East Harlem Rent Regulated Housing

This report provides greatly needed information and policy strategies for the East Harlem community to preserve its stock of regulated affordable housing. The project is a collaborative neighborhood revitalization effort between Regional Plan Association and East Harlem Community Board 11 that seeks to define general strategies to preserve and strengthen its rent regulated housing stock.

The East Harlem/Manhattan Community District 11 Board has identified gentrification of the District and more specifically the conversion of rent regulated housing into market rate housing as the major issue in its 2010 and 2011 Statements of District Needs. There is currently a lack of reliable information on how many regulated housing units currently exist in its area or their rate of conversion. This project has applied research to answer these questions and formulate a public policy effort to help the Community Board assess and think strategically about how to preserve existing rent regulated housing units.

The East Harlem community is located in the Upper Manhattan section of New York City and is generally bounded by 96th Street to the South, Fifth Avenue to the West and the Harlem and East Rivers to the East. As of 2009 the Community District has an estimated 122,051 persons and is predominantly minority (Hispanic 49% and African American 32%). 90% of the population is considered low- and moderate-income in 2010. There were about 36,330 rent regulated units in the community in 2008.

The approximate share of rent regulated housing units in 2008 for the various existing programs was as follows: Public Housing units 44%; Stabilized units 39%; Mitchell Lama Rental units 9%; HUD Regulated units 7% and Rent Controlled units 1%. In the course of researching for this report, RPA has found that data on housing policy in NYC is largely fragmented and difficult to access. This report looks to fill a gap specifically in East Harlem by presenting data on the number and types of rent regulated housing available. However, it is important to acknowledge that data on housing lags a couple of years and the data presented is the most up to date that RPA could obtain.

Proposed preservation strategies for this housing stock include city-wide changes that need to be undertaken for the whole of New York City given their regulatory or public nature, and local and community changes that could be undertaken by East Harlem residents given their community development and empowerment nature.

City-wide preservation strategies

Better information and coordination that provides data to:

• Extend Public Housing units availability through informed and continued maintenance,
• Allow Stabilized, Controlled Housing and Mitchell-Lama units continued participation in those programs by providing advocates with warning systems to address their deregulation, and
• Coordinate potential HUD Regulated Housing transition into city ownership and ensure tenants well-being.

Extension of funding access and financial incentives to potential HUD Regulated Housing or other housing to be owned by the city should be undertaken through use of existing tax breaks of programs to extend their preservation.

Community-based preservation strategies

Support Public Housing tenant associations for residents to become active stewards of their buildings; Stabilized, Controlled, HUD regulated and Mitchell-Lama buildings should develop their own warning systems to organize for housing preservation and establish safety nets for tenant potential relocation, and A community land trust can also provide a way for the community to acquire housing at risk of becoming market rate (especially Stabilized, Controlled and Mitchell-Lama) and ensure its long-term community control.