Cooperative Housing News

Resources to help ensure that residents of Multifamily properties are receiving stimulus payments, staying safe, and are aware of pertinent information related to the pandemic. Please share with your communities. Read more from HUD

Westchester bill on housing cooperative admissions misses a critical mark | Opinion

National Cooperative Bank Releases 2020 Mission Report Highlighting Lending, Advocacy, Economic Development and DEI Initiatives

Catafago Fini LLP Successfully Defends Manhattan Cooperative Building in Appeal

Report: Differences between Blueprint Boise and zoning code fuel conflict

Detroit’s Largest Black-Owned Housing Co-Op Isn’t Going Anywhere

Gramercy plans senior co-op

Office Hours: Daniel Libeskind

The Co-Own Company Is Changing the Game for Future Denver Homeowner

Second-Round PPP: ‘Businesses Are More Strategic’

Common Council Ordinance Reduces Limitations For New And Existing Co-Ops

A Habitat Chapter Embraces Community Land Trusts in the Big Apple

How the Real Estate Lobby Exploits Small Landlords

Symposium on expanding shared equity housing highlights innovations and best practices in community-owned land

The Paycheck Protection Program Continues to Provide a Lifeline to Small Businesses

Catafago Fini LLP Successfully Defends Manhattan Cooperative Building in Appeal

Report: Differences between Blueprint Boise and zoning code fuel conflict

Detroit’s Largest Black-Owned Housing Co-Op Isn’t Going Anywhere

Gramercy plans senior co-op

Office Hours: Daniel Libeskind

The Co-Own Company Is Changing the Game for Future Denver Homeowner

Housing Cooperatives Added To Second Round Of Paycheck Protection Program

Housing co-ops and condominiums to receive funding in new COVID-19 relief bill

What’s in new Paycheck Protection Program, Small Business Relief – NC Bankers CEO breaks it down

Paycheck Protection Program Phase 2: What Businesses Need to Know

Co-ops included in the $2.3 trillion spending bill passed by Congress, providing economic relief to people and small businesses impacted by COVID-19

Housing Cooperatives and PPP Loans- Is It Time To Rejoice?

Co-op Boards Need to Act Fast on Paycheck Protection Loans

Co-ops are Now Eligible for Paycheck Protection Loans

Milwaukee investing group teams up with Bader Philanthropies to convert the Cream City Hostel into a housing cooperative

Replacing Decorative Balconies at This Historic Building Could Displace Low-Income Washingtonians

Portland bets on co-ops to meet need for affordable housing

Approved COVID-19 Relief Bill: What Small Businesses Need to Know about PPP

Webinar: A cooperative response to the affordable housing crisis

The Art of the Legal Hack, as Pioneered by Janelle Orsi

Thanksgiving as Self-Giving and Community-Building

Revisiting Levandusky

CDFI Friendly Bloomington And Bloomington Cooperative Living Team Up To Construct 18 New Affordable Units On Near West Side

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett’s budget plan cuts 120 police officers

Guest Commentary: Postwar Interracial Co-ops and the Struggle against Redlining

Analysis of Current and Expected Rental Shortfall and Potential Eviction Filings in the U.S.

Economic Fallout From COVID-19 Continues To Hit Lower-Income Americans the Hardest

Temporary Halt in Residential Evictions to Prevent the Further Spread of COVID-19

VISION FOR BLACK LIVES

Post from Community: The people have spoken and continue to demand divestment from the Milwaukee Police Department

The African American Roundtable sees this as a moment to share a simple statement and remind everyone that demoting the Milwaukee Police Chief is simply not enough. In less than a month the Mayor will be sharing his executive budget with the community that needs to reflect a $75 million divestment from the Milwaukee Police Department. Read more

Berkeley cannot wait to right historical housing wrongs

I came to the San Francisco Bay Area from Ohio more than 40 years ago. I was drawn to the Bay Area because of its natural beauty, culture and inspiring political activism. This area had the most diversity I had witnessed in my lifetime. However, I was shocked at the high price of housing. I was also surprised to face much of the same racial discrimination and prejudice in my search for housing as my parents experienced in the Midwest during the Jim Crow era. Read more

WinnDevelopment and Soldier On, Inc., Close Financing for $23 Million Veterans Housing Development in Tinton Falls

WinnDevelopment, an award-winning multifamily housing developer, and Soldier On, Inc., a non-profit organization serving homeless veterans, today announced they have closed on the financing needed to develop a $23 million, 70-unit apartment community in Tinton, Falls, NJ, for veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces, including veterans transitioning from homelessness. Read more

Building a Co-op Economy in Maine—And Perhaps in Your State Too

Consider an economy facing significant economic challenges. The economy is relatively small, geographically isolated, and faces challenging weather that inhibits the growing season, year-round tourism, and in-migration. The population is small, relatively dispersed, and homogenous. In many respects, this economy is in deep trouble, even as a few southern and coastal population centers are faring relatively well. Read more

The End of Housing as We Know It

In the face of compounding crises, tenants and housing organizers see an opportunity to pry open the real estate industry’s grip on our cities. Read more

Guest Commentary: Comparative Study of Four Affordable Home Ownership Models and Market Rate Ownership and Renting Shows Strength of Housing Cooperatives

The United States is facing a housing crisis. The American workforce of moderate-income citizens—or people who make between 80% and 120% of the area median income (AMI)—has been highly affected. This group is often stuck paying a significant portion of their income towards rent and cannot make the jump to homeownership due to such high home prices and their inability to save. When people are contributing so much of their income to housing, it makes it difficult to pay for other necessities such as food and health care. Read more

New York State Legislature Considers COVID-19 Rent And Mortgage Relief Bill

The Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act of 2020, introduced on July 10, 2020 by Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou (D) and Senator Julia Salazar (D), proposes to cancel residential rent payments and mortgages for small homeowners (owners of residential properties with six or fewer units) accrued between March 7, 2020 and the end of New York’s ongoing state of emergency, plus an additional 90 days. Read more

Housing Is a Worker Issue: Why the Labor Movement Should Support the ‘Beyond Recovery’ Campaign

The uprising for Black Lives has opened new possibilities for organizing. But besides fighting police brutality, unions and worker organizations can address racial injustice by organizing around the issues of workers’ everyday lives. Read more

National Cooperative Bank Originates Over $212 Million for New York Area Cooperatives and Condominiums in Q2 of 2020

National Cooperative Bank (NCB), a leading lender to cooperative housing and condominiums throughout the Tri-State area, originated over $212 million to 51 New York area housing cooperatives and condominiums during the second quarter of 2020. Edward Howe III, Managing Director of NCB’s New York office, made the announcement. Read more

Court Says Pandemic Losses Not Covered by Business Interruption Insurance

In a ruling sure to send shivers through many New York housing cooperatives and condominiums, a Michigan judge has thrown out a lawsuit by a restaurant owner who sought to recoup income lost during the coronavirus pandemic through his business interruption insurance policy. Judge Joyce Draganchuk, ruling on one of the first such cases in the nation, said that insurers must pay business interruption claims only if tangible physical damage, say from a fire or flood, “alters the physical integrity of the property,” the New York Times reports. Read more

Has your co-op registered to participate in National Voter Registration Day yet?

The November elections are less than 100 days away. Like most things in 2020, the election will look very different this year, but the need to practice our cooperative principles and values—including democratic participation and exercising voting rights—remains the same. Read more

Court Says Pandemic Losses Not Covered by Business Interruption Insurance

Housing discrimination: It’s real and not just a tweet

The president’s recent tweets show how far we still have to go Read more

Housing Is a Worker Issue: Why the Labor Movement Should Support the ‘Beyond Recovery’ Campaign

New York State Legislature Considers COVID-19 Rent And Mortgage Relief Bill

NEW IDEAS for the up community COMMUNITY PLAN We need co-op housing;

We need living green walls. Studio City as always, the vanguard for well-planned community development. Read more

CALL TO ACTION – Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for Housing Cooperatives

Good news! Housing cooperatives were included in the recent House passed Heroes Act. Although the Senate will not consider this specific legislation, they will include some provisions from it in a likely next stimulus package.

Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, as well as many NY representatives sent this letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Small Business Administrator Secretary Jovita Carranza seeking eligibility for housing cooperatives to be included in the PPP.

Now, we need your help. Please e-mail your Senators and ask them to include PPP eligibility for housing cooperatives in the next stimulus package. Please do it today and ask everyone in your cooperative to e-mail them too. To contact them, simply go to Democracy.io and send them the following message:

The Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)
The Paycheck Protection Program is a loan designed to provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll. SBA will forgive loans if all employees are kept on the payroll for eight weeks and the money is used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest, or utilities.

Now is the Time to Take Radical Steps Toward Housing Equity

It’s time to think big about housing. No more evictions and foreclosures. Rent and mortgage cancellation on a grand scale. Twelve million new green housing units in the next 10 years. A massive reinvestment in housing under public control, resident control, and community control. Rent freezes, rent control, tenant protections, and anti-displacement measures across the nation. Read more

Op-Ed All I Want for Mother’s Day is Relief for All

When I was 4 years old, my mother made the difficult decision to leave Mexico City with me and my brother to reach the United States, for the promise of a better life. As a single mother, she was barely able to afford an apartment and she worked incredibly hard to provide me with a better chance of success in life. We lived in Spanish Harlem at first, but after my aunt was stabbed, we moved out to Bushwick where we thought it was safer. Read more

Valone Calls on Congress For Co-ops, Condos CARES Relief

Council Member Paul A. Vallone (D-Alley Pond Park, Bay Terrace, Bayside, College Point, Douglaston, East Elmhurst, Flushing, Fresh Meadows, Little Neck, Whitestone) announced on Friday he will introduce a resolution calling on Congress and President Trump to expand the CARES Act and Payroll Protection Program (PPP) to include considerations for housing cooperatives and condominiums.
Read more

Queens lawmaker introduces new legislation seeking to cancel rent and mortgage payments nationwide

As millions of tenants were unable to pay rent on April 1, and with no clear end to the COVID-19 crisis in sight, a Queens lawmaker is helping to introduce a new legislation to cancel rent and mortgage payments nationwide.

Congresswoman Grace Meng on April 20 announced the Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act, which would constitute a full forgiveness of payment, with no accumulation of debt for renters or homeowners and no negative impact on their credit rating or rental history. Read more

Confusion Over COVID-19 Mortgage Relief Programs

Government relief for homeowners facing difficulties paying their mortgages has been a slow and confusing process: thousands of homeowners are spending several hours waiting to speak with their mortgage service providers and the options given may not be suitable for a household suffering from the loss of a significant portion of their income due to the novel coronavirus epidemic, says the Center for New York City Neighborhoods, a homeownership advocacy group. Read more

Ensuring Access to Needed Medications During the COVID-19 Pandemic

One of the challenges many people may face during the coronavirus pandemic is access to needed prescription and over-the-counter medications. Our tips below offer advice for how to get your medications, as well as find help affording them. Read more

Getting the Care You Need via Telemedicine

Keeping on top of your healthcare needs is now more important than ever, but due to the COVID-19 virus, you may be asked by your healthcare system or local physician’s office to avoid in-person visits. Avoiding in-person visits helps control the spread of the disease and ensures that the most critically ill receive frontline care. But just because you may not be able to see your healthcare provider in person does not mean that you should not seek out medical care. Read more

New York City’s affordable HDFC co-ops, explained

New York City’s affordable housing stock mostly consists of rental apartments, but for those who are in the market to buy, there is one reliable source for homeownership on a budget. Housing Development Fund Corporation cooperatives, better known as HDFC co-ops (which are also advertised as “income-restricted” or “restricted sale” apartments), are often priced much lower than a typical NYC apartment, but require buyers to meet certain income caps while also having significant financial assets on hand. Read more

Chicago: With East Garfield Park Ripe For Gentrification, Residents Draw Up Blueprint To Protect Themselves

The community-driven plan was created over the past year in response to rising rents and new development coming to the area.

The West Side may get a lot of bad press about gun violence and poverty, but legacy residents of East Garfield Park have always known their neighborhood is prime real estate. Just a 10-minute ride Downtown by the Green Line, the neighborhood is positioned within arm’s reach of the city’s major employment centers like the Kinzie Industrial Corridor, as well as some of Chicago’s best attractions like the United Center and the Garfield Park Conservatory. Read more

EEI Statement on Suspending Electric Service Disconnections

Edison Electric Institute (EEI) President Tom Kuhn today announced that all EEI member companies are suspending electricity disconnects for nonpayment nationwide. Many companies already have made this commitment in their local service territories. Read on (PDF)

NY Eviction Bill Raises Concerns For Residential Owners

Highlights

A bill introduced in the New York State Senate would preclude the owners of cooperatives, condominiums, hotels and rental buildings from being able to evict a tenant, subtenant, or someone without a lease or other occupancy agreement (broadly defined as a “tenant”) unless the landlord can demonstrate good cause for the eviction.
If enacted, the legislation would fundamentally change how someone owning real estate could treat an occupant of space regardless of whether the occupant had a legal right to occupy the space, which would seriously damage the economic viability of residential real estate such as cooperatives, condominiums and hotels.
The legislation applies to all residential real estate except for rent-stabilized and rent-controlled apartments as well as single-family homes.

Read the article

Coronavirus: What Older Adults Need to Know

The situation around the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is changing rapidly, and NCOA is taking proactive steps to share the best information we have to protect the public’s health, especially among older adults. Now is the time to stay informed and follow basic tips to protect yourself and those around you. Read more

Opinion: We Need Housing Guarantee for Brooklyn’s Working Families

In 1949, President Harry Truman signed the Housing Act to provide “a decent home and suitable living environment for every American family.” Now 70 years later, our country is in an affordable housing crisis and homeownership is at record lows. Access to housing is a human right and a quintessential part of the American Dream, and yet, for far too many Americans, rents are increasing at alarming rates and buying a home is completely out of reach. Read more

Hurricane Planning Tips

This page explains what actions to take when you receive a hurricane watch or warning alert from the National Weather Service for your local area. It also provides tips on what to do before, during, and after a hurricane. Read more.

Coalitions and Cooperation

NAHC regularly participates with coalitions of multi-family affordable housing organizations, cooperative organizations including the National Cooperative Bank, the National Cooperative Business Association and Credit Unions as well as consumer organizations including the Consumer Federation of America, in support of federal initiatives to benefit our members.

NAHC has joined coalitions in signing letters of support particularly to maintain (or increase) funding for affordable housing.

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