.
In time, we expect to have the
words "community-based develop-
ment" firmly established in the vo-
cabularies of all corporate and found-
ation funders.D
Talton F. Ray is president of the Coun-
cil for Community-Based Develop-
ment, which is located at 127 East
28th Street, (212) 545-0030.
LETTERS
Fan Mall
To the Editor:
Your recent editorial entitled "Late
Innings" (October 1988) not only at-
tacked the city's 10-Year Housing Plan
using erroneous conclusions regard-
ing our income limits, but also at-
tacked the New York City 1987 Hous-
ing and Vacancy Survey and Report
as well. The HVS, written by Michael
Stegman of the University of North
Carolina and based on information
gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau,
contains a host of good news about
the state of housing in the city. City
Limits has made its political leanings
well known and it's not surprising
that you would use this opportunity
to attack the mayor's housing plan.
Your attack comes completely out of
"left field" and effectively rewrites
the report's conclusions simply to fit
your agenda. .
First, the city's income limits. Two
years ago, in announcing the original
$4.2 billion 10-year plan, tied its in-
come limits to the area median house-
hold income calculated by the De-
partment of Housing and Urban De-
velopment. With the announcement
of the $5.1 billion plan last spring,
we updated the income limits, tying
them to the HOD median.
HUD provides the only annually
updated median income figure for
New York. While the figure does in-
clude the three suburban counties
cited in the editorial, the simplest
analysis on your part would have
shown their inclusion has very little
effect on the total area median despite
their higher incomes.
Despite your distortions, the HVS
does confirm HUD's $32,000 median
figure. The 1987 HVS measures 1986
income and the HVS median was
equivalent to the HUD median of
$27,000. Adjusting for increases in
personal income in the last two years
yields a figure of approximately
$32,000.
The great length you go to obscure
what is clearly a significant growth
in incomes highlights your unwil-
lingness to accept any information
which might indicate an improve-
ment in housing conditions. Phillip
Weitzman's "minor league" article on
the HVS in the same issue on its own
is overly pessimistic and negative. He
chooses to ignore virtually every im-
portant finding of the 1987 survey,
such as the dramatic improvements
in the quality of the city's housing
stock and the condition of the city's
neighborhoods and the fact that in-
come gains widely exceeded rent in-
creases. As the HVS showed, infla-
tion-adjusted incomes in the city shot
up 19 percent over the three-year
period while inflation-adjusted gross
rents rose only nine percent. Even
with Mr. Weitzman's already negative
and opinionated article to quote
from, you found it necessary to
further distort his findings in your
editorial.
In citing the 37,000 unit increase
in the city's housing stock between
1984 and 1987, Mr. Weitzman had to
acknowledge, "the question of who
got the additional housing cannot be
answered directly from the Housing
and Vacancy Survey." Yet you mista-
kenly state in your editorial that "as
Phillip Weitzman points out in his
analysis of the report, these new units
are too expensive for the city's poor."
Mr. Weitzman is correct that we
cannot say who got the additional
units, but more importantly, you are
both missing the point. The 37,000
unit increase was not an increase in
the number of new units but rather a
net gain in the housing stock between
1984 and 1987 - a composite of in-
creases and decreases in all compo-
nents of the stock. The critical facts,
according to Mr. Stegman, are that
this increase is "three times greater
than the 1981-1984 period" and more
importantly, it is "the first time the
HVS has recorded back-to-back net
increases in the housing stock since
the first HVS" done almost 25 years
ago. One of the most important fac-
tors in these increases has been the
dramatic reduction of abandoned
units, which has an enormous impact
on the lives of the poor.
Finally, we don't need a survey to
tell us that the private sector isn't
building housing for low and moder-
ate income New Yorkers. That is pre-
cisely why the city has dedicated its
entire vacant, in rem stock for low
and moderate income families, creat-
ing 47,000 new units-with 15,000
allocated to the homeless. It is also
precisely why we have targeted $4.4
billion of the $5.1 billion housing
plan to low and moderate income
families. You may still believe that the
housing crisis continues to "careen
out of contra!," but having to resort
to misstatements and distortions to
discredit both our plan and the HVS
would get you "thrown out of the
park" in any reputable baseball game.
Abraham Biderman
Commissioner
Dept. of Housing Preservation and
Development
City Limits replies: You don't need
Bill James to know there are ample
technical reasons for argument on
both sides of the "median income"
issue. But the commissioner misses
the essential point: while median in-
come may be increasing, these gains
are not evenly distributed throughout
the city's population. Those with the
lowest income have seen little, if any,
increase and their incomes have not
kept pace with housing costs. The
city's lO-year plan will improve con-
ditions for current residents of city-
owned buildings - it's an obligation
required by law and decency of every
landlord. Using the HUD-defined me-
dian income of $32,000 and their de-
finition of the lowest income category
(50 percent of median or $16,000)
much of the new construction and
substantial rehabilitation in the 10-
year plan will not be affordable to
the poor. So the city is doing its job
if we believe the only poor currently
live in city-owned buildings or are
homeless.
The high, hard one the commis-
sioner throws at Weitzman would
mean a trip to the showers in any
game. To call an article written by a
respected and experienced
economist and policy analyst "minor
league" is just insulting. The commis-
sioner's points suggest he may not
even have read the article. Most of
the points he raises are in the piece.
He also clearly misses the main
thrust: the increasing loss of units af-
fordable to the lowest income
families.
Equity and justice, parts of our
"well known political leanings, " dic-
tate that the city's resources be allo-
cated in proportion to population
and need. That's just not in the com-
missioner's ballpark.
Let 'Em Build
To the Editor:
Your "State of the Stock" article
(October 1988) concludes: "This
housing has not been trickling down
to the people most in need." What
housing? Only the long-standing
ideology refuses to recognize that
New York's housing supply has been
diminishing for decades as the exist-
ing stock deteriorates without re-
placement. "Trickle down," a popu-
lar nostrum, has become much more
evident as people trickle down to
shelters and SRO's and onto the
streets. Doubling and tripling up is
more prevalent but less evident.
The problem is shortage and the
250-page Stegman "Housing and Va-
cancy Report" is certainly unneces-
sary to verify the long-standing criti-
cal housing famine. The article refers
to the 1987 annual rate of new con-
struction as specified in the report -
9,000. During the 1920s, more than
90,000 units were built annually for
several years. Such housing is wear-
ing out and the one-third of the hous-
ing stock that was built in the 50 years
preceeding 1920 has worn out. The
survey is primarily a distraction
away from its brief statement on the
vacancy rate - the basic function of
the $2 million report. The vacancy
rate was determined to be still less
than half the emergency level under
whch the city has suffered for 40
years.
The failure of restoration of the
housing stock in New York is no sec-
ret. The planning department re-
cently reported that housing comple-
tions in the 1970s were at half the
rate of the 1960s, and that the 1980s
has been at half the rate of the 1970s.
The state's housing agency recently
estimated that 600,000 housing units
were needed in New York City. Cer-
tainly a century would pass before
this volume would be accomplished
at our present production rate, allow-
ing for intervening losses.
Housing production must be re-
stored as a function of the economy,
the same as shoes and shirts. The gov-
ernmental role is only to assist and
encourage the housing economy, and
especially to get out of its way.
The key question of Mr.
Weitzman's "State of the Stock" arti-
cle, "Who Got the Additional Hous-
ing?" is also key to the "low income
housing syndrome," which has been
the scourge of the city's housing sup-
ply and of the city itself. New housing
each year is .004 percent of the hous-
ing supply and even a massive in-
crease in annual production would
still leave it a trivial proportion. Yet
the obsession of experts from the
community to the columnists focuses
entirely on new or rebuilt structures
as the solution for badly housed, low
income families . Ignored is the por-
tion of the existing stock of housing
that would become available as the
supply is adequately increased.
How can new or rebuilt housing be
made "affordable" for low income
families? It cannot be, since only five
percent of the families in New York
can support the carrying charges of
new or rebuilt housing. Not only can
low income families, assisted by any
possible level of public subsidy, not
support more than token production,
but there is not the slightest social or
moral reason for this insistence upon
new housing for low income
families.
The obsession with the "low in-
come housing syndrome" stems
from, and has been nourished by, the
involvement of vast conglomerations
of agencies, associations and other
entities who insist on keeping their
hands - and voices - in the hous-
ing field.
Removal of the governmental
obstructions, uncertainties and pro-
hibitions is a good part of the battle.
Public financial assistance aimed at
the marginal households - the
households just below the 5 or 6 per-
cent that can afford the cost of new
or rebuilt housing, so as to increase
this proportion to 15 or 20 percent-
is the only way that New York's
housing supply can reach an
adequate level in quality and quan-
tity so as to make decent housing av-
ailable for low and moderate income
families . It is the only way to arrest
and reverse an accelerating decline
of the city, socially and economi-
cially.
History reveals that several cen-
turies passed before there was gen-
eral acceptance of the fact that the
world was round and not flat, and
that a ship would not fall off the hori-
zon. Let us make certain that the 50-
year old low income housing syn-
drome does not last as long, but, in-
stead is promptly rectified.
Seymour Durst
The Durst Organization
Manhattan
PhIlip Weitzman replies: Nowhere
does Mr. Durst dispute the central
findings of my article: decent hous-
ing in New York City is increasingly
being priced out of reach of low in-
come people; significant supplies of
both rental and owner housing are
readily available to affluent house-
holds; and people now moving into
the city are significantly better off
than previous residents. All of this
leads to the conclusion that the
trickle-down theory is not working in
New York.
Indeed, evidence is nonexistent of
actual trickling down in the sense
that market processses enable lower
income people to improve their hous-
ing situation without paying more.
This is nothing new or unique to New
York. Early in this century social re-
formers recognized what is now
widely accepted throughout the
western world - the private market
cannot meet the housing needs of the
poor. Out of this realization carne all
the government programs both here
and abroad to build and/or subsidize
housing targeted to those most in
need.
We should not forget that in in-
stances where the private market ex-
periences high rental vacancy rates
due to speculative overbuilding or
economic distress, the result is more
likely to be demolition of low rent
units (as now currently occurring in
Houston) in order to strengthen the
private market - not a trickle down
of decent affordable housing to the
poor. D
WORKSHOP
COMMUNITY LIAISON SPECIALIST. Part time. Bushwick Infor-
mation, a community-based housing org, seeks "student intern."
Assist with counseling, educating tenants owner/or community
groups to implement tech assist services in Bushwick. Advise
tenants/owners on housing laws regs/or policies, procedures of
govt agencies. Process complaints. Prepare &lor disseminate
informational materials; organize housing wkshops & seminars.
Encourage bldg repair agreements. For more info: Joyce
Rhodes, 718-453-5747.
EARP COORDINATOR. Help families relocate to perm housing,
identify private landlords, assist both client/family & landlords,
assist both client/family & landlord with EARP processing & Sec-
tion 8. Qualifications: Exp in housing &/or community organizing
preferred. Salary: High teens, with exc benefits. Contact: M.
Winkler, The Partnership for the Homeless, 6 E 30th St, NYC
10016.
Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation
Required by 39 U.S.C. 3685
Title of Publication: City Limits. Publication No. 498890. Date of Filing:
9/28/88. Frequency of issue: Monthly, except bimont hly in June/July, Au-
gust/Sept. No. of issues published annually: 10. Annual subscription price:
$15 individual , $35 institution. Complete mailing address of known office
of publication: 40 Prince Street , NY NY 10012. Managing Editor: Doug
Turetsky. Owner: City Limits Community Information Service Inc . Editor:
Beverly Cheuvront, 40 Prince Street, NY NY 10012. Known bondholders ,
mortgagees, and other security holders owning 1 percent or more of total
amount of bonds, mortgages or other securities: none. The pur pose, func-
tion and nonprofit status of this organization and t he exempt status for
federal income tax purposes has not changed during t he preceding 12
months. Extent and nature of circulation. Total average no. of copies 4,400
(4,000 actual no. closest to filing date) ; Paid and/or requested circulation:
2,000 (1,200); Mail subscription: 1,600 (1,620); Total paid and/or requested
circu lation: 3,600 (2,820); Free distribution by mail, carrier or ot her means,
samples, complimentary and other free copies: 600 (1, 000); Total distribu-
t ion: 4,200 (3,820). Copies not distributed: 200 (180) ; Return from news
agents: 0 (0) ; Total : 4,400 (4,000) . I certify that t he statements made by me
above are correct and complete, Beverly Cheuvront, edi tor.
Nowwe,neet

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D E M O N S T R A T I O N : S U N D A Y , D E C . 1 S
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FOR UPDATED INFORMATION LISTEN TO WBAI 99.5 FM OR CALL 212- 222- 19p7
INITIATED BY USTENERS' ACilON ON HOMELFSSNESS AND HOUSING AND SUPPORTED BY A WIDE RANGE OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY GROUPS

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