Strycker’s Bay’s Eviction Prevention Program and Helpline Overwhelmed with Requests for Help

Did you know?

New York City's Homeless Shelter Population 1990-2010 has steadily increased over the past twenty years:

Total number of homeless people in municipal shelters: October 1990 19,877

Total number of homeless people in municipal shelters: October 2000 24,537

Total number of homeless people in municipal shelters: October 2010 37,987

and

According to Testimony given at the Rent Guidelines Board Hearing by Community Service Society’s Victor Bach and Tom Waters in April 2010: 

…“The RGB 2010 Income and Affordability Study does a thorough job of updating some of the key indicators of economic stress and housing hardship in New York City from 2008 to 2009. It presents an unmitigated picture of mounting stresses for New Yorkers across the city:

·         NYC jobs lost 106,800 (2.8% decrease since 2008)

·         Average Unemployment Rate 9.4% in 2009, compared to 5.4 % in 2008

·         Inflation-Adjusted Wages Decrease of 3.4 % since 2008

·         Homeless Shelter Census Average 35,915, 7% increase since 2008.

·         First-Time Homeless Clients 17.0 increase since 2008

·         Non-Payment Housing Court Filings 2.3 increase since 2008

·         Evictions 7.5 % increase since 2008 .”..

Even at a time when our state funding has been cut by $30,000, our Eviction Prevention Program and Helpline has experienced an overwhelming increase in requests for assistance. During the last 30 days we have received more than 70 requests for assistance and are now managing more than 30 eviction cases. We work with each tenant until there is no longer a threat of eviction. Cases can take anywhere between two weeks to two months to resolve.

Janice Bethea, our lead Eviction Prevention Counselor and Gerry Peralta a Housing Intern from Hunter College have been diligently working with families and individuals to stop their eviction. The people they are working with have found themselves in a position that has upset the stability of their households and has placed them in a frightening situation. Janice and Gerry do all they can to connect them to the resources that will help bring stability back in to their lives.

But I will admit here that we struggle to keep up with the request as we find ourselves having to relocate our office space that will cost more than twice the rent we pay now in addition to moving and repair expenses. More about our move in a later post

It’s a tough time for all right now, but with support from volunteers, contributors and our strategic partners we will get through this difficult period.

If you, your friends and family are considering year end contributions, please consider giving to Strycker’s Bay. We are also in need of some immediate in-kind contributions of items such as:

Paint
Primer

Paint Rollers, Brushes and Pan
Cleaning Supplies

Volunteers to Help Clean, Paint and Move

Also please look out for other opportunities to contribute and get involved with Strycker’s Bay through individual and corporate sponsorship of our upcoming fundraising “New York City: Through My Eyes” a photographic exhibit by neighborhood and NYC photographers scheduled to take place in April 2011 and an event – Community Matters -- we have planned for January 20, 2011 I will share more about the both next week.

Until the next post….

Kelley

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished - Strycker's Bay Faces Eviction

I promised you a blog post on Strycker’s Bay losing its program at 61 West 87^th Street. Well here it is.

There are, of course, two sides to every story. Here on Neighborhood Commons I will share with you the version that will force Strycker’s Bay to leave the boundaries of the West Side Urban Renewal Area after a 50 year history here. It will have to be abbreviated because our role in creating the low-income cooperative that now seeks to evict us is too long to go into here. However, anyone who is interested in the details of the story should feel free to contact me.

You should take note before getting down to the nitty gritty of this story that:

·        The annual property taxes for the five unit low-income coop are $67,191.

·        However because of the J51 Strycker’s Bay worked so hard to secure for the building there is an annual abatement of $62,098.

·        Therefore the adjusted annual property tax for this building is $5,093.

·        Without the tax abatement benefit,  the monthly maintenance fee for each of these cooperative units would have to increase by more than $1,000 per month making it unaffordable to MOST of the shareholders there.

So here are some of the facts:

1.      1959 - Strycker’s Bay – Founded by Father Henry Browne

2.      1959-1975 -- Strycker’s Bay’s works with its membership (the council) to insure that urban renewal does not uproot and displace area residents and supports efforts to keep “mom and pop” stores from being pushed out of the neighborhood

3.      1975-1999 – worked with tenants of occupied city owned buildings to win the right to manage, renovate and purchase their buildings (debt free) as low-income housing develop fund corporations HDFCs) under Article XI of the NY Private Housing Finance Law. The buildings, as long as they remain low income according to income guidelines, would continue to benefit from J51 tax abatement that, yes Strycker’s Bay facilitated.

4.      2005 – Thanks to the support of two very committed residents of the 61 West 87^th Street HDFC, Strycker’s Bay renovated and got the certificate of occupancy for the basement of their building.

5.      2005 – New shareholder buys into the 61 West 87^th Street HDFC. A recent immigrant to this country working to build a good life from him and his family was welcomed to the neighborhood and the building by the same two supportive tenants that helped Strycker’s Bay secure affordable office space in their building.

6.      2005 – New shareholder becomes HDFC officer.

7.      2005 – Strycker’s Bay seeks 10 year lease. New HDFC Officer blocks this from moving forward. When asked why during a meeting between the Strycker’s Bay board and the 61 West 87^th Street HDFC, he said “because I don’t want you here.” The result was a compromise 5 year lease with Strycker’s Bay hoping for a change of heart.

8.      2010 March  – Strycker’s Bay pleads with the HDFC to offer us another lease

a.      “Strycker’s Bay has been on the West Side for the last 50 years and has provided a vehicle for the community to resolve common problems. We have been instrumental in creating and preserving more than 600 units of affordable rental and cooperative housing for the West Side Community. The cooperative ownership of your building is the result of several generations of Strycker’s Bay activists’ commitment to the preservation of affordable housing. We are turning to you, the owners of a building we helped preserve, for reciprocal assistance. The programs and services we offer are of great value to the people who live on the Upper West Side and the space we now occupy is essential to our continued assistance.”

9.      2010 – May 31^st (Memorial Day) Strycker’s Bay was served with a 30-day notice to terminate our tenancy notice of termination.

Post to be continued….