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Suicide Prevention


Yobanna Genao was a 36-year old court reporter earning an impressive salary and raising three children on her own when, in 1997, she contracted a chronic illness that eventually made it impossible to work. She lost her job, her house, her car, her health insurance, and was forced to turn to public assistance. She began thinking of suicide.

This was not the first time in her life Genao had thought of killing herself. Suicidal thinking descended in her late teens, while attending college, after the death of a treasured aunt and the painful break-up of a relationship. Fortunately, a notice on a bulletin board at school about a counseling program caught her eye and she was able to get help. After a few weeks of therapy, the suicidal thoughts left, although it took months for the depression to entirely lift.

Her suicidal thoughts returned at the age of nineteen, when she was living at home with her mother who was herself depressed and threatening to kill herself if her daughter didn't stay with her. This time Genao did not seek help, but escaped the situation by getting married. Today she sees that decision as a symptom of the depression. "It was a bad choice," she said.

The marriage didn't work out. But Genao went back to school, got a better job, was given promotions, bought a house on Long Island for her and her children, and was graced with a positive attitude of just focusing on today, which helped her through the next fifteen years.

But the latest series of losses and financial strains have made for rough going. The depression returned, and so did the thoughts of suicide. "It's like when all the problems start coming at me at the same time I feel powerless, with no way out," she said, "and as I analyze the situation, it seems at times that everybody would be better off without me, especially my children... ."

A social worker referred Genao to a program for depression at the Payne Whitney Clinic. With the help of therapy, medication, and her therapist interceding on her behalf in matters relating to the physical illness (fibromyalgia), she has been able to counter the "naughty voice," as she calls it, that urges her to kill herself, with voices that offer reasons to live. For example, this voice says, her children need her.

Before entering the program at Payne Whitney, Genao says she "looked like a bag lady. My life was a mess." Her daughter had been out of school for five months. Now she is back in school and has won many awards. Her 17-year old son is getting ready to go away to college and Genao has the clarity to be able to help him. Untreated though, "I didn't have the energy to deal with any of that."

"If you can treat the depression, you can prevent suicide," said Sue Matorin, former Director of Social Work, and now Treatment Coordinator for the Affective Disorder Team at the Payne Whitney Clinic of New York Presbyterian Hospital. "I've never seen anybody suicidal who wasn't severely depressed," said Ms. Matorin. "But depression is an illness that can be treated. There is something you can do about it."

Common roadblocks to treatment, however, are the stigma attached to having a mental illness, and the lack of coverage for treatment. People are ashamed to talk about depression or suicidal behaviors, and when they seek professional help, they often find their insurance won't cover mental health treatment in the same way it would a medical ailment.

"If you hear someone has leukemia," said Ms. Matorin, "you make a fund-raiser. But if the family didn't have enough money to treat depression, people are too embarrassed to mention it." Yet mentioning it, talking about it, is a crucial element in getting help. "Suicidal thinking has to do with feelings of hopelessness. If you get people to talk, you create arenas of hope. Different things can be done."

In the last year in which figures are available (1999) from the Chief Medical Examiner, 494 people committed suicide in New York City, with the youngest age group listed as between 10 and 14, and continuing on up to ages 75 and above. These figures are down slightly from the previous year when 524 New Yorkers killed themselves. Men outnumbered women in every age group except 10 to 14, where the girls outnumbered the boys.

Suicide is the eighth leading cause of death in the United States (up from ninth in 1996) and the third leading cause of death for young people ages 15 to 24. More people die of suicide than homicide. In the last fifty years, suicide rates among adolescents have tripled.

To deal with this crisis, Dr. David Satcher, the Surgeon General, recently outlined a national strategy for suicide preventionthat includes:

  • improving public awareness about who is at risk for suicide. The people who should know are health care, mental health and substance abuse workers, as well as educators, social workers, correction officers, clergy, divorce lawyers, family lawyers and criminal lawyers -- and the public at large
  • implementing more suicide prevention programs in schools, colleges, jails, and the workplace
  • reducing the stigma attached to suicidal thinking or depression that often discourages people from seeking help
  • evaluating programs and increasing money, support and insurance coverage
  • implementing these goals on a voluntary basis in each state by 2005.

"Suicide is a preventable problem," said Dr. Satcher at a news conference in May when he announced the plan. "We should make it clear that suicide prevention is everybody's business."

There are populations that have been found to be at special risk for suicide. These include teenagers, especially gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender teens; the elderly, particularly elderly men; those who have experienced trauma (for example, veterans, and also victims of sexual assault or physical abuse); people with problems of depression, or mood disorders; those with drug or alcohol dependence; people in trouble with the law; those who have made previous suicide attempts; compulsive gamblers; and Native Americans.

One in ten college students considers suicide, according to recent data, and researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention find that college students have a 50 percent greater chance of suicidal behavior with alcohol or drug dependence. On the plus side, resources to help with depression are generally very good at colleges, if the students in need are steered towards them.

Suicide is the third leading cause of death in prisons, following natural causes and AIDS. The vast majority of these suicides occur among mentally ill prisoners, and over 50 percent within 24 hours of incarceration. Youth suicide in juvenile detention centers and correctional facilities is four times greater than the general population. Promising suicide prevention initiatives have begun in jails and prisons, but continuing suicides among newly committed mentally ill inmates suggests that more needs to be done.

One successful suicide prevention program highlighted by the Surgeon General is the U.S. Air Force program. Alarmed by the finding that one in four deaths of Air Force personnel was the result of suicide, the Air Force set up the program in 1996. An analysis of the suicides showed that the service men and women were more likely to kill themselves following a break-up with a spouse or if they were in trouble with military court. So they started a program to make everyone more aware of suicide warning signs and made it easier to get help. For example, one rule was changed so that Air Force personnel with legal problems can seek psychological counseling without worrying that anything they say can be used against them. In just three years, the Air Force cut its suicide rate by two-thirds. Other branches of the military had no program and their rates remained the same.

A local suicide prevention program, the Suicide Hotline (212-673-3000) run by the Samaritans of New York receives over 100 calls a day, approximately 40,000 calls a year. Executive Director Alan Ross has been on the hotline for ten years now, starting as a volunteer himself. Although the number of daily calls has doubled in that time, the issues behind the calls, the feelings, he says, remain the same. "The issues are pretty universal," said Ross. "They haven't changed with time and they are the same whether you are in New York or Brazil or Sri Lanka: social isolation and feelings of hopelessness."

The main tool used by the all-volunteer staff is active listening, allowing the caller to bring feelings about suicide out into the open, without judgment, which can be a great relief. The Samaritans do not counsel. "It's pure support," said Ross. Occasionally they will make a referral.

Although they have a web page, the hotline does not have on-line access for help. "It's hard enough to run a 24-hour phone hotline" said Ross. But their web page does provide information on warning signs for suicide, and what to do if you or someone you know is feeling suicidal. They also run a program for survivors of suicide.

Ross was very upbeat about the Surgeon General's prevention strategy. "It is significant," said Ross. "It puts suicide on the national agenda. It acknowledges mental health as an issue, and depression as an illness."

The city also has a 24-hour hotline called Lifenet (800/543-3638 or 800 LIFENET) and Lifenet en Espanol (877/298-3373 or 877 AYUDESE) which offers referrals to resources for mental health emergencies, including suicide, and alcohol and substance abuse. And the American Association of Suicidology has a 24-hour National Hopeline (800/SUICIDE).

A suicide prevention program in the city with a different focus is CARES (Children's Attitudes, Responses and Emotions to Suicide), a clinical and research program for children who have had a death in the family from suicide, most often a parent or sibling, but sometimes a grandparent. Developed and run by Dr. Cynthia Pfeffer, author of The Suicidal Child (Guilford Press, New York), CARES helps children, from infancy through late adolescence, understand the illness aspect of suicide, and that they were not purposely abandoned.

"Children who have had a suicide in the family are very high risk for suicide themselves or for psychiatric disorders such as depression and substance abuse," said Dr. Pfeffer "So this is very much a preventative program."

Significantly, Dr. Pfeffer explained, children who survive a suicide are faced not only with the stress and the stigma, but may also be having thoughts of joining the family members who committed suicide.

CARES is part of the Childhood Bereavement Program at Weill Medical College of Cornell University with offices at the Payne Whitney Clinic on East 68th Street (and in Westchester). Dr. Pfeffer also runs a program for adult survivors, and continues her work with children who are themselves suicidal.

Most people who attempt suicide do something to let people know their intentions, but too often these warning signs are ignored by family, friends, coworkers, teachers, and doctors. Warning signs for suicidal thinking include:

  • talking about committing suicide
  • trouble eating or sleeping
  • drastic changes in behavior
  • withdrawal from friends and social activities
  • loss of interest in hobbies, work, school, etc.
  • giving away prized possessions
  • previous suicide attempts
  • taking unnecessary risks
  • recent severe losses
  • preoccupation with death and dying
  • loss of interest in personal appearance
  • increasing use of alcohol or drugs

If someone exhibits these warning signs, talk directly to them about it. Watch for statements like "nobody cares," or "everyone will be better off without me." Ask them if they are thinking of suicide, and if they say yes, ask if they have a plan. Get help from people or agencies specializing in crisis intervention and suicide prevention, such as a community mental health agency, private therapist, school counselor or psychologist, family physician or suicide prevention center.

And if you are feeling suicidal yourself? "Get help immediately," says Yobanna Genao. "Go to the nearest emergency room. Call somebody."

In the News: Home Delivered Meals -- and Human Contact


The Stanley Isaacs Neighborhood Center on East 93rd Street brings six lunches a week to homebound elderly residents from East 42nd Street to East 106th Street, with funding from the City's Department for the Aging (DFTA), Citymeals-on-Wheels and private fundraising. It is one of the oldest meals-on-wheels program in the city, started back in 1965 with delivery to eight homebound neighborhood residents. Today, meals are prepared at a catering service in Long Island City, and there are four vans delivering 375 meals Monday to Thursday, and two meals on Friday; the second Friday meal provides a cold Saturday lunch. While their current city contract funds 352 meals a day, the number of homebound elderly requesting meals recently climbed to 375. The Isaacs Center uses private fundraising to provide those additional meals, insuring that no elderly person in their geographic area who is unable to get out or prepare meals will go hungry.

"The homebound population is an absent population," said Beverly Jackson, Director of Senior Services at Isaacs Center." No one knows they are there."

Who are these invisible people? By eligibility requirements, they are over 60 and have a physical or mental disability which prevents them from leaving home or preparing meals. Most are in their late 70s and 80s. Over half are at least 80 years old and ten percent are over 90. Over fifty percent live below the poverty line with an annual income less than $8,240. The majority are women.

It is often the case that Isaacs Center staff members delivering the meals are the only contact a homebound person has with the outside world. In one recent incident, a client didn't respond when driver Joe Colazzo knocked on her door. He kept knocking until he heard a faint voice calling for help. The woman had fallen down and was unable to get up. Joe immediately called for assistance and the client was rushed to the hospital. She is now back home, doing well.

"Food alone won't meet all of people's needs," explained Beverly Jackson. "We want to cure some of the social isolation that many homebound people feel."

In the last year, the Isaacs Center has successfully involved about a third of their homebound clients in conference call activities where they can hear lectures or concerts, be involved in support groups, play bingo or participate in an exercise classÑall over the phone.

Their next initiative is something truly innovative: bringing Web TV to the homebound elderly. With a planning grant from the Isaac H. Tuttle Fund, the Isaacs Center will be providing five of their homebound clients with a keyboard, a Web TV box, and training in use of this equipment. The grant will also cover additional phone expenses incurred. Through this internet access, homebound clients will soon be able to connect with the Isaacs Center, other seniors, and the rest of the world through chat rooms, the web, email, and down the line, with the addition of a Web Cam, virtual home visits.

Lynda Sounds Off: Delivery Time Limits

One of the requirements of the City's Department for the Aging funding is that all meals be delivered within two hours. While it is understandable that the city wants to insure that the food is delivered in a timely fashion to remain warm and fresh, and that the nutritional content does not dissipate, this time squeeze often prevents staff members who are making the deliveries from spending even a couple of minutes with each client. "They want to see the client, make sure they are okay," said Beverly Jackson. "And to do this, they'd like to have a little more interaction. So would the clients." But that's frequently not possible within these time constraints.

In The News: Community Mental Health


Someone is violently attacked or pushed in front of a subway train, prompting outrage and alarm about dangerous people on the streets - many of whom, it turns out, sought help for their illness but were turned away. Laws are swiftly passed (Kendra's Law) and funding pours in to fill a portion of the mental health program gaps (Major Mental Health Initiatives); this also makes news, usually with a photo of the Governor.

Smaller headlines emerge about the continuing incarceration of the mentally ill, where 15,000 to 20,000 people with mental illness are estimated to be in the criminal justice system. And there is the item about the mentally ill man, Gideon Busch, shot and killed by police last August. Commissioner Safir defended the officers, saying they acted in accordance with proper procedures. Or the item about the mentally disturbed Queens man, Alan Zelencic, shot and killed by police a few weeks ago. The officers didn't realize he was mentally ill, report say; if they had, they would have waited for the specially trained Emergency Services Unit. At the root of all these headlines is the old story of the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill without community services to help them. There were 93,000 people in mental institutions in 1954; today there are under 6,000.

Absent from these headlines, though, are the people that go in and out of The Bridge, a day treatment program for the seriously mentally ill on West 108th Street, open 7-days a week, 365 days a year. About 250 people walk into The Bridge each day for activities that include daily living skills, therapeutic groups, creative arts and recreation.

According to Peter Beitchman, Deputy Director for The Bridge, deinstitutionalization was a disaster. "People were given a big bottle of pills and an appointment to go to an outpatient clinic. They were in the hospital for 10 to 30 years, with no independent living skills, and were expected to do well without support. They went into SROs or became homeless and went into shelters. It took the State many years to catch up. It still hasn't caught up."

What people at The Bridge found was most in need was not primarily the medical model of medicine and therapy (although that is certainly included), but the basics such as shelter, housing, income, food, clothing and safety.

"Once you take care of the basic needs," explained Beitchman, "by helping them get a beautiful place to live, a safe place, getting them social security or disability benefits or helping them get on welfare, having them participate in a psychiatric program, making sure they are stable through medication and closely monitored, once these basic needs are met, the next step is rehabilitation."

Rehabilitation doesn't mean a cure. "No one is cured of serious mental illness," says Beitchman. "But the effects and conditions that the mental illness creates can be effectively treated and dealt with." Rehabilitation means people gaining independence, perhaps moving to independent housing or reuniting with family and children. It can mean finding work.

The Bridge came up with the first such vocational training program in the City, again in response to their clients. "They asked us: what else do you have for us," said Beitchman. "We said, what would you like. They said, well, how about work?"

There is a danger that politicians will hear the word "rehabilitation" and think that means people can be taken out of the mental health system. "People with mental illness may not be able to go to full-time jobs or achieve total independence," Beitchman explained. "Some clients can work at a full-time computer job but still live in a 24-hour supervised residence. In that area of their lives, they are not able to function as well. We work with a client to achieve as much independence as possible."

Lynda Sounds Off:

In response to the outrage over violent attacks and the previous budget cuts, Governor Pataki recently allocated $125 million to community mental health programs. One of the flaws of this initiative package, according to Peter Beitchman, is that the majority of money earmarked for residential programs is for unsupervised living. "Yes, it is supportive housing for the mentally ill," says Beitchman. "But the housing is the cheapest and the lion's share of it is virtually unsupervised." Supervised residential housing, such as The Bridge provides in nine locations, has 24-hour staffing and is geared for people just out of the hospital and in need of assistance with living skills, learning to take their medication, and learning to become independent. "These are more expensive," acknowledges Beitchman, "but there are not enough of them. And there are none being developed."

Drinking Water and the Kensico Reservoir


UPDATE (1/27/2000) - Kensico: "No Brainer"
The Environmental Protection Committee of the City Council passed a resolution on 26 Jan 2000 officially voicing their objection to the proposed expansion of Route 120 aside the Kensico Reservoir. Council member and Committee Chair Stanley Michels dubbed the issue a "no-brainer." Any construction, he concluded, would be a "clear and present danger" to the integrity of the reservoir which supplies 9 million New Yorkers with drinking water each day. Council member CarriĂ–n Jr. pronounced the project "ill-conceived" and "stupid." The resolution calls on Governor Pataki to direct the DOT to abandon the expansion, adopting the 'no-build' scenario in the DOT proposal. The resolution further suggests advancing only those improvements necessary to ensure traffic safety. Chairman Michels, a co-sponsor of the resolution, questioned Governor PatakiĂŞs action, given his generally green leanings and his active role in watershed protection. Response from the Governor yet to be heard...

THE LOWDOWN:

The 1997 Watershed Memorandum of Agreement formalized cooperation between NYC, NYS and US EPA to protect the state's watersheds and drinking water. The Agreement secured $11.5 million from the City and $7.5 million from the State to purchase land in the Croton Watershed (and another $250 million in the Catskill/Delaware watershed, west of the Hudson) As recently as December 22nd, the City purchased a 16 acre tract near the Kensico Reservoir, which will serve as an additional buffer to protect the water supply.

These protective measures could face a serious setback if the NYS Department of Transportation (DOT) has its way. The DOT has proposed widening Route 120, a commuter road with increasing traffic that runs alongside the Kensico Reservoir. Policymakers and environmentalists are concerned with the possible adverse effects on the Reservoir as a result of increased runoff and sedimentation, and loss of wetlands. Serious degradation of the waterĂ…s quality would require a filtration plant, estimated to cost $6 billion dollars to construct, and $150 million annually for operations. Though DOT has expressed willingness to accommodate concerned parties, they have yet to revamp their plan.

THE LAY OF THE LAND:

NYC Water Supply - Valuable background information on the size and breadth of our watershed and water supply system.

Regional Watershed Maps - Click on the boxes for a closer view. Also worth a glance is the DEP's history of the NYC water supply.

WATERSHED PROTECTION:

SOME FACTS:

- The NYC water supply system provides 1.4 billion gallons of drinking water to almost 9 million New Yorkers every day.

- The NYC watershed is comprised of 19 reservoirs in an area of almost 2,000 square miles.

- The NYC water supply is divided into the Croton System and the Catskill/Delaware system. 90% of NYC's water supply is moved to the Kensico Reservoir before being delivered to customers in the City and Westchester.

- The Kensico Reservoir serves as the terminal reservoir for six other in the Croton and Catskill/Delaware system.

- The Kensico Reservoir holds 30.6 billion gallons of water at full capacity.

Unified Watershed Assessment - The Department of Environmental Conservation's assessment of NYS watersheds, a prerequisite for receiving federal monies. The introduction provides a helpful overview of the quality of NYS waters.

Watershed Memorandum of Agreement - Signed in January 1997, this agreement between City, State, the EPA and environmentalists formalizes voluntary partnerships and local protection. Diehards should also look at the final rules and regs for the agreement.

"NYC Signs Purchase Contracts for Lands Near Kensico and New Croton Reservoirs" - Details DEC's acquisition of lands near the Kensico Reservoir as part of the Watershed Land Acquisition Program. Originally slated for development, this environmentally sensitive land will now be preserved as a reservoir buffer.

KENSICO RESERVOIR:

Statement on the Kensico - Dan Klotz, Communications Director at the NY League of Conservation Voters, explains why further development of the 9.9 square miles of the Kensico watershed is fraught with difficulties.

The Comptroller Weighs In - In a December 16 press conference, City Comptroller Alan Hevesi, in conjunction with environmental advocates, denounced the Route 120 plan and vowed to take steps to stop its construction.

Transportation Alternatives - Says that expanding Route 120 is not only bad environmental policy, but bad transportation policy.

Natural Resources Defense Council - In the introduction to a lengthier report, NRDC warns that the Kensico and West Branch reservoirs are especially vulnerable to urban sprawl, and only a comprehensive pollution prevention program can ensure their protection.

The Friends of the Croton Watershed - A coalition of community and environmental groups who oppose the proposed expansion.

Experts Warn Of Foreclosure Crisis As Floodwaters' Toll Persists


rockaway-beach-image

NEW YORK — If the water that destroys much of your house comes up from below the structure, would you describe that as a flood? Grantley Hunt was mulling this question when his insurer balked at covering the damage caused by Superstorm Sandy over a year ago to his two-family house, which has an almost unobstructed view of Jamaica Bay in Queens.

The house is almost dead even with the bay. But Hunt was ready – he thought he was ready – when the water from the bay surged onto the streets of the Rockaways one year ago: He had encircled the house with sandbags.

“There was no way that water was coming into my house,” he recalled thinking. “So, when my son told me there was water in the basement, I said, ‘No, that’s not possible.’”

But the water was rising in the basement. “Oh Sandy, she fooled us,” Hunt said, his tone of voice changing as he started to talk about the hurricane as if she were an unannounced visitor. “She came from under the house!”

{pullquote}If the water that destroys much of your house comes up from below the structure, would you describe that as a flood?{/pullquote}

To Hunt, it didn’t matter how the water had gotten into the house — only that it did. But to his insurer, water that comes from underneath a house is technically not a flood, Hunt said, and his insurance company told him so when it refused to cover some of the damages. Up to now, Hunt has paid for all of the repairs himself – about $22,000 to rip out the dry wall that was soaked, replace appliances and electrical fixtures, flooring.

Like thousands of others whose lives were upended by the storm on Oct. 29, 2012, Hunt and his family may have escaped the storm surge, but a year later, the floodwaters’ toll on housing in New York City persists.

Forbearances on mortgages are set to expire, flood insurance premiums are expected to rise significantly and affect a larger number of homeowners due to new flood maps and the release of disaster recovery funds that could help homeowners has been slow.

All of the problems have compounded an already acute affordable housing crisis in the city.

“Hurricane Sandy exposed a lot of the deficiencies we have in affordable housing in New York City,” said Nick Charles, spokesman for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation of New York, which has overseen a mold remediation program in affected areas. “These are communities struggling with economic, social, and education issues. Hurricane Sandy comes in and exacerbates all of that.”

And other advocates warned that the expiring forbearances on mortgages — usually lasting 12 to 18 months — is a crisis in the making. “There’s a potential for a large foreclosure crisis – tens of thousands will be at risk of foreclosure,” said Matthew Hassett of the Center for New York City Neighborhoods.

SANDY’S IMPACT ON HOUSING

Sandy’s 13-foot storm surge reached nearly 76,000 residential buildings with nearly 300,000 housing units in the city’s five boroughs, according to a report by the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University. Roughly 75 percent of the structures affected by the surge were single- and two- to four-family homes, but they made up only 30 percent of housing units affected by the storm. Most of the housing units affected were in larger residential buildings.

In some cases, entire homes were destroyed — for instance, more than 120 burned to the ground in Breezy Point where firefighters watched helplessly because they couldn’t pump water without electricity. Scores of New Yorkers living in residential buildings – Mitchell Lama cooperatives, public housing projects, rent stabilized and rent subsidized apartments – lost electricity, water and sewer services.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has spent $6.6 billion overall and almost $1 billion in New York to help homeowners pay for repairs, dislocated tenants pay rent, and to cover additional costs associated with the storm. The National Flood Insurance Program has paid nearly $3.4 billion in claims to 56,766 policyholders, the agency stated in a press release. Congress approved about $60 billion for storm relief overall.

The city itself allocated $108 million for repairs to New York City Housing Authority buildings – 402 of which were in the surge area, the agency said in an email, adding that those buildings are home to nearly 36,000 residents. The city demolished 275 buildings and issued almost 2,000 violations on buildings in the areas affected by the storm.

{pullquote}There’s a potential for a large foreclosure crisis – tens of thousands will be at risk of foreclosure," says one housing advocate.{/pullquote}

But all of that money has not been enough to shelter some people rendered homeless by the storm: Some evacuees continue to be displaced, with as many as 200 people still living in hotels paid for by the city.

Advocates say that number doesn’t encompass others who are living with relatives and renting apartments. “That’s really only a small fraction of the people who are displaced,” Hassett said.

The storm has put the city’s affordable housing issues atop the list of issues facing the city, advocates said – just in case the record number of homeless people in city shelters had not already.

Housing First!, a broad coalition of community, business, labor, civic, and religious organizations, issued a set of recommendations for the next mayor to turn concern into action.

"Looking forward, the next administration must not only redouble rebuilding efforts but must also partner with state and federal agencies to tackle the prohibitive insurance premiums that threaten to further damage our coastal communities through displacement and disinvestment,” said Rachel Fee of Housing First!

The city has estimated that the cost just to repair housing damaged by the storm will reach $3 billion.

SLOW REPAIRS, SLOW RECOVERY

The signs of Sandy remain visible in Far Rockaway. In Hunt’s house, two-by-fours are laid bare in the walls, where workers cut out paneling that was soaked. The work is on hold, however, because Hunt’s insurance company is balking at paying for the repairs. Aside from arguing over the definition of a flood, the company also insisted he did not send in a form years ago that would have continued his insurance; he said he sent it three times.

The Legal Aid Society has retained additional attorneys to help homeowners and tenants navigate the process of obtaining help from FEMA and insurance companies.

Since the storm, requests for legal aid have increased rapidly, according to Tashi Lhewa, one of the attorneys.

"The real problem is the lack of uniform guidelines by government agencies providing repair assistance" Lhewa said. "This leads to applicants being denied assistance on improper grounds and lacking access to an adequate appeal process."

As for homeowners’ efforts to obtain payments, he said the process is very time consuming.

"Claims have been taking time — a lot of time," he said. "And there's still a lot of people who need help."

The city launched a repair program, too, with FEMA called “NYC Rapid Repairs.” According to the city’s after-action report, “Rapid Repairs is the first program of its kind in the country and repaired approximately 11,500 homes with more than 20,000 units when it concluded in April 2013. At the peak of the program in January, Rapid Repairs completed work on more than 200 homes per day with labor from more than 2,300 skilled workers in a single day working under 10 prime contractors.”

In June, the city introduced “Build It Back,” another program to assist those impacted by the hurricane. The city extended the deadline to apply for the program to Oct. 31 and is urging people who were affected to apply. The city also reduced property tax payments for property owners in affected areas.

Hunt got some good news in August when his application for assistance from the Build It Back fund had been approved. But he has yet to see any of the promised money.

Not far from Hunt’s house in Far Rockaway, dumpsters line the streets and emergency heating systems are set up. The entrance to Breezy Point is guarded by a police checkpoint. Still, businesses are gradually reopening and life is getting back to normal, Hunt said, even though the local home improvement stores cannot seem to stock enough tiles, paneling and other building supplies.

“There has definitely been a psychological impact, lots of people won’t admit it, but it has affected them,” Hunt said. “Me, I’ve always been a little crazy.”

Hunt, a veteran of the Vietnam War, owns an almost identical two-family home next door and he had rented one floor of the house to a woman and her two children. The family evacuated in a hurry as the hurricane approached, leaving behind papers, family pictures and clothes.

Hunt recently gave a reporter a tour. A framed copy of the serenity prayer hung on a wall next to the Ten Commandments. Red Cross blankets scantly covered a couple sofas.

“I won’t throw it in the street – that’s a constructive eviction – and it wouldn’t be right,” he said, scanning the apartment recently. “A lot of tenants who’ve left, I don’t think they’ll ever come back.

De Blasio Pins Affordable Housing Hopes On Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning


edge-williamsburg 2

Democratic mayoral hopeful Bill de Blasio has ambitious plans to reshape the inequalities in the real estate market by mandating developers build affordable housing.

His plan to ensure that New York is no longer a “tale of two cities” is seeded in his affordable housing proposal known as mandatory inclusionary zoning. The policy would require developers to set aside a certain percentage of a building's units as permanent affordable apartments in exchange for increased building heights and tax breaks.

But an optional version of the policy, instituted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration, has had a checkered history in New York City. Instead of stimulating the creation of more affordable housing, many developers have chosen to opt out  — leaving policy experts skeptical of how a mandatory plan might work.

The Bloomberg administration’s optional zoning policy pairs well with its pro-development mentality. The policy gives developers the choice to participate in the program and receive perks like taller buildings or government subsidies to make up for the added development costs, or not participate at all.

Dozens of neighborhoods in Manhattan and Queens currently qualify for inclusionary zoning because big real estate developments are already underway in those areas (see map below). But only 13 percent of all new multi-family units are currently designated as affordable housing and more than a third of the city has been rezoned during Bloomberg’s tenure.

De Blasio’s hopes of breaking away from the Bloomberg mold by implementing mandatory inclusionary zoning is paramount to his campaign promises to revamp the affordable housing crisis in the city.

“I want to see much more aggressive policies in terms of how the city works with the real estate industry,” de Blasio said in a recent Ask Me Anything forum on the online aggregator Reddit. He said he plans to add an additional 200,000 affordable housing units in the next decade.

At a recent mayoral debate, Republican mayoral hopeful Joe Lhota said inclusionary zoning is unconstitutional.

"I don't believe in mandatory inclusionary zoning,” he said. “I don't believe that that will work. I think it's a violation of the constitution.”

Supporters of a mandatory program like City Councilman Brad Lander, who represents Brooklyn’s 39th district, said he thinks de Blasio has a shot at passing a citywide mandatory inclusionary zoning policy.

“It’s an important part of a much bigger plan motivated by addressing the tale of two cities and the affordability crisis,” Lander said. “He’s built a great campaign on the basis that the inequality in New York City is much too big.”

There are many potential problems with a mandatory program, according to The Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University. Slowing of new development of market-rate housing could create a domino effect that would provide less affordable housing. Extra construction costs may also be passed on to market-rate tenants to make up for the losses incurred by creating affordable units.

Allowing developers to build taller to accommodate more people exacerbates the stress on public services and would require finite plans for more schools and better infrastructure.

Lander admitted there are pitfalls to the program, but his 33-page report makes a case for why the city could benefit from inclusionary zoning. He said it is important that the specifics be spelled out early on to ensure the program can be successful.

A comparable policy might be the city’s Inclusionary Housing Program, created in 1987, with a goal to incentivize developers to create affordable housing in market-rate developments. In its 26-year history, inclusionary housing has created a little more than 4,500 affordable units. Prior to the creation of the inclusionary zoning program in 2005, there were only 1,753 affordable housing units preserved or created.

Recent massive rezoning projects in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Greenpoint, as well as in Manhattan’s Chelsea, have accounted for about 2,700 affordable units, or less than two percent of the total housing units built in the last eight years.

The Edge in Williamsburg is an inclusionary zoning fairytale. The zoning allows developers to build an additional 1.25 square feet for every square foot of affordable housing built. Of the 1,000 residential units at the Edge, 347 are affordable housing units (about 35 percent).

But the success of the program at the Edge is an exception. Even in areas with the strongest participation seen in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards and West Chelsea, there is only 18.6 percent of total development designated for affordable units — falling short of the 20 percent standard set by the program.

To avoid any legal concerns, de Blasio’s legislation will need to set clear-cut guidelines on the types of projects that will be mandated and what real estate developers will be required to build or pay for.

The Furman Center has already done part of de Blasio’s work of determining the hurdles he might face by creating a list of four specifics it thinks is necessary for a mandatory program to be successful. Those include the duration the units need to remain affordable; whether or not affordable housing requirements need to be met on or off site; whether developers can contribute to an affordable housing fund instead of building units; and what kind of density increases developers might be offered.

Inclusionary zoning is not the only option that incentivizes affordable housing. The 80/20 subsidy program gives developers tax-exempt bonds for their commitment to provide 20 percent of their units to low-income tenants in desirable city locations.  

But that program also has shortcomings, at least one policy expert said.

“It is merely a zoning bonus,” said Josiah Madar, a research fellow at the Furman Center. “The developer provides affordable housing, the city lets them build bigger.”

Without a mandated inclusionary zoning, Lander said he fears affordable housing will disappear, especially in upscale neighborhoods.

“There’s not a silver bullet,” Lander said of the affordability crisis in New York.

Hurricane Sandy Buyouts Cause Storm Of Confusion, Worry From Politicians


destroyed-home-oakwood

ALBANY, N.Y. — The Fox Beach community of Staten island sits only a few blocks from the ocean on wetlands where tall reeds sprout across the landscape.

After the lives of three of its residents were lost during Hurricane Sandy and flooding destroyed a number of the small bungalows that make up the community, more than a few people who live in Fox Beach were ready to abandon the previously idyllic area.

A few days after the storm, a large group of local homeowners began meeting in the St. Charles School auditorium to discuss how to move forward and, when the prospect of government buyouts was brought up, the room was casually polled.

“Every person in that auditorium raised their hands,” said Joseph Tirone, who owns a home in Fox Beach and is the head of the Oakwood Beach Buyout Committee. He said the homeowners pressed officials for weeks, and eventually caught the attention of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Cuomo announced on Feb. 25 that the Fox Beach community, which is a subsection of the larger Oakwood neighborhood, would be the testing ground of his general buyout program designed to return parts of the seashore to a natural state to create a storm buffer.

“There are some places that Mother Nature owns,” Cuomo told the audience at the College of Staten Island. “She may only come to visit every two years or three years or four years. But when she comes to visit, she reclaims the site.”

Weeks later, the buyout program is coming into focus for the Fox Beach community, but what will happen with the rest of storm-ravaged New York is still hazy. For months, homeowners have heard sometimes conflicting reports about the city’s plans, the state’s plans, as well as programs offered through the Federal Emergency Management Administration.

Lawmakers and community members say they have been told that the state under Cuomo will be unveiling a number of “enhanced areas” in the next few weeks where homeowners will be able to apply for a buyout worth 100 percent of their homes pre-storm value, with a five percent incentive if they move within their borough. The Cuomo administration has yet to confirm.

The state has allocated $171 million for buyouts, but officials estimate they could ultimately spend $400 million. Officials estimate 10,000 homes were severely damaged during Hurricane Sandy but expect only 10 to 15 percent of owners will take buyouts.

Meanwhile, the Bloomberg administration is not billing its efforts as a “buyout” program and will refer those looking for buyouts to the state.

Instead, the Bloomberg administration has also proposed a program that, if approved by U.S. Housing and Urban Development, will allow the city to buy damaged property at post-Sandy rates for redevelopment. The city’s program would appeal to property owners who aren’t part of the “enhanced areas” that would be covered under the state.

City officials say the properties would first be offered to homeowners who are staying and might want a larger yard, or to add to their property. It is unclear exactly how much the city plans to spend on this program.

Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro says his office has received 400 inquiries about home buyouts but is unsure how the programs offered by the city and state will help.

“Almost every block is a different story, every home has a different problem,” Molinaro said. “Some of these people are already underwater on their mortgage.”

Molinaro said it is unclear how those homeowners would benefit from a buyout if the money they get from the city or state does not cover their mortgage and they are left without a home.

He noted, however, that some banks in New Jersey have been working with homeowners to come to mutually beneficial solutions.

“I wouldn’t say there is an easy answer, but it is a problem we are aggressively addressing,” Tirone said. He said he expects banks to work with homeowners who are underwater on their loans and who want to take a buyout.

The press and local officials have underestimated the desire for buyouts, he said. “Elected officials are opposed to buyouts because they can’t visualize unbuilding,” said Trione, who feels city lawmakers have failed to do enough to ensure local homeowners are briefed on all their options.

Tirone recalls the story of a retiree who had tapped out his life savings to make repairs to his house following Sandy. “If he had been made aware that he could get the pre-storm price for his house and buy a new house that is not in a storm zone, he could have been set for life with his savings still intact,” Tirone said.

Molinaro is skeptical of the process so far, saying, “I have not seen any movement yet. The governor said he would buy homes at 100 percent of their value pre-Sandy but I have not seen any purchased yet.”

He emphasized that he has advocated for prioritizing buyouts to homeowners who have completely lost property and who have no mortgage so that they can quickly purchase a new home. Molinaro said he had warned residents that the buyout process can take years.

Randy Douglas, Town Supervisor of Jay, N.Y., knows firsthand that the government buyout process is anything but quick.

The Town of Jay suffered flooding in 1996 and 2008 from the AuSable River; then, in 2011, Hurricane Irene hit and the flooding was worse than ever. Roads, parks, youth facilities and sewer systems were wiped out along with homes. The town nearly lost its iconic covered bridge.

Some residents had simply had enough. Eighty homeowners out of the town’s estimated 2,500 residents were interested in a buyout program — one that paid 75 percent of pre-storm value.

Eighteen months later, residents are just now signing contracts with FEMA for the purchase of their properties. And the number of interested homeowners has dropped to 40.

”Some of them just couldn’t wait due to the length of time,” Douglas said. “A two-year process is way too long. I actually had people pass away during the process. It is just really sad.”

Douglas said he hopes that the concerns of victims of Irene and Lee have helped push officials to expedite the process for other homeowners. (The good news for Douglas: the state has included funds in its Sandy recovery plan to make sure homeowners who are bought out from Irene and Lee get a full 100 percent of their homes’ pre-storm value).

Despite having advocated for buyouts and having helped his residents push through the process, Douglas said there isn’t anything terribly positive about seeing residents decide it is time to pack it up.

“I’ve said since day one this isn’t a good thing,” he continued. “You lose your tax base, you lose families who have lived here for generations and you lose your identity. But with us, we couldn’t continue to put people in harm’s way.”

Douglas said he understands the reluctance of New York City officials to fully back buyouts. “Mayor Bloomberg has said he wants to build back stronger and seems to want to avoid buyouts. I’m not criticizing him because you don’t want to lose these people. You don’t want to give them up,” he said.

Sen. Joe Addabbo of Queens, who represents some of the neighborhoods hardest-hit by Sandy, including Breezy Point where dozens of homes went up in flames, said he has not seen a great deal of interest in buyouts. “We have a lot of longtime homeowners whose families have been here for generations who just want to rebuild. They aren’t looking to go somewhere else,” Addabbo said.

Addabbo acknowledged, though, that there has been confusion about buyouts. "Whenever there is a lack of information there is confusion," he said, "but I think it will end as we get more information on the two programs in the next two weeks.”

But Addabbo admits he doesn’t favor buyouts — in fact, he thinks they are a bad idea. “Personally, no, I don’t buy into the buyout program so to speak. It is a loss of revenue for the city, and the neighborhood behind that neighborhood loses their storm buffer, I think it causes other problems,” Addabbo said.

The state senator said not enough is being done to address flood mitigation. “What about seawalls, jetties, things that mitigate flood damage? Why aren’t we talking about that? Instead we are gonna buy 'em out? I don’t want them to leave,” he said. “As an elected official I want them to stay. Whether they have to elevate or [do] flood mitigation — whatever it takes.”

The Fox Beach community of Oakwood was labeled an “enhanced area” where the entire neighborhood was eligible for a buyout. Of the 183 households that were eligible for the state program, 180 have submitted applications according to state officials. Those homeowners are eligible for 100 percent of their homes pre-storm value. 

Tirone said he thinks Cuomo’s motivations are completely apolitical. “I truly believe this plan has nothing to do with politics. The governor wants to create a natural buffer for those inland,” he said.

Meanwhile, plans for his neighborhood are developing apace. Homes have been appraised and, although he thinks Cuomo might be unhappy with him for such a bold prediction, he speculated that the process could be completed before the end of the year — a notable accomplishment given that the federal process can take three to five years at times.

But, for now, Tirone is still helping get the word out about the state program. “I get five to 10 calls a day from residents asking me to help them get bought out,” he said.

Image of destroyed home in Oakwood, Staten Island, by Paul Soulellis, used under Creative Commons license. 

Families Displaced By Superstorm Sandy Are Running Out Of Time


5-year-old-boy-Sandy-rally

NEW YORK — Since being displaced by Superstorm Sandy from their Far Rockaway apartment, Cherrell Manuel and her four children have lived in two different hotels.

At the Park Central Hotel near Times Square where the family is now, they are spread across three different rooms. Aware that the situation cannot last, Manuel says she gets up everyday at 6 a.m. to go apartment hunting. She doesn't get back until about 6:30 p.m.

“There's some apartments you go, the landlord say they’re ready. When we get there, the floors are all messed up, the ceiling is leaking, and they’re telling us, ‘Oh, sign the papers and I’ll fix it.’ Thats not fair to us," she said. "If we take an apartment like that and they don’t fix it then we’re stuck there for the year."

Six months after the storm, time is running out for Manuel and hundreds of other people displaced by the hurricane and living precariously in hotel rooms. The city-funded program that pays for the rooms is being terminated on Tuesday and with it will go the shred of stability that these families have come to rely upon.

Some elected officials and advocates are warning that many of the families could end up in the city's homeless shelter system unless a plan is put into place and are calling for a month-long extension to the city's program.

"While we agree that this program cannot continue indefinitely, we question whether the April 30 deadline is realistic for those remaining 196 households that do not qualify for the housing options currently available," wrote Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Councilwoman Annabel Palma in a letter sent to Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Seth Diamond on Friday following a hearing on the hotel program.

"It would be unfortunate for these households who have suffered such serious displacement as a result of Sandy to be left with the DHS shelter system as their only option," they continued.

They said the city’s decision does not make sense since other options are being discussed by policymakers, such as specialized housing vouchers.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio sent a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Friday, calling the decision to end the program on April 30 without finding long-term housing solutions for the remaining households "a wrong-headed approach that lacks compassion and pragmatism."

"If it is going to set an arbitrary date for ending hotel stays, the city must better assess the individual needs of each household, and ensure that an accessible, long-term housing solution is reached for these impacted New York City families," he wrote in the letter.

Both Quinn and de Blasio are running for the Democratic nomination for mayor.

The impending termination of the hotel programs, and the fact that many families displaced by Sandy continue to be in limbo, is one of the legacies of the hurricane. Officials have said about 10,000 homes in the state were damaged or destroyed by the storm.

The federal government said on Friday that it had approved a $1.7 billion state plan for rebuilding. The city is receiving its own pool of funds, $1.8 billion, but its plan has not received approval. Both city and state officials have funds will be directed toward helping homeowners rebuild.

But the hotel program under the city may not be reimbursed by the federal government, and it’s unclear whether more money would be made available to house families in hotels.

DHS Commissioner Diamond testified for an hour Friday about the hotel program before the Council general welfare committee that Palma chairs. Council members questioned Diamond about a range of issues, including complaints about case managers and possible alternatives to the hotel program that may soon become an option. Dozens of people, including Sandy evacuees and housing advocates, crowded the hearing that was preceded by a rally on the City Hall steps.

As of Friday, Diamond said 488 households — about 1,000 people — were still in the hotel program, which has cost the city $40 million and involves some 50 hotels. Some 290 households will remain in hotels until the end of May because they have established clear transition plans, he said, with 43 households waiti ng for repairs to be completed and 249 going through the city's public housing application process or Section 8.

Of those households, however, he said 196 don't qualify for existing programs or rejected apartments that they were qualified to take.

Diamond said case managers continued to work with those remaining households to help identify more sustainable alternatives for them.

But during the hearing, Council members that represent some of the most storm-ravaged neighborhoods expressed skepticism that enough was being done to help those remaining families find more permanent housing solutions.

“I totally fail to believe that 71 individuals have rejected apartments from my district who have no place to go," Councilman Donovan Richards, of Queens, said to Diamond.

“I understand that you’re having difficulty with that and, as we said before, we continue to do what we can to work with those families," Diamond responded, but he later added: “We are disappointed too, as you are, that more of them didn’t take us up on the offers we’ve made.”

Richards also said that he had received complaints about how cases were being managed, and that Diamond was trying to make the process seem less challenging than the reality.

“I didn’t say there were no issues. I said I thought they’ve done an excellent job,” Diamond replied. “To the extent that there have had issues, we’ve addressed them.”

Councilwoman Gale Brewer, of Manhattan, asked Diamond during the hearing whether he thought 71 households who had been matched with apartments — but rejected them for whatever reason — might end up in the homeless shelter system, Diamond did not answer directly. "Nobody wants them in the shelter system," he said.

The existence of a separate hotel program run by the Federal Emergency Management Administration, has also caused some confusion, especially after it was extended for another month last week because the agency could not identify long-term housing solutions for them. Diamond said that, as of Friday, 114 evacuees were in the program. At its peak, Diamond said that the FEMA program was helping 1,070.

"We will have three times more people in our hotel system after the extension than FEMA has," Diamond said during the hearing. "While they’ve extended all along, they have reduced 90 percent of their population. We have been much fairer, much more compassionate, much more deliberate in the way we have handled the families."

After the hearing, Diamond emphasized to reporters that the "overwhelming number of people" who the city has helped have left the hotels without resources and not ended up in the homeless shelter system.

"We’ve worked for six month with these families. Very intensively," he told reporters after testifying. "We’ve had $15 million of case management resources invested in the program, and we've worked tirelessly with all the families in the program. Over 800 have been able to leave. I think that’s a tremendous success."

Manuel, 46, said facing eviction felt like the city was sending them a message that they had failed to meet their part of the bargain for accepting help.

“They’re acting like we’re not doing what we’re supposed to do," she said. "We’re up and about every day and there’s nothing more we can do. We can’t make landlords take us.”

She said she had scoured advertisements for rental apartments in newspapers, Craigslist and from Section 8, and has seen a little more than 40 apartments. But landlords will reject the family for a variety of reasons, including the ages of her children. She said they said the youngest is 7, the eldest 25.

“All we want is for the city to help us. We want them to stop feeling like we’re sitting in a hotel, relaxing like this is a vacation," Manuel said. “We need help. And we need people that are going to work with us. We don’t need people who don’t understand our situation.”

––––

Cristian Salazar contributed to this report. Image of children displaced by Sandy on the steps of City Hall during rally to call attention to the end of the hotel voucher program. Photo by William Alatriste, courtesy of the City Council. 

A Harlem Voice For Tenants In Albany?


Photo of Keith Wright, courtesy of the governor's office

ALBANY, N.Y. — Assemblyman Keith Wright has resided at the same apartment at the storied Riverton Houses in Harlem for all of his 58 years. “Not many people can say that,” says the father of two.

Wright has played many roles at the Riverton Houses on 135th and Fifth Avenue — child, son, student, father, elected official.

But when Wright was announced as the new head of his chamber's powerful housing committee, it was his other role — as tenant advocate — that was seen as a boon to the city's vocal housing activists. Here was someone, they figured, who was deeply familiar with their plight and powerful enough, connected enough and friendly enough with the one man who really matters in Albany — Gov. Andrew Cuomo — to get things done.

Only a few days after his appointment, though, Wright's committee helped push through and ultimately pass a rent law package that gave tax breaks, known as J-51, to condo owners, which tenant advocates say help landlord to improve luxury apartments.

“What he did was really disgraceful," said Michael McKee of Tenants Political Action Committee, a group that works to elect pro-tenant legislators. "But I suppose he was taking directions from leadership."

Just days before, McKee had hailed Wright's appointment, saying: "He will be excellent."

Jaron Benjamin, the executive director of Metropolitan Council on Housing and a member of the Real Rent Reform Campaign, also said he was disappointed by the J-51 program vote. But he said he was "taking a wait-and-see approach" to Wright's appointment.

Wright admitted that his office "got some blowback" on the J-51 bill, but that it had to be passed. “I was named housing chair on a Friday and we had a very large bill that was somewhat controversial that had to be done on Monday," he said, but then added, "I know folks in the tenant movement were upset, they wanted that bill to be used as leverage but it was a bill for coops, condos and lofts and those type of people do live in New York City. We had to do this bill.”

The highly influential Assembly housing committee was once used as a lever of power by Vito Lopez, the disgraced Brooklyn political boss, who was removed from the spot after a sexual harassment scandal blew up last year. Lopez notoriously used his position as the housing committee chair to get friends and political allies perks, jobs, and apartments.

Before Wright was named head of the committee on housing by Speaker Sheldon Silver, he had steadily grown in stature over his 21 years in Albany. He served as the chair of the powerful labor committee and social services, as well as the black and Puerto Rican caucus. Last year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo personally picked Wright to co-chair the state Democratic Party.

He is also well-liked by his colleagues. Wright strolled through the ornate but basically empty Assembly chamber on a recent Tuesday afternoon, binders of legislation sit neatly on desks with empty seats. Wright’s colleagues were mostly gathered in conference but a few linger outside the chamber speaking to visiting school children or chatting on their phones. But they all take the time to stop and greet Wright. Wright returned their greetings in a deep, echoing rumble — the kind that could announce movie trailers or be the voice of god.

As long as his history in Albany might be, Wright’s been deeply involved in housing issues for significantly longer.

He traces it all back to Riverton Houses, which had also been called home by former Mayor David Dinkins and jazz great Billy Taylor.

“It was the first so-called development that was built for the quote unquote black middle class,” Wright explained during an interview this week at the back of the Assembly chamber. “When my father was away in World War II in Europe, my mother was in charge of trying to find an apartment and she went down to Stuyvesant Town and she was told that no blacks were allowed in Stuyvesant and I guess by eminent domain and Robert Moses and those folks, much picketing and outcry Metropolitan Life built Riverton, which is supposed to be the uptown equivalent of Stuyvesant Town.”

Life was good in Riverton for the young Wright. He recalled it as a melting pot of families from all walks of life. “There were folks who had money, folks who were middle income: teachers, police officers and folks that were on public assistance as well and it made for a fantastic community," he said. "I really had one of the best childhoods anyone could ever imagine.”

In the 1980s, Wright found the condition of his apartment building lacking and decided to do something about it. He became head of the tenant’s association and quickly became the go-to for his neighbors who had similar concerns about the building. “People would knock on door day and night looking for some sort of relief. They might want to clean up the common areas, need a new refrigerator, a new stove or need help dealing with the rights of succession. Some of them were late on rent.”

Wright had success and failures. Common areas were cleaned up, 40-year-old elevators were replaced, they even got some rent reductions, but they were unable to stop a major capital improvement request by the landlord. “These are the type of experiences that go into my formative years before I became the chair of housing-it has molded and shaped me to a certain extent,” Wright said.

Wright may have had sensations of deja vu in the days following his appointment as chair of the housing committee — with everyone wanting to talk to him about housing and this time it isn’t just tenants.

“What I find is that everybody wants to talk to me now from the titans of industry to Mrs. Smith pushing the shopping cart about housing," he said. "What I find with the titans of industry is that they try to dazzle you with their knowledge --using a lot of acronyms expressions that are customary to the housing industry but I got to get caught up to speed. I’ve been playing off my naivety asking a lot of ‘what do you mean? What do you mean?”

Forgive landlords, though, if they eye Wright with some skepticism — though he has been known to be open to both sides on the issue of housing. But Wright is clear about where his bias lies.

“Landlords are slick, they are business folks. When we first did vacancy decontrol stuff in 1997, no one had any idea," Wright said. "If you made more than $175,000 a year and the rent for your apartment was over $2,100 you were not eligible for rent control. At that time the only one who fit that criteria in my neighborhood was a guy named Percy Sutton" — referring to the black businessman who had also been Malcolm X's attorney — "No one made that kind of money. Of course, landlords get in there now and they say they are fixing them up and suddenly the rent is $2,100 and it is off the ranks now.”

Wright said at one point his landlord offered him $10,000 to move out of his apartment. “It was a sucker’s bet,” he said. “Landlords now actually hire private investigators to see how many people are living in apartments, how many days people in an apartment. Some landlords just ain't good people,” says Wright. “I’m not saying tenants are always right.”

Wright said he thinks that the Cuomo administration will be addressing a lot of concerns through the tenant protection unit Cuomo created in 2011.

Tenant advocates might laugh at the idea in some ways, since the unit has been seen as an underfunded and understaffed nod to tenants' groups. But Wright noted that Cuomo has put $4.8 million in his budget this year for the unit that is designed to help tenants who are being harassed, whose apartments are being wrongfully taken off the affordable housing ranks and to generally enforce landlord/tenant regulations.

Wright clearly has great respect for Cuomo and his knowledge of housing issues. “He can talk housing ad nauseam,” Wright said. “He can roll!”

Affordable housing has already become a focus of the mayoral race. Council Speaker Christine Quinn used her state of the city address on Monday to tout a package of legislation called the Permanent Affordability Act, which she said would be sponsored by Wright in the Assembly and Martin Golden in the Senate. The three-pronged measure that calls for building 40,000 units of affordable housing for the middle class, capping building owner’s taxes at a certain percentage of their rental income as long as they keeping units affordable even after they age out of affordability protections and extending 421-a tax exemptions to developers.

Wright said he has yet to see the legislation but says he did talk to Quinn this past Sunday. “She called me and asked if I would look at a bill. When the speaker of the house calls you at least have to look.”

Housing groups tend to favor the first part of the measure but feel the rest of the proposals are giveaways to landlords.

“We applaud Speaker Quinn for focusing on the need for both middle-class and affordable housing and the tax policies impacting them, and we look forward to reviewing the details and the legislation involve,” said Real Estate Board of New York president Steven Spinola in a statement.

Golden however said the 421a extension and the tax break proposal are in the works and won’t likely get a vote until the end of session.

Wright says he has a good relationship with Sen. Kathy Young who chairs the Senate housing committee and expects to have pleasant dealings with the other chamber.

Above all the things Wright’s colleagues say of him it is that he weighs issues, and takes the time to listen. “He listens and he is extremely thoughtful,” said Sen. John Sampson of Wright.

“I’m assuming the Assembly’s agenda isn’t going to change much. He hasn’t even had his first committee meeting and we haven’t talked to him yet,” says Frank Ricci of the Rent Stabilization Association of New York. “But he has always been willing to listen to both sides on the issues and you can’t ask for more than that from an elected official.

And Golden has similar praise. “I’ve worked well with him. We know each other well. I’ve found him to be a responsible individual, soft spoken but nobody should be fooled he is a very intelligent and articulate man who knows what has to get done. He is a very formidable man and I look forward to working with him.”

“I have a lot to learn,” says Wright, “but I am excited for this position.”

 

Who Will Live In Bloomberg's Micro-Apartments?


 

bloomberg-micro-units

NEW YORK — Nicole Guzzardi's first experience living in Manhattan was, to say the least, cramped.

She had gotten herself a sub-300-square-foot studio in the Lower East Side, but space was so tight when her cousin came to spend the night he ended up relegated to bunking in the bathroom — with half of his body on the tile floor and half in the flat-bottomed shower.

“I had no room for anything. I obviously had no kitchen table. I had a desk but I barely ever sat in it because it was kitty-cornered and very uncomfortable,” said Guzzardi, who had just gotten into graduate school and needed a place where she could commute easily to New York University. “So I ate on my bed, I did my homework on my bed, I slept on my bed. … I had my small dog, and she just sat around all day in this little box. It was not fair to her.”

Claustraphobic living experiences like Guzzardi's are not unusual in one of the world's tightest, priciest residential real estate markets. And it's an experience that could become even more common after Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s “micro-unit” apartments start filling vacancies.  

Last July, Bloomberg and other city officials announced adAPT NYC, the pilot program seeking new and affordable housing models for a growing number of one- or two-person households.  

Thirty-three developers submitted proposals for the units, which are expected to be between 275 and 300 square feet — about 100 square feet smaller than what is currently permitted under city zoning regulations. (Guzzardi's Lower East Side apartment building was constructed before a 1901 law regulating the minimum square footage.)

The winning proposal for the adApt NYC program could be announced as early as today.

The Bloomberg administration wants the developer to build as many as 80 micro-units at 335 E. 27 St., in Manhattan. The units are intended to be affordable housing for one- or two-person households, which the latest census data found to be a rising demographic in the city. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, there are 1.8 million one- and two-person households, but only one million studios and one-bedroom apartments.  

But some have called the micro-units tenements for the 21st century, though at an expected $2,000 a month and a 10-by-30-foot layout, they would certainly not be housing large, low-income families. They also would likely be out of the price range of most people within the target demographic — single New Yorkers. According to the city comptroller's office, 81.2 percent of single tax filers in the city made under $75,000 in 2009, with the largest group — 36.6 percent – earning under $20,000.

“It doesn’t really fit the need for families and for growing a family or staying long term in the city,” said Matthew Dunbar, the advocacy and community relations manager for HabitatNYC, the local branch of Habitat for Humanity. “Anybody who wants to expand their families would not be able to use a micro unit to be able to do that.”

City officials said the micro-units will help to meet the changing needs of New Yorkers and are “critical to the city’s future economic success.”

“We hope that this pilot will turn out really well,” said Catie Marshall, a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development. She added that the city hopes and expects to develop micro-units across the city.

Policymakers in other U.S. cities are also considering tiny apartments to deal with the scarcity of affordable housing.

In San Francisco, lawmakers have approved that city’s smallest apartments, allowing the construction of 220-square-foot units, expected to range in rent from $1,200 to $1,500, according to the Los Angeles Times. In Boston, one firm displayed a 300 square-foot apartment in the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, as a housing option submission to a research program launched by Mayor Thomas M. Menino in 2004 aimed at finding a way to better serve the one-in-three Bostonians between the ages of 20 and 34. They are expected to cost about $1,500 a month.

In China, Japan and Paris, micro-units, sometimes no larger than a compact car parking spot, have also become increasingly popular.

THE SIZE OF A MICRO-UNIT

To understand the size of a micro-unit, try picturing half of a No. 6 train car, furnished. Imagine your bed — likely a sofa bed because of spatial constraints — in the middle.  That’s the living room. Replace the poles and seats with a kitchen sink and a bathroom, complete with a tub. Now add in clothes, books, a computer, maybe a dresser  —  feeling crowded?

But what people might not get in terms of space they get in location.

“If they want to live in Manhattan, they have to forego a lot of things, and space is one of them,” said Zaida Farnham, an agent with Prudential Douglas Elliman.

Another real estate expert, Jeff Rothstein, vice president in charge of rentals and sales at Prudential Douglas Elliman, said that, for most young people, an apartment is “just a bed.”

“Most young professionals are never in their apartment anyway,” he added.

The New York micro-unit’s expected rent is 40 percent higher than the median New York City household can sustain without infringing on basic necessities. The Census found that city residents’ per capita income is $30,398, and that the median household has an income of $50,285 and is made up of two to three people. That means, for an average household making $50,000 per year, affordable rent should not exceed $1,250 per month.

Although the developer will have the final say on the cost of rent, the $2,000 per month cost undercuts the average market price of a downtown Manhattan studio, which has grown to $2,669, according to September’s market report from Prudential Douglas Elliman. One bedrooms go for $3,528.

Rothstein said he expects the micro-units to be filled by young professionals and graduating college students, like Guzzardi, looking to stay in the city.  But, according to a salary survey published by the National Association of College and Employers, the average starting salary for college graduates is $44,259. Affordable rent for that income is about $1,100 a month.

That salary looks about average when compared to a report issued by the  city Comptroller in May that showed 68.3 percent of New York City tax filers earned less than $50,000 in 2009.

A different report issued by the Comptroller in September found that half the households in New York City couldn’t afford their rent.  Forty-nine percent of New York City households pay more than 30 percent of their income on rent, and of that, 30 percent are paying more than half of their income on rent.  

Rothstein said the micro-unit project might be part of the solution to the affordability problem.

“I think that it’s something proactive; that the mayor is taking responsibility to keep young professionals in Manhattan,” he said. “The average one-bedroom is, what, $3,500?  So, how can a young professional just starting a career in Manhattan afford that? Unless they get subsidized by a parent or they work another job.”

Joseph Gabriel, project manager for Blesso Properties — which submitted a micro-unit plan to adAPT NYC — said he expects micro-units to be a success, and cited the response of a recently opened apartment building in Chelsea as evidence. He said eight of the nine units were 450 square-foot studios, costing as much as $3,200 a month at the higher end. Gabriel said his firm received favorable responses after renting most, if not all, the building’s units shortly after putting them on the market.

Gabriel said he hopes to win Bloomberg’s competition, but added that he expects to implement the housing model around the city regardless of whether the Blesso Properties’ proposal is chosen.

"We’re hopeful that any zone changes or code changes do allow for a more flexible and more progressive type of development than has historically been possible in New York," he said.  

BIG CITY LIVING IN TINY SPACES

Despite the growing cost of rent, shrinking salaries and lack of job opportunities, people continue to move to Manhattan and other expensive neighborhoods in the outer boroughs. Renters are willing to cut back spending elsewhere to call a piece of the city their own.

“Even though it’s the size of a shoe box, it’s their own apartment,” Rothstein said. “They don’t have a roommate situation where somebody ate their yogurt.”

Guzzardi moved to Manhattan in 2011 to pursue a graduate degree in journalism at New York University.  Like many young adults, she wanted to live on her own.

As a full-time student balancing school, social life and work as a blogger for the Huffington Post, it was unlikely she could spend a considerable amount of time at her East 11th Street apartment.  

Guzzardi originally set a $1,500 budget for rent, with the money coming from financial aid for school and money from her father, but upped it to $1,600 after initial apartment hunts came up dry.  When she found the studio, perched atop Tu-Lu’s Bakery on 11th Street in the Lower East Side, she settled for $1,750.    

“It was wicked nice, though,” she recounted.  “Everything was redone.  It had marble countertops and a pretty nice shower and a little balcony. I was like, whatever, I can deal with living in this amount of space. It’ll be fine.”

That optimism proved to be short-lived as the days wore on and the lack of space became more of an issue; she left after her lease was up. She now lives with a roommate in Gramercy.

Guzzardi said she wouldn’t choose to live in the same cramped apartment outside of her budget again, but she doesn’t regret her choice either.  “If this is going to be my only [New York City] experience, I’m glad it was in Manhattan.”

___

Image courtesy of the mayor's office. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and HPD Commissioner Mathew M. Wambua at launch of adAPT NYC (July 2012).



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