City will help non-profit developers acquire and rehab cluster sites; will use eminent domain if necessary
Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced that the City will help not-for-profit developers acquire and rehab residential “cluster site” buildings, currently used to house homeless families, and convert them into permanent affordable housing in a historic move to address the homelessness crisis in New York City. If negotiations to buy cluster site buildings are not successful, the City will use eminent domain to acquire them.
Over the past 17 years, New York City has used the cluster site program to provide shelter for homeless families, a practice that the de Blasio Administration committed to ending last February as part of its Turning the Tide on Homelessness in New York City plan.
“Our city’s homelessness crisis wasn’t created overnight and it won’t be solved overnight. It requires us to come up with creative and bold new strategies to help those on the street and those in need of shelter and affordable permanent housing,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “This initiative will transform dozens of dilapidated temporary apartments into quality, permanently affordable homes. The effort is a clear sign that we will go to any length necessary to help our neighbors get back on their feet.”
To implement Turning the Tide, the City is using a new tool to end the 17-year-old cluster site program through negotiated resolution or use of eminent domain. The de Blasio Administration is financing the acquisition of cluster buildings by trusted locally-based not-for-profit developers, who will rehabilitate them working with the City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, creating affordable housing for homeless families and returning rent-stabilized units to market while utilizing a new strategy to end the use of cluster apartments for homeless families. The new owners will enter a regulatory agreement with HPD to ensure the long-term affordability of the cluster apartments as housing for homeless families and other low-income New Yorkers.
During this transition, the cluster apartments will continue to be operated as shelter for New Yorkers experiencing homelessness with funding and services provided by the City’s Department of Homeless Services. Homeless families residing at these locations who are prepared for housing permanency at the point of transition to not-for-profit ownership will be offered the opportunity to remain as tenants with a new rent-stabilized lease if they wish to remain in the building. All non-homeless tenants living in a cluster building at the time of purchase will also be given a new rent-stabilized lease that offers additional protections under HPD’s regulatory agreement.
The City has so far identified 25 to 30 cluster site buildings that qualify. Only buildings where 50 percent or more of apartments are cluster apartments will be considered. The targeted buildings are home to approximately 800 homeless families and 300 other tenants––meaning this group of properties will create over 1,100 permanent and affordable homes.
“Being in charge of the health and wellbeing of 8.5 million New Yorkers is no small task and as a physician, a public health practitioner and as a mother, I know how important having a permanent home is to a family,” said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Herminia Palacio. “Removing the uncertainty of housing can strengthen the health of a family and stabilizing families leads to stronger communities. Through this unprecedented step we will further support the many hardworking mothers and fathers who strive to make secure lives for their families. Thank you Mayor de Blasio for keeping us focused on homelessness, and for continuing to challenge us to be creative in our approach towards solving this crisis.”
“Addressing a crisis decades in the making demands aggressive action that leaves no stone unturned. As we end the Giuliani-era cluster program, already reducing citywide use by more than a third, this strategy is part of our commitment to using every tool at our disposal to help New Yorkers in need get back on their feet—while also creating permanent housing for homeless families and preserving affordability for thousands of New Yorkers for years to come,” said Department of Social Services Commissioner Steven Banks. “Today’s announcement should make crystal clear that we mean business, moving forward on every front to phase out this 17-year-old stop-gap measure once and for all in our mission to better serve homeless New Yorkers and all New Yorkers.”
“HPD is working to create and preserve affordable housing at record pace, setting aside more homes for homeless families, and introducing new tools to protect tenants and keep them in their homes and neighborhoods,” said Department of Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Maria Torres-Springer. “This latest initiative with DSS will convert many of the remaining cluster buildings into permanent affordable housing and place the properties in the capable hands of trusted, locally-based non-profit partners, ensuring their quality and affordability for current and future families. Solving the homelessness crisis means all options must be on the table and we are committed to working with DSS and many partners on this bold strategy to ensure homeless families and low-income New Yorkers have safe and secure homes.”
Since January 2016 when the City was using a high-point of approximately 3,600 cluster units and first announced its intention to end the cluster site program, the City’s Department of Homeless Services has reduced the citywide use of cluster apartments to shelter homeless families by more than 35 percent using multiple strategies. That included closing nearly 1,100 cluster units and counting, more than 600 of which were in the Bronx, where the vast majority of clusters have been historically located. In addition, the City has converted about 300 units across seven cluster site locations into State-licensed shelters operated by not-for-profit homeless services providers.
In January 2016, the City was managing 3,650 cluster apartments across the five boroughs. As of December 4, 2,272 homeless families remain in cluster sites.
DHS Commissioner Steve Banks goes into more details of what this means to the homeless families in these 25 - 30 buildings the city wants to take over, and have non profits fix up and run.
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