Via the EVG inbox...
We want local HDFC folks to be fully informed about what is happening with the NYC Housing Preservation and Development and their proposed new Regulatory Agreement for ALL HDFC buildings citywide. Now is the time to get involved.
As the flyer shows, the meeting is Tuesday night at 6:30, Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street.
Find more information at the the HDFC Coalition website here.
What a joke. De Blasio is not making an effort to reverse the Rivington House injustice but is devoting resources to squeezing HDFCs? Some HDFCs are poorly run but a majority are doing fine to good. What they're proposing is in no way justified.
ReplyDeleteEV Grieve, Thanks SO MUCH for posting this. I live in an HDFC but had no idea that any of this was going on. Thanks again for posting crucial information, particularly about housing issues.
ReplyDeleteI don't really understand the whole thing, it seems very complex. What I've seen around here, in the East Village, is an alarmingly huge turnover of HDFC coops. All you have to do is look on StreetEasy or one of the others and see that HDFC coops are advertised as fully upgraded, pied a terres allowed, gifting allowed, subletting, etc. A lot of the apartments have flipped multiple times in just a few years, and the prices have escalated. They are occupied by young transients who meet the income restrictions because they are students or just starting out and have modest salaries. Their parents set them up with the initial purchase.
ReplyDeleteI personally think it's very easy for a manager or board member(s) to get away with stealing funds and covering up his/her track. So letting someone hired by the city to closely monitor these building wouldn't be such a bad idea. A building can be well managed and still be prone to theft
ReplyDelete@ 5:48 The coop boards are to blame. Many of the sales are-in cash only. That shouldn't be allowed. Sell the coop to someone who really needs it. The flip tax $$ goes back to the building and allows for the maintenance to remain low. Many coop residents just want the maintenance to remain low and they want to be able to sell at whatever price they want. No way, It's wrong, period. This is one of the problems in the myriad of problems in the East Village, and it's been corrupted beyond repair. If you are wondering why there are so many snotty mainstream young people in alphabet city, it's because many of them live in the HDFC's, it's not just the frat-hole rental demographic.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot wrong with the way some HDFCs are run, but this proposal would effectively destroy the well -run buildings and do nothing but add expenses to the ones that are failing. It would empower a host of city contractors and so-called "affordable housing developers" to get fat contracts and position themselves to take over failed HDFCs.
ReplyDeleteWe're asking the city to stop pushing this ill-conceived plan, and sit down - for the first time - with HDFC shareholders and give them the tools they need to keep their homes affordable.
If you have concerns about how your HDFC is run - any concerns at all - come and talk to the meeting and get some real answers.
Hey anonymous poster - what wrong with having "snotty mainstream young people in alphabet city" ? You don't like their youth? their chosen stream? their sinus infections? Slumlords sold their buildings to developers who rent and sell apartments to whoever pays cash. It's the American way. If you don't like it, as President Obama says, Get a clipboard and a pen, get some signatures and run for office. But stop whimpering into the blogosphere.
ReplyDeleteI love young people. Not the dumb shits that live around here.
ReplyDeletePoint blank-the HDFC's should not allow gifting (when someone's parents pay $500,000 cash so their child can use the East Village as playground- then two years later sell the apartment for a profit. Moreover, the long time HDFC co-op shareholders make out by receiving flip tax money and the value of the units go up.
The HDFC co-ops were intended to provide affordable home ownership opportunities, not to serve as real estate investment opportunities.
Civil Rights just do not exist around here.
So the city is giving them this tax break and the intention is not for apartments to be sold on the open market for cash at prices that are out of the reach of people that HDFC's were intended to house. If the HDFC's are not paying their bills then the city which is providing them with a subsidy should have the right to investigate the situation and monitor the situation until they start paying their bills like everyone else.
ReplyDeleteUnless you are one of the homesteaders who rescued a building that was abandoned by the landlord and was city-owned, unsafe, scheduled for demolition, non tax paying – and you restored it, you have no idea what it took.
ReplyDeletewhen I first walked into our hdfc you could look up and see the sky. there were no landings, no floors, no windows no roof, missing exterior walls, no anything but garbage. and for over 30 years it has been our thriving, still affordable home, managaed by the folks that created it.
now the city wants us to hire a monitor and a manager, to give us permission to continue, to tell us how to do what we’ve done for all this time, and force us to obey them like good little soldiers,
none of us got involved to make a huge profit. there certainly are better ways to do that. but we want the right to give our children the benefit of our efforts. and if for some reason we are forced to sell we want to get back the money and labor we put into our homes, just as every other homeowner in america does,
Amazing the amount of misinformation being pushed as fact by the clueless Anonymi on this thread, none of whom, I am guessing, actually live in an HDFC, or put the years worth of work (there's a reason it's called sweat equity) into rehabbing a derelict building that had been abandoned by both the landlord and the City. The vast majority of HDFCs are well-run organizations that pay their taxes, their utilities, and are a benefit to the neighborhood, but the HPD proposal would treat them the same as failing HDFCs who cannot run themselves, by installing monitors to essentially oversee every single aspect of the way the HDFC in question is run, down to whether or not a shareholder can sublet for a couple of weeks to a certain subletter, or whether or not a building can embark upon a needed capital improvement program. For buildings that have policed themselves for years and played by the rules, that have more than enough money to run well, the emphasis in this thread on thieving boards or managing agents, lack of civil rights (huh?), supposedly sky-high "alarmingly huge" (are you Donald Trump?)sales to Millennials, are all red herrings, none of which have much basis in fact. The Millennials are moving into luxury buildings with gyms and doormen, not tenement walk-ups where their Fresh Direct deliveries might get stolen. Any board in ANY co-op might resort to thievery, but I have yet to hear of it happening in an HDFC. The vast majority of apartment sales in the city are under $300,000, which might sound like a lot, but when you stack it against the amount of time and money we put into buying supplies and building our apartments with them, it's really not. Finally, given that the city is blithely overseeing the destruction of vast swathes of its middle-income housing stock (5 buildings on 11th between 3rd and 4th currently being demolished to make way for a luxury tourist hotel, I am thinking of you), why is it okay for private landlords to make millions off of selling their buildings to luxury developers, but for people who lived for years without basic amenities and services, who moved into neighborhoods developers would not have gone near, who helped stabilize their buildings, their blocks, their neighborhoods, to hope to get some equity out of a space they built with their own two hands, and have lived in for decades?
ReplyDeleteI'm talking about the HDFC's in the East Village. I never said that HDFC shareholders shouldn't be able to leave the apartments to their children or sell at a price equivalent to the value of the work they put into them. I'm just saying that it's a revolving door, and these are facts. Just look at the real estate listings.
ReplyDeleteApartments in many of these HDFC's, perhaps not all, have units that have flipped multiple times to the point that the sale price is really not affordable to everyday people. In many cases it's an all cash transaction. I see more and more of this. There aren't any units in this area that are selling for $300,000. That was many moons ago. A good number of apartments for sale in the area-are in HDFC's. I have actually followed this market closely and have myself gone to open houses and the people who show up are young twenty somethings. I have only seen maybe one or two listings over the years that say- absolutely no gifting- and have significant restrictions from the board. Sorry, these apartments flip. That's why it's called the flip tax. The majority of buildings in the East Village are tenement walk-ups and young people do live in them, whether rentals or HDFC co-ops.
This is how it ends up.
ReplyDelete220 East 10th Street #5R
$799,00
OFFER ACCEPTED. This two bedroom, 1.5 bathroom with washer/dryer is an incredible value in the East Village with LOW maintenance. South-facing with lots of light, this spacious duplex is on the fifth floor of a walk-up building in the heart of the neighborhood. On the main level, you'll find an updated open kitchen with Caesar Stone countertops, a breakfast bar and built-in china cabinet/hutch. Upstairs, both bedrooms are generously proportioned with walls of windows. There's also space for a den/office or other use. Bring your paintbrush and TLC to customize your home! The building offers additional laundry in the basement, as well as storage for each unit. Close to Trader Joe's, Whole Foods Market and all the trendiest restaurants and bars. This is an HDFC building with household income limited to $235,000 for this apt. HDFC co-ops are intended to provide accommodations for those with moderate incomes; the apt must be your primary residence and subletting is restricted. Please understand that NYC regulates HDFC co-ops so guidelines for purchaser income, seller flip tax, or resale prices, etc., are subject to change. Prospective purchasers should consult their attorney. Sorry, NO DOGS. [less]
This is how it start- but tell me what kind of working family has $425k in cash?
98 Avenue C #3D
$425,000
This unit is been remarketed. This family unit is located in the highly desirable areas of the Lower East Side / East village neighborhood, This vibrant neighborhood is a cultural mecca, with many history and conveniences, such as Transportation, grocery stores and supermarkets, drugs stores, parks, and community gardens, schools and daycare centers, quality restaurants and other night life.
The unit is located on the 3rd floor of a multifamily building which is self managed by the resident shareholders, and is very quiet.
This is a cash only sale and an application and interview is required. Unit is a family sale. NOTE: Co-broking is accepted if the buyer pays the 50% fee to the selling Broker. Income Restricted. Unit is occupied and there fore no pictures.