1989

S O U T H B R O N X S H R I N K A G E D C H A O S M A N A G E M E N T ?
H O U S I N G A U T H O R I T Y L I N E - U P D L O I S A I DA L A N D T R U S T
Delia, 36, homeless
with AIDS
and the mother of five.
2 CITY UMITS April 1989
C i ~ Limits
Volume XIV Number 4
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Robert Hayes. Coalition for the Homeless
Rebecca Reich. UHAB
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City Limits (ISSN 0199-0330)
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Editor: Doug Turetsky
Associate Editor: Lisa Glazer
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Copyright 1989. All Rights Reserved. No
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EDITORIAL
No Time for Lunch
Bobby was lucky, if you can use that term about someone dying of AIDS.
He was able to hold on to his job and retain his medical insurance. He had
a comfortable apartment and spent his last days with dignity and security.
But as AIDS continues to spread, its victims are increasingly poor-and
homeless. Activists estimate, some say conservatively, that by 1993 there
will be 30,000 homeless people with AIDS and AIDS-related complex on the
streets of New York.
This is the cutting edge of New York's homeless crisis, and the city is
grossly unprepared. Experts contend there are already some 5,000 or more
homeless PWAs struggling to survive on the city's streets, subways and
shelters. The best the Koch administration could do is announce the
creation of some 840 units for homeless PW As on the eve of hearings on the
issue scheduled by City Council President Andrew Stein. Many of those
units were already being planned by private agencies, so the mayor's effort
amounted to little more than the preparation of a press release. And like
many such mayoral efforts, the initiative faded along with the headlines.
We don't expect the city to find a cure for AIDS. We do expect it to play
a leading role in providing the best services possible for the victims of AIDS
and ARC. The mayor might argue that the city can't do more without state
and federal help. Then he should be using his considerable skills at
politicking and cajoling to get the needed financial assistance.
The hour is getting late. There are far too many agency studies or high-
level luncheons like the $125 a plate get-together at Windows on the World
last November to discuss "AIDS Awareness on Housing." It's time to take a
measure of this city's moral pulse and provide housing for those truly in
need .

We're a little confused by two letters we received recently from Depart-
ment of Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Abraham
Biderman. Both letters concerned a City Limits article on the city's develop-
ment plans for the Arverne Urban Renewal Area on the Queens oceanfront.
The first letter we received, which appeared in last month's issue, says the
article "presents both the predominant view ... and the dissenting view .... "
But several weeks later we received a second letter on the same article
charging that it "is, not surprisingly, one-sided." Will the real Abe Biderman
please stand up? .
By the way, the second letter, which was sent just two weeks before the
responses were due for the Arverne RFP, made no mention of the fact that
the deadline had been extended by more than a month. But what's a few
weeks for a site that's sat vacant for more than two decades-even though the
city's in the midst of a housing crisis. 0
.....X.523

-
INSIDE
FEATURE
Serious Neglect:
Housing for Homeless People with AIDS 12
Government agencies are dawdling while people are
dying on the streets.
DEPARTMENTS
Editorial
No Time for Lunch .................................. ............... .. 2
Short Term Notes
Housing Link .. ............ ...... ..... ........ ................ .......... . 4
Housing Court Suit .................................................. 4
Shantytown Shakedown .......................................... 5
Hirschfeld Gets His Co-ops .......... ........................... 5
Three's a Crowd .. ............. .... ................. ... ............. ... 6
Neighborhood Notes ................................................ 7
Profile
Women's Coalition:
New Voices for Affordable Housing ....... ...... .......... 8
' City Views
Planned Shrinkage: The Final Phase ................. ... 10
Pipeline
Managing Disaster? .................................. .............. 16
Collective Trust Grows in the Lower East Side ... 17
The Longest Wait ................................................... 20
Review
Neighborhoods Rising ............................................ 21
Letters ..................................................................... 22
Workshop ........ ........... ... ...... ..... ... ......... .................. 23
'.' . ' : ~
April 1989 CITY LIMITS 3
AIDS/Page 12
...... ......,. .......
Land Trust/17
4 CITY UMITS April 1989
SHORT TERM NOTES
HOUSING LINK
Proposals to link federal
aid to the savings and loan
industry with a commitment
to affordable housing are
gaining momentum in
Washington.
Suggested amendments to
President George Bush's
savings and loan bailout bill,
whicli would cost $126
billion, require the govern-
ment to hand over real estate
acquired from failed savings
and loans to public housing
authorities, or to sell the reo I
estate and create funding for
the construction of low and
moderate income housing.
Another proposal is using the
money gained from the
eventual payback of loans
from the tailed financial
institutions to create a fund
for first-time homebuyers,
with the money available at 6
percent interest, according to
a spokesperson for the House
of Representative's banking
committee, which introduced
the proposals last month. The
committee is chaired by
Texas Democrat Henry B.
Gonazalez.
"I think this has a good
chance because the heovy-
weights are interested," says
the banking committee
spokesperson. "(Housing
Secretary) Jack Kemp has a
lot of housing he wants to do,
but he doesn't have the
money. This would allow him
to do some of the things he's
been talking about."
Kemp eXp'ressed informal
support for the linkage at a
breakfast meeting with
reporters in February. "This is
an item of greot interest to
the secretary but there has
been no final determination
of what action will be taken,"
says Jack Flynn, a spokesman
for the Department of
Housing and Urban Develop-
ment. Another HUD official
said the personnel needed to
develop such plans had not
yet been hired.
last month William
Seidman, chairman of the
Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation, testified at a
banking committee hearing
in San Antonio and said the
bailout bill should contain
some provision for helping
the homeless, according to
the banking committe spokes-
person.
Also working towards
linking the savings and loan
bill with inner-citx housing is
the Association of Community
Organizations for Reform
Now. "This is the chance of
a lifetime to link the restruc-
turing of the financial
industry with a dedication to
the public interest," says Jane
Uebalhoer, ACORN's
legislative director. "Banks
and savings and loans are
publicly chartered and
insured and have a commu-
nity responsibility - but
they haven't been meeting
that."
ACORN is calling for the
creotion of a funding pool,
available at below-market-
rate interest, for the creation
of low income housing. "A
solution to the housing crisis
is most appropriate since the
savings and loans were set
up to provide thrifty loans for
homeowners," says Uebol-
hoar.
Jesse Jackson is also
calling for a linkage between
the savings bail-out and
tougher enforcement of the
Community Reinvestment Act
of 1977, which encourages
banks to meet local credit
needs, including mortgages
for homebuyers in poor
neighborhoods. 0 Lisa
Glazer
HOUSING
COURT SUIT
A coalition of legal groups
and housing advocates have
filed a class-action suit in state
appellate court to mandate the
provision of counsel for
tenants in housing court. "The
opportunity to be heard in
court is meaningless without
representation by counsel,"
says Andrew Scherer of Com-
Time lor a change:
A class action suit is trying to mandate the provision 01 lawyer.
lor all tenants in hOUSing court.
munity Action for legal
Services and the lead attorney
for the suit.
The vast majority of .
tenants come to court without
an attorney while landlords-
who initiate most housing
court proceedings-have legal
counsel nearly 80 percent of
the time, according to a report
by the City Wide Task Force
on Housing Court.
Housing and homeless ad-
vocates contend that all too
often a housing court case is
the first step towards home-
lessness. Irma Rodriguez of
the housing court task force
says approximately 300,000
households have been evicted
through housing court pro-
ceedings over the past 10
years.
"At present, those most in
need are evicted and ren-
dered homeless as a result of
court proceedings where the
other side knows the rules and
they don't," says Scherer. He
adds that many cases would
never even be brought to court
if both landlords ana tenants
had equal access to counsel.
Most housing court actions
are brought against poor
tenants who cannot afford
legal counsel, and the free
legal services agencies cannot
meet the demand. The result,
says Robert levy of the New
York Civil liberties Union, is
"shifting the cost of lack of
counsel to homeless pro-
grams."
Shirley Traylor, an attorney
with the Community Service
Society, says that state law
authorizes the provision of
attorneys for the poor in all
divisions of the court. In fact,
Charles Coull, one of the
plaintiffs in the suit, had his
motion for counsel granted by
a judge, but the court clerk
had no mechanism for
appointing an attorney in
housing court.
A wide range of legal
organizations are participat-
ing in the suit, including
CAlS, NYClU, the legal Aid
Society, White & Case,
Harlem legal Services and
Bronx legal Services. The
Community Service Society is
also providing legal support.
A preliminary hearing is
scheduled for Ma'( 11 .
o Doug Turetsky
SHANTYTOWN
SHAKEDOWN
To 15 people, the lot on
Columbia Street in Brooklyn
with it brightly painted
shanties has been home for
almost a decade. They bui It
the huts from scrap lumber
and lavished them with pic-
tures on the walls, carpeting
and television sets.
But an eviction notice from
the city and a spate of fires
have set the stage for the
possible dismantling of the
settlement known as "Puerto
Rican Village."
"There is a project that is
going to be built there,"
explains Ed Barbini, director
of communications for the
city's Department of General
Services, which served the
shantytown with a 30-day
eviction notice in December.
He would not give specific
details of the development
project.
Four huts were burnt to
the ground by fires shortly
after the eviction notice was
received. Explaining that the
village gets it electricity by
running wires from a nearby
apartment, Barbini says that
the specter of fire was a moti-
vation for asking the settle-
ment to disband.
Area residents have
another suggestion: the fires
were set by local landlords.
A contractor who works in
the neighborhood, who would
not give his name, says the
fires were lit by "somebody
who has an interest in the
property."
Regardless of who did the
damage, the shanty-town
dwellers are 'n'ct ready t6
April 1989 CITY LIMITS 5
Homes for Eas, Harlem:
Yolanda Cates, a member of 'he You,h Action Program, inside 'he
building she helped renovate a' 23 J 3 Second Avenue. Ribbon-
cutting ceremonies ,ook place las' mon,h.
pack up and go. Julio
Costoso, says he does not
want to leave the neighbor-
hood where he has lived for
close to 40 years. "How
would you feel if it were your
home?" he asks.
Sheryl Karp, a South
Brooklyn legal Services
attorney representing the
group, says their only alterna-
tive would be shelters, welfare
hotels, or the streets. Most of
the residents are single men,
who are ineligible for city
apartments.
Karp says the village's long
tenure may be its saving
grace. If it can be proved that
the community has existed for
10 years or more, the
residents may have ownership
by virtue of the length of time
they've been there. Karp
adds that the city may have
waived the right to evict the
settlers by allowing them to
stay so long.
If the village is forced to
disband, the goal is to win
permanent housing in the
community for the tenants,
says Raun Rasmussen, an
attorney also involved in the
case.
Brooklyn Council Member
Abraham Gerges, who chairs
the City Council's Select
Committee on the Homeless,
echoes this sentiment. "As
these people have been living
there for an incredibly long
time, I have been asking the
city to give them priority for
housing," he says.
Many local residents say
they hope the villagers can
stay in the area because
they're friendly neighbors.
The men in the shanties throw
a yearly feast of Santa la
Cruiz for the whole neighbor-
hood. And when a fire
started in James Gallaway's
nearby cabinet-making
business nearby, the settlers
ioined efforts to douse the
Hames.
As City Limits goes to
press, lawyers for both sides
are preparing for a hearing at
the Kings County Civil Court.
o Jacqueline Rivkin
HIRSCHFELD
GETS HIS CO-OPS
Despite charges of tenant
harassment, an illegal eviction
and scores of still uncorrected
housing code violations,
developer and former
candidate for lieutenant
governor Abraham Hirschfeld
recently succeeded in getting
his plan for co-op conversion
approved for two buildings in
Jackson Heights, Queens.
Tenant leader luz Colon
charges that fires and break-
ins began soon after
Hirschteld bought the adjacent
buildings, 34-59 89th Street
and 34-58 90th Street, in
March 1986. Other forms of
harassment followed, she
says. But managing agent
Bernard DeChalus says
charges of tenant harassment
are "unfounded." He does
admit, though, that because of
the high number of Hispanic
residents in the buildings
investigators were hired to
check if any tenants were
illegal immigrants and
therefore not entitled to leases.
Efforts to get tenants to
leave also included offers of
money, says Colon. Those
who refused to leave their
rent-regulated apartments
were soon hauled into housing
court for trumped-up rent
arrears. For leonel and
Susan Aristildes, whose rent
check was returned by
DeChalus, the court appear-
ance resulted in eviction.
Nearly a year later,
housing court judge Harriet
George overturned the
eviction and returned the
apartment to the Aristildes
even though it had been
leased to another tenant. The
,
. udge found that the new
easeholder, Rose Gonzalez,
did not have "bonafide
tenancy." Gonzalez was
represented in court by a
lawyer who admitted he was
being paid to represent her by
Hirschfeld's Jackson Heights
plaza Associates. The
Aristildes are now suing
Hirschfeld and DeChalus for
.$1.1 million in damages for
their illegal eviction. And
according to MFY legal
Services attorney leah
Margulies, they still do not
have a current lease.
Getting lease renewals has
been an ongoing problem for
some tenants in the two
buildings. According to Colon,
who still lives at 34-59 89th
Street, tenants who filed
6 CITY LIMITS April 1989
complaints with the state
Division of Housing and
Community Renewal received
threatening visits from the
superintenaent. DeChalus
initiated a complaint against
the local Neighborhood Stabi-
lization Program office for its
role in helping the tenants
lodge complaints. Hirschfeld's
lawyers have also prepared-
but not filed-a $900,000
suit against Colon for her role
in organizing the tenants.
(Former City Limits editor Tom
Robbins is being sued for an
article he co-wrote about
conditions in Hirschfeld
buildings for the Village
Voice.)
Hirschfeld also faces
contempt of court charges
stemming from a settlement
he made to correct approxi-
mately 800 housing code
violations in the two buildings.
Fined $10,000, he agreed to
have all violations removed by
September 28, 1988. But HPD
records indicate there are still
187 violations at 34-59 89th
Street and 123 violations at
34-58 90th Street.
DeChalus contends that
boilers and windows have
been replaced, the roof
repaired and the buildings
rewired and any remaining
problems are essentially the
fault of tenants who fear a co-
op conversion. "The violations
are basicallr caused by mali-
ciousness 0 tenants who think
it would prevent the conver-
sion," he says.
Hirschfeld's first co-op
offering plans for the build-
ings were rejected bX the state
attorney general's office on
technical grounds. Although
Colon says an investigator
from the attorney general's
office took depositions from
tenants charging harassment,
the second conversion plan
was app.roved. Ollie Rosen-
gard, who examines co-op
offering plans for the attorney
general's office, says that
Hirschfeld has signed an
agreement that all tenants still
without leases will receive
them. "We will take action if
the sponsor reneges on the
Home is where the heat is:
Virginia Ze/ada breales wood to fuel a homemade heater in the apartment she is helping rehabilitate
at J 724 Crotona Parle East. Ze/ada is part of a squatter group that the city is trying to evict.
agreement," he says.
DeChalus says most of the
problems with tenants in the
building stemmed from their
fear of a co-op conversion.
Says Colon, "I was not against
co-op conversion. I was
against tactics that were used
in the harassment of tenants."
o Doug Turetsky
THREE'S A CROWD
A city-owned building in
the Morrisania section of the
Bronx is the focus of a clash
between city officials, squat-
ters and a local community
group.
Banners strewn outside the
six-story walk-up at 1724
Crotona Park East proclaim
"Power to the People" and
"Self Help Housing." Inside is
a small community of squat-
ters, whose ranks include
members of Homeward
Bound, the homeless activists
who camped outside City Hall
last year, as well as men from
the Franklin Street Shelter,
and two families of Guatema-
lan immigrants.
"We want to make this a
showplace, a model, to let
people know that poor people
from the shelters and over-
crowded buildings can take
care of themselves," sa)'s
Ahmad Ali, president of the
building's tenants association
and former chairman of the
Homeless Rights Committee at
the Franklin Street shelter.
In December, the city
designated the building as
part of the Special Initiatives
Program to be rehabilitated
and filled entirely with
homeless families from welfare
hotels, according to Roz Post,
a spokesperson for the
Department of Housing
Preservation and Develop-
ment. HPD took the squatters
to court last month to try and
evict them, but the case was
postponed. As City Limits
goes to press, no ruling has
been made.
"Just taking a building over
and deciding to fix it up is not
right," says Post. "You must
go into the system, stay in a
shelter or transitional housing
for 18 months and then you
can ultimately get an apart-
ment. That's how it works."
The Mid-Bronx Despera-
does Community Housing
Corporation has also been
eyeing the building. The
community group is trying to
get Local Initiative Support
Corporation funding to turn
the building into apartments
for a mixture of homeless,
moderate and middle income
families. "We're fighting with
the city over the building,"
says Mike Reid, special
projects director tor MBD.
Funding for the MBD proposal
is included within Community
Board 3's current budget
request to the city.
The squatters have been
rehabilitating the building for
the past year. Windows are
covered with heavy plastic to
keep out the cold, and warmth
comes from homemade
heaters built from 40-gallon
oil drums. Much of the heavy
construction work is being
done by the Homefront
volunteer construction crew,
whose members provide their
own tools as well as donated
construction materials. Some
of the squatters are living in
the building, while others live
doubled-up in public housing
and work in the building on
the weekends. All are part of
a group known as Inner City
Press/Community on the
Move, which also puts out a
free newspaper. 0 Lisa
Glazer
,
..
Bronx
Bronx Computing Systems does
billing work for the Hunts Point
Multi-Service Center, renowned as
part of the Ramon Velez health
empire. Documents list a $22,152
payment to the company last year
for billing work for the Multi-
Service Center's community health
clinic, which recently lost federal
funding. Ralph Santiago, an em-
ployee of Bronx Computing Systems,
says the head of his company is
Ramon Velez and the headquarters
are located at 630 Jackson Road-the
same address as the Hunts Point
April 1989 CITY LIMITS 7
Multi-Service Center. Further ques-
tions regarding Bronx Computing
Systems were referred to Khaimraj
Issurdatte, comptroller ofthe Multi-
Service Center.
Brooklyn
The city, the state and the borough
president's office are working to-
gether to subsidize construction of
the 650-unit Bushwick Green. The
development of the two-family
homes is being hailed as a model of
cooperation, providing affordable
housing that will revive the neigh-
borhood. About a half of the units
will be sold to families earning be-
tween $30,000 and $40,000 a year.
Rental units will be affordable to
households with incomes of$20,OOO.
Median renter income in the area is
less than $9,000.
Manhattan
Columbia University is living up
to its reputation as a real-estate
company that engages in education
on the side. Last month Irving
Ruderman, a Jewish studies lecturer,
was kicked out of his Columbia-
owned apartment at 435 W. 119th
Street after living there for 18 years.
It was reportedly the first in a series
of some 20 eviction's planned by
Columbia ...
Comptroller Harrison Goldin
toured the site of the proposed River-
walk project with some 30 members
of Citizens United Against Riverwalk.
Goldin echoed CU AR' s concerns over
environmental, density and tax abate-
ment issues connected to the proj-
ect. But he saved his harshest words
for the city's Public Development
Corporation, the project sponsor.
Charging the agency looks at such
development as little more than a
cash cow, he called PDC "an out-
rage" with no public accountability.
Queens
The urban studies department of
Queens College is preparing a study
of projected displacement of current
area residents resulting from the
city's plans for luxury development
on the Hunters Point waterfront. The
study is being funded by the Hunters
Point Community Development
Corporation, which is concerned data
provided by the city is unreliable.
At a City Council hearing on water-
front development, Hunters Point
CDC member John Kelly requested
the city issue a written policy on
displacement. 0
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8 CITY UMITS April 1989
PROFILE
Coalition:
Ne", Voices for Affordable
Housing
BY SARAH BABB
THE WOMEN'S HOUSING COALI-
tion was created two years ago to
advocate the female point of view on
housing-changing the stere-
otype of homeless ness as a male
phenomena, linking the need
for low income housing for
women and children with
broader feminist concerns like
day care and providing a sup-
port network for women who
are working on these issues.
"Our strength is that we can
briqge the women's movement
and the housing movement in
the city and bring new voices
to fight for housing," explains
Susan Lob, a member of the
coalition's steering committee.
1jhe coalition emerged in
198:6, when women activists
from a variety of organizations
including the Park Slope Safe
Homes Project, the Single Par-
ent Resource Center and the
Forest Hills Community House
came together for the state's
Legislati ve Hearings on Women
more, the most common image of
homelessness-single men sleeping
on the streets or the subways-
doesn't acknowledge the hard real-
ity faced by females who are home-
in Housing. They set out to Sally legley of the Women's Housing Coalition:
lobby for a model housing bill "We bring new voices to the fight for housing."
but a year of legal wrangling
led to a change of focus. "The
legislative route looked intermi-
nable," says coordinator SaIl y Begley.
"So we began to hunker in and focus
on New York City issues."
Their work is much-needed. A re-
study conducted by the Human
Resources Administration shows that
86 percent of homeless families in
New York are comprised of single
women and their children. Coali-
tion members say the ranks of the
female homeless are swelled by low
income women who are battered by
their partners and forced to the final
alternative of the streets, the hotels
or' the shelters. And many mothers
seeking housing are discriminated
against by landlords who will not
accept tenants with children. What's
less. "Women are disproportionately
affected by the housing crisis,"
emphasizes Lob (see City Limits,
January 1988.)
Political Agenda
Located at 625 Broadway in Man-
hattan, the coalition has a part-time
coordinator, 500 supporters and a
three-pronged political agenda. WHC
shows the need for improved condi-
tions within the shelter system,
encourages the creation of perma-
nent low and moderate income hous-
ing with provisions for the special
needs of women and children and
leads education efforts to heighten
awareness of housing as a women's
issue. The most generous source of
funding so far has been the New York
Women's Foundation, which pro-
vided the coalition with $17,000 last
year.
An immediate priority is address-
ing the problems of women and chil-
dren in transitional housing. To-
gether with such groups as the Coali-
tion for the Homeless and the Home-
less Client's Advisory Council , WHC
formed the Homeless Women's
Rights Network, which recently is-
sued a report describing shelter
conditions and the ways in
which the shelter system keeps
women homeless.
Entitled "Victims Again," the
report was based on the testi-
mony of 80 women living in
the Brooklyn Women's Shelter
and the Bushwick Relocation
Center. It includes vivid de-
scriptions of the myriad ways
women are oppressed within
the shelter system, including
physical abuse from crack-
smoking guards, forced sepa-
ration from friends and family
members and the withholding
of subway tokens for transpor-
tation. The coalition called for
an immediate reduction in the
number of women sheltered in
anyone location, the reuniting
of women with their children
when possible and for smaller,
community-based shelters.
Better Homes
Even while working for bet-
ter shelter conditions, the
WHC's primary goal is push-
ing for permanent housing for
women. Last year the coalition
worked with a design class at the
Pratt School of Architecture to de-
velop a model of appropriate hous-
ing for low to moderate income
women and their children. The plan
incl udes day care, enclosed play areas
that are visible from apartments and
job training. The results of the class
are being considered for incorpora-
tion in a housing plan proposed by
Catholic Charities for the South
Bronx.
WHC also has an ongoing commit-
ment to educating and organizing
about women and housing issues.
Among their efforts were two panel
discussions held last winter on the
topic of the transitional shelter sys-
tem and the role of social services in
women's housing, and a lunch last
May that brought together a diverse
group of women active in the hous-
ing movement.
The coalition's work is feminist in
form as well as content. "There are
no hierarchies, " explains member
Loreine Kendrick. Cindy Harden, an
architect who taught the Pratt design
course, adds that she was surprised
and pleased by the diverse opinions
expressed at the panel discussions
sponsored by WHC. "It's really
healthy," she notes, appreciating the
lack of dogmatism. Urban planner
and long-time housing activist Sue
Reynolds says the coalition helps
expand her thinking. "I need sup-
port and help in formulating the
connections between my feminism
and the housing movement."
WHC is committed to making these
and other connections to facilitate
the creation of affordable housing.
"We're edging toward a time when
more government officials will be
responsive to what we're calling for,"
says Begley. "This is an issue that
simply is not going to go away." 0
Sarah Babb is a freelance writer
living in New York City.
April 1989 CITY UMITS 9
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10 CITY LIMITS April 1989
CITY VIEWS
Planned Shrinkage - The Final Phase
BY HAROLD DERIENZO
MY FIRST IMPRESSION OF THE
South Bonx came from the back of a
Volkswagen van. It was 1972 and a
group of us from Manhattan and
Mount Saint Vincent colleges were
on our way to the Casita Maria Set-
tlement House on Simpson Street, to
begin another term of helping kids
there with homework and tutoring.
That impression remains with me
today. No lot was vacant, not a build-
ing was empty. Each one was teem-
ing with life that spilled out onto
windowsills, fire escapes, rooftops,
sidewalks and any other space avail-
able. It was September, so the fire
hydrant still sprayed its cooling mist
across the double parked cars and
the one lane that was available-
with the consent of the local skelzy
players-for through traffic.
A year after accepting employment
at Casita Maria, I moved into the
neighborhood. It was 1976. The fires
that eventually decimated the area
had already begun and multiple fire
alarms became a nightly occurrence.
By the end of the decade, it was as
though a plague hit, leaving 70 per-
cent of the buildings vacant. Then
the demolition began, leaving acres
of land vacant for some future use.
With housing in such short sup-
ply, the manner in which we de-
velop this still vacant land is of vital
concern. It will determine for dec-
ades the extent to which we accom-
modate future housing needs. Cur-
rent development plans in the South
Bronx favor low density, paved drive-
ways and fenced yards. Suburban
patches are replacing areas formerly
comprised of medium-rise multiple
dwellings. This trend, which will
soon use up our most precious re-
source, institutionalizes the final
phase of an unofficial city policy
known as planned shrinkage.
Based on the'idea of consolidating
the poor in areas where services could
be more efficiently provided, planned
shrinkage was initially proposed in
light of two basic events: the near
bankruptcy of the city during the
mid-1970s and the city's loss of about
800,000 residents throughout the
decade. Areas such as the South
Bronx were the hardest hit, with Com-
munity Boards 2 and 3, for example,
losing about 70 percent of their
population. Mounting public doubt
of the Beame administration's abil-
ity to balance the city budget led
various officials and civic leaders to
debate the city's options. On Febru-
ary 2, 1976, The New York Times
printed a front page article reporting
" ... the accepted thinking of those who
now plan and oversee the city's reve-
Suburbia in the South Bronx:
Assistance Corporation. He suggested
that the city take "a 30-block area,
clear it, blacktop it, and develop an
industrial park..." This method
could be used to tear down blighted
areas and convert them into "virgin
industrial development territory."
W ell over a decade has passed
since these pronouncements were
made. Despite never explicitly being
made city policy, the primary ele-
ments of the planned shrinkage
Ranch-style house. surrounded by a white picket fence on Charlotte Street.
nues and expenses ... see New York
City ... return to a concern for pocket
neighborhoods as opposed to city
wide master planning and low-rise
pre-fabricated public housing ... "
Accelerate
The next day, Roger Starr, the head
of the city's Housing and Develop-
ment Administration (the precursor
to the Department of Housing Preser-
vation and Development), urged the
consideration of an official policy of
planned shrinkage. Its purpose: to
"accelerate" the already-occurring
population decreases in certain
"slum areas," including the South
Bronx. About a month later, a less
auspicious front page Times article
quoted Felix Rohatyn, who later
became overseer of the city's budget
process as head of the Municipal
concept appear to be the hallmarks
ofland use in the South Bronx today.
Simply stated, low income popu-
lations require more extensive serv-
ices than their middle class counter-
parts. Developing a home for a house-
hold earning $40,000 a year, with a
car and kids in a private school is
perceived by some as preferential to
a household with an income of
$8,000, with twice as many children
and some level of social service needs.
But the trade-off is not one-for-
one. South Bronx neighborhoods that
once housed about 120 households
per acre are now being redeveloped
for approximately 18 households per
acre (the typical New York City Part-
nership project). This mode of rede-
velopment is justified on the basis of
expediency (there is no other fund-
ing available), cost (low-rise devel-
J
opment is cheaper than other forms
of construction) and such precipi-
tous judgements as the area previ-
ously had too many people.
Repopulation
Expedience, in the absence of
planning, is a disastrous method of
development. To cite just one ex-
ample, Bronx Community Board 3
recently engaged the Consumer-
Farmer Foundation to prepare a plan
for the district. The community board
made one of its goals for the plan the
repopulation of the district to 100,000
by the year 2000 (which is one-half
the population in 1950 and about
twice the current population). Ap-
proximately half of the residential
property in the district is city-owned.
This factor is extremely important
since redevelopment comes without
the costs of condemnation and infra-
structure development-and the time
this process takes.
Eighty percent of the area' s va-
cant, city-owned property is imme-
diately available for redevelopment.
But current plans for the develop-
ment of that land will not permit the
district to achieve its repopulation
goal. Even with a higher density use
of the land for which there are no im-
mediate plans, the population would
at best reach 88,000.
The New York City Housing Part-
nership recently published a report
demonstrating the cost-effectiveness
of low rise housing. Even if their
conclusion is correct , it is besides
the point. Availability of funds and
low cost cannot be the prime deter-
minant in the use ofland. Areas such
as the South Bronx, with an abun-
dance of vacant land, need to be seen
within the context of the city's hous-
ing crisis. With a substantial portion
of the city' s population ill-housed, it
is bad policy to take such a major
resource and privatize it to the ex-
tent that we are. It will also be of
small comfort to planners-as well
as homeowners-if future condemna-
tion is necessary to better utilize these
parcels.
Arguments citing the area' s previ-
ous overpopulation are disingenu-
ous at best. In the 1950s and '60s, the
South Bronx was a staging ground
for newly arrived immigrants. It was
natural, given the housing shortage
which prevailed even then, that
April 1989 CITY LIMITS 11
families would double up while
deciding on permanent settlement
in the city. The overcrowding was
not a function ofthe density permit-
ted by zoning rules. To cite over-
population as an excuse to radically
reduce density is misplaced (assum-
ing the argument is sincere) .
Low-Rise Protagonists
Part of the tragedy in this whole
process is that community-based,
nonprofit developers who were the
primary sponsors of low and moder-
ate income housing in the '60s and
'70s have become the major protago-
nists in the development oflow rise,
middle income housing in the
'80s.The primary reason for engag-
ing in this new development policy
is institutional survival-the need to
continually justify funding through
current production activity. This has
resulted in local adoption of the
planned shrinkage concept.
Emphasis on industrial develop-
ment, the second element in the final
phase of planned shrinkage, is also
misplaced. Such emphasis comes
from a belief that artificially created
mini-enterprise zones will create
much needed jobs for local residents.
It is clear, however, that this is no
more than optimistic conjecture. In
areas such as the South Bronx, a
mixture of tax incentives, elevated
expressways and location makes it
ideal for warehousing operations and
drive-to-work employment. As a
result, few jobs will be created for
local residents and employers are
still free to move on when the next
round of incentives promotes capi-
tal flight to another location.
The rationale for planned shrink-
age was that the financial crisis of
the city required that poor, service-
needy populations be concentrated
in certain marginally viable areas of
the city. In this way, the city could
provide services more efficiently.
Although certainly not intended,
such concentration has been occur-
ring throughout this decade as house-
holds are fed into homeless shelters
and stockpiled into newly rehabili-
tated buildings that exclusively
house homeless families. And the
latter is done as a matter of policy,
instead of mandating, for instance,
that every city-assisted development
(even assistance through tax abate-
ments) include some percentage of
housing for homeless families.
All the while, the South Bronx
and other areas continue to be rede-
veloped as new suburban pockets.
Precious acres of city-owned prop-
erty that once housed up to 400 New
Yorkers are being developed for less
than 60. If this isn't planned shrink-
age, then perhaps it's unplanned
shrinkage. Nonetheless, the result is
the same and just as wrong as when
it was proposed 13 years ago. 0
Harold DeRienzo is vice president of
the Consumer-Farmer Foundation,
which provides financial and tech-
nical assistance to low income hous-
ing and community development
projects.
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12 CITY LIMITS April' 1989
FEATURE
Serious Neglect:
Housing for Homeless People
with AIDS
seek to help them muster the politi-
cal clout to make the necessary
changes. A lack of a central author-
ity and a clear policy at the city level
only makes matters worse. Since
February 1988, when City Limits last
published an article on homeless
BY JENNIFER STERN
A
former IV drug user who now
has AIDS, Larry Conklin lived
in a transitional hotel and at
the homeless shelter for men on
Ward's Island before he moved into
Bailey Hoise, the city's only group
home for people with AIDS. Ask
him about government efforts to pro-
vide h o u s ~ n g for homeless people
with AIDS and he offers a harsh as-
sessment. "The way they put it-
why waste money? Why should
congress, the state or city donate
millions of dollars to dead people?
Well, if you have that attitude you
might as well build a big cremato-
rium eight blocks long. They' re kill-
ing people with words."
While government agencies
struggle to meet the most immediate
health and hospital needs of people
with the fatal disease, activists, care
providers and people with AIDS say
housing is long-term priority that is
being seriously neglected.
There are less than 80 apartments
in New York set aside specifically
for homeless people with AIDS, yet
there are 5,000 to 8,000 people with
AIDS and related HIV illnesses with
nowhere but the city shelters, streets,
subways and transportation centers
to call home, according to the Part-
nership for the Homeless. The Part-
nership'S numbers, derived from es-
timates of AIDS infection among sev-
eral different segments of the home-
less population, have been disputed
by city and state officials.
By 1993, the Partnership esti-
mates-conservatively, they insist-
the number of homeless people with
AIDS (sometimes known as PWAs)
could jump as high as 30,000, mak-
ing them the largest subgroup among
the city's homeless.
When dealing with the issue, every
number the city works with falls
many times short of those estimated
by the Partnership. The city, for
example, based its current plan to
provide some 800 beds for homeless
Larry Conklin on government eHons fa house homeless people with AlPS:
"They way they put it, why waste money on d_d p_ple7 They're killing people with words."
PWAs by 1991 on a projection last
year that 800 would be the extent of
the need. Even anew, increased
projection by the interagency New
York City AIDS Task Force sees the
need for special residences for only
2,614 patients and nursing homes
for 1,220 more.
No Clout
The characteristics of HIV illness
are such that existing models of health
care and housing assistance-and the
funding streams and licensing pro-
cedures that make them possible-
do little to meet the needs of those
effected. The characteristics of
PWAs-increasingly poor, minority
and often drug abusing-also make
it difficult for them and those who
PWAs, the city has done little to
react to this burgeoning crisis.
Charges Douglas Dornan, execu-
tive director of the AIDS Resource
Center, a nonprofit organization that
operates housing for homeless PW As,
"City Hall has not made a decision
whether to back a housing approach
or to combine excessive stays in
hospitals with some growth in medi-
cal institutions. The longer they
delay, it adds up to a phenomenal
cost in lives and dollars."
Homeless PWAs are a relatively
heterogeneous group. They are
mainly minorities, and they have
usuall y become HIV infected through
some connection with IV drug use-
either they are drug users themselves,
sexual partners of drug users, ortheir
children. They include
single men, single women
and families-often single-
parent families . They in-
clude children born with HIV
infections and abandoned by
their parents, as well as older
children-teenagers-whose
infection is concomitant to
their life on the streets.
If these people are not
homeless to begin with, their
homelessness is often pre-
cipitated by the effects of
their illness. Unable to work,
they can't pay rent and wind
April 1989 CITY LIMITS 13
policy is that of limiting as-
sistance to people with "CDC-
defined AIDS," a condition
the federal Center for Dis-
ease Control identifies with
several opportunistic infec-
tions. Those who do not meet
these criteria technically
suffer from AIDS-related
complex. Although ARC's ef-
up on the street. Others are
illegally evicted by AIDS-
phobic landlords. The New
York City Human Rights
Commission's AIDS Dis-
crimination Division receives close
to 20 housing-related calls a month,
including many concerning at-
tempted eviction or harassment of
PWAs. "For everyone complaint we
get , there are 10 we are not receiv-
ing," says Azedah Khalili, supervis-
ing human rights specialist.
I fect on the immune system
i can he just as serious-and
although many people have
died with only an ARC diag-
i nosis-the city and state have
adhered to a distinction that
Douglos Dornon, executive director 01 the AIDS Resource Center: even the CDC itself has
"City Holl hos not mode 0 decision whether to back 0 housing termed "artificial." The dis-
tinction has worked to their
In I,ves ond dollors. d t 't' t' t dth t
a van age: 1 IS es lIDa e a
Compared to the need, the amount
of housing assistance currently avail-
able for homeless PW As is almost
insignificant. The city and state have
increased the emergency shelter al-
lowance for PW As to $480 per per-
son and $330 for each dependent: far
above the regular public assistance
levels. These levels of assistance are
currently being provided to about
900 households, according to Caryn
Schwab, special advisor to the mayor
on health issues.
There are only 74 places in the
city right now dedicated for home-
less PWAs. Sixty-four are admini-
stered by the nonprofit AIDS Re-
source Center. Forty-four of these
places are beds in Bailey House, the
group residence in the West Village
for PWAs who do not require inten-
si ve medical attention. Bailey House
operates with a variety of ad hoc
federal, state and city funding
streams, plus private contributions.
Mother Teresa's Gift of Love also
provides 10 beds for homeless PWAs.
In addition, the AIDS Resource
Center operates 20 scattered-site
apartments in private apartment
buildings in Manhattan and
Brooklyn. Under contract to the city's
Human Resources Administration,
the AIDS Resource Center holds the
lease on the apartments, currently
occupied by singles and families,
and provides the occupants with the
necessary home care and counseling
services. ARC's $403,000-per-year
contract covers only 80 to 85 percent
of the cost, says Dornan. The rest,
including funds for recreational ac-
tivities, comes from ARC. The city is
attempting to expand its scattered-
site housing program: the Volunteers
of America are under contract for
300 more apartments. But the or-
ganization has been having trouble
finding landlords who will grant
leases for the program.
The balance of homeless PW As
receiving housing assistance are ei-
ther in hospitals and unable to be
discharged due to lack of housing (it
is illegal for a hospital to discharge
an AIDS patient to a shelter or the
street) or have been placed in single
room occupancy hotels by the city.
There are currently about 350 for-
merly homeless PWAs in SROs,
according to Schwab. Many of the
rooms lack the bathroom facilities
and room for home-care workers
required by PWAs.
Policy of Discrimination
As City Limits went to press, the
city and state governments were on
the verge of changing a long-stand-
ing policy of discrimination that
denied special housing assistance to
a large pool of homeless PW As. The
..
there are 10 times the num-
ber of people with ARC as there are
people with AIDS, which would
mean a tenfold demand for special
housing services.
A lawsuit brought by the Coali-
tion for the Homeless on behalf of a
few people with ARC sought to make
void this distinction. The Coalition's
suit, known as Phillips vs. Grinker,
says that the city is obligated to pro-
vide the homeless with medically
appropriate housing and that the large
congregate shelters, where the city
has been placing people with ARC,
are not appropriate for people with
suppressed immune systems. Al-
though the judge denied the suit class
action status, presuming that the city
would show a good faith effort to
treat like parties equally, he did
issue a preliminary injunction
ordering the city to provide the
plaintiffs with more private hous-
ing, stating that "there is no reason
for a distinction between CDC-
defined AIDS and other HIV related
illnesses. "
At presstime, the city and state
were developing guidelines for de-
termining which HIV infected people
were eligible for special housing
services. "There are many people
who are tested HIV positive who are
perfectly well," explains Judy Berek,
deputy commissioner of adult serv-
ices at the state Department of Social
Services. A change in policy, how-
ever, will only establish the right to
safe housing, but not its availability.
"After making all the additional folks
t
14 CITY LIMITS April 1989
eligible, what terrible good is that
going to do?" asks Peter Smith of the
Partnership. Adds mayoral advisor
Schwab, "We're going to need to
provide a lot more housing."
How much housing is almost the
easiest question. Harder to confront
is the wide range of housing services
needed by homeless PWAs. "Flex-
ible support systems are needed for
the changing progress of disease that
follows an AIDS diagnosis. The ma-
jority of PW As who are homeless-
90 percent plus-need some form of
housing in a home-like environ-
ment," says Dornan. Existing apart-
ments with rent subsidies and home
care, small apartment houses for
singles and for families, and group
residences for those who are to some
degree self sufficient and for those
with active health problems-all
have a place on a spectrum that ends
with nursing home and hospital care.
Dornan wOll.ld also add group resi-
dences with drug treatment programs
and group residences for IV drug
users who do not want to stop using
drugs, modeled on a program in San
Francisco.
Because of the nature of the AIDS-
related illnesses, AIDS housing ac-
tivists and providers insist there be
higher standards of privacy than in
other housing for the homeless.
Group residences and health-related
facilities known as HRFs, which are
a kind of nursing home with a less
intensive level of care, should have
private rooms as well as private bath-
rooms, because of the intestinal
problems suffered by many PWAs.
Many insist on some kitchen facili-
ties as well. Finally, providers and
activists insist that residences for
PWAs be limited to 50 to 55 people
to avoid, among other things, staff
burn-out and discouragement among
residents from too many people dying
at the same time, as well as to avoid
placing too many drug-using resi-
dents in one facility.
The City'S Plans
The current city plans for provid-
ing housing for homeless PW As falls
far short of the standards-both
quantitative and qualitative-set by
AIDS activists and providers. The
city's central project-announced
suddenly last October on the eve of a
Bobby, a resident of Bailey House who died in r 987:
Bailey House provides most of the 74 beds set aside for homeless people with AIDS in
New York City.
public hearing on homeless PW As
held by City Council President
Andrew Stein-originally called for
840 beds to be made available in
eight facilities in Manhattan,
Brooklyn and the Bronx.
The proposal, although welcomed
as a sign that the city was at least
recognizing a need to house home-
less PWAs, immediately came under
fire for a number of reasons. Six of
the eight sites had well over the 50
to 55 person limit. At least three of
the sites already figured in alternate
plans by community and private
groups. Finally, a number of the
sites were already being planned for
AIDS residences by non profit groups
with little help from the city.
Since October, two of the sites
have b e ~ n dropped in favor of two
new sites and one is on hold. The
840 bed figure now totals less than
700. The current plans are as fol-
lows:
A nine-bed transitional hous-
ing facility on Hoe Avenue in the
Bronx. Stays would be for less than
30 days. A contract with Enter Inc.
was approved by the Board of Esti-
mate, and the facility should open in
the spring.
An ii-bed extension to Bailey
House. Though it would add only 25
percent more beds to the existing fa-
cility, the extension-into an adja-
cent city-owned building-and the
accompanying $3 million renova-
tions would make 22 beds in Bailey
House wheelchair accessible. The
opening of the Bailey House exten-
sion would come with little credit to
the city. According to Dornan, the
organization has been trying to get a
lease for both buildings from the city
for two and a half years and is only
now on the verge of signing one. So
far ARC has raised $1.7 million for
the renovations from the state Home-
less Housing Assistance Program, the
federal Resources and Services Ad-
ministrationandaJ. M. Kaplan Fund
grant.
An ill-bed facility for singles,
families and children at a former or-
phanage in the Highbridge section of
the Bronx. This facility was also
planned by a nonprofit long before
the October announcement. Spon-
sored by Housing and Services, Inc.
and the Highbridge Community Life
Center, it would include Medicaid
supported health-related facilities for
99 single adults and families and
transitional foster care for 12 chil-
dren under the age of four. Since the
October announcement , the city
Department of Housing Preservation
and Development has given the proj-
ect a $1.6 million bridge loan to
enable the sponsor to obtain site
control. Medicaid bonding will repay
the loan and finance approximately
$5 million in renovation costs.
A 200-bed health-related facil-
ity at the former Throop Home for
Adults in Bedford-Stuyvesant. This
plan has provoked intense commu-
nity outrage, due in part to the size,
but largely because another group
was negotiating with the city to put
housing for the elderly and commu-
nity services in the building.
A 150-bed health-related facil-
ity to be built by the Archdiocese of
New York on two now-vacant city-
owned lots, one on 99th Street in
East Harlem, the other on Eighth
Street in the East Village. According
to Schwab, these facilities replace "a
plan to put 120 beds in a former East
Harlem elementary school that had
already been designated for offices
for a local nonprofit group and a plan
to acquire a private building in Clin-
ton. According to Dan Leahey, a
project director at the Archdiocese's
Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care
Center, the Archdiocese began plan-
ning for the two $10 million health-
related facilities, along with three
others with a total of 124 beds, as
early as last summer. The city is
currently negotiating to sell them at
approximately $800,000 a piece, says
Leahey. Although the Eighth Street
facility has already been endorsed
by the local community board and
the 99th Street facility has received
favorable community reaction, the
sale of both properties have yet to
begin the six-month public land use
review process. He expects all five
facilities to open by 1991.
On hold is a plan to acquire the
Bluestone Building, a newly built
159-bed residential hotel in Clinton.
According to Schwab, the Depart-
ment of Buildings is currently inves-
tigating possible zoning problems.
Scattered-site RFP
The city's Human Resources
Administration is also in the process
of expanding its scattered-site hous-
ing program. In February, they re-
ceived six responses to a request for
proposals for 100 apartments.
Among the respondents was the
AIDS Resource Center, the only cur-
rent operator of scattered-site hous-
April 1989 CITY UMITS 15
The city responds only to the problems that
make the most news, says Jackman.
ing. According to Dornan, ARC
responded by telling the city agency
what was wrong with the RFP. "(We
felt) many terms of the RFP were
incorrect," he explains, "including
minimal staffing standards. They've
also never been willing to budget
for nursing or recreation services.
Without both, residents really
suffer."
The city has also come under fire
for not providing any city-owned
apartments in a scattered-site
program. The Partnership for the
Homeless has proposed a "one-
percent solution": reserving one
percent of the existing city-owned
and operated apartments, including
New York City Housing Authority
and Mitchell-Lama units for home-
less PW As. Caryn Schwab says the
city is reserving all its available
apartments for its program of
emptying welfare hotels and does
not want to break into the waiting
list for housing authority apartments
a second time. "The welfare hotels
may be terrible," responds Rich Jack-
man, a member of ACT UP's Caucus
to House Homeless PWAs Now, "but
at least they're housed and are not
dying of AIDS." He charges the city
with responding only to the prob-
lems that make the most news.
Besides "too little, too late," the
main charge being leveled at the city
is that its emphasis on health-related
facilities, rather than housing, does
not address the needs of most home-
less PW As. As Dornan testified to
the state Assembly Committee on
Health, "HRF discharge policies
require discharge due to a change in
the health status of any resident.
The frequent moves resulting from
this policy, and the negation of a
person's desire for a stable, perma-
nent home, is widely documented as
bad for anyone's health." Further,
he said, "HRFs make no provision
for a person with AIDS' right to die
in their own home rather than in the
hospital."
At a cost of approximately $220
per person per day, HRFs cost far
more to operate than scattered-site
apartments ($50) or group residences
($125) though much less than un-
necessary hospital stays, which cost
$700 per day, according to the AIDS
Resource Center. Why then does the
city insist on emphasizing HRFs?
It's all a matter of budget. HRF oper-
ating funds are 90 percent reimbursed
by federal and state Medicaid funds.
Medicaid is not available for apart-
ments or group residences. Nor, at
present, are adequate Social Secu-
rity funds.
This problem has also frustrated
those trying to develop housing for
homeless PWAs privately. Rebecca
Reich, an associate for Turf Co. de-
veloper John Touhey, has been in-
vestigating these issues for the past
several months and so far, she says,
has come up almost empty. "Medi-
caid funding is only available for
nursing homes and hospitals," she
says. "Many PWAs do not need that
kind of intensive care. They need
more of an SRO with services at-
tached. There is no financial model
for that."
The city has also been reluctant to
make available a city-owned build-
ing for the project. "The line this
year is that every single vacant build-
ing is reserved for the mayor's 10-
year housing plan." Furthermore,
she believes getting community
approval would be next to impos-
sible because of community concerns
about drug dealing and drug use and
waste disposal. She says Turf Co.
may end up buying a private build-
ing, which would not require com-
munity approval.
One encouraging sign is that
Governor Cuomo's office is in the
process of preparing legislation that
would provide a new funding stream
for operating housing, rather than
HRFs, for the chronically ill. Ac-
cording to Judy Berek, the legisla-
tion would establish an Enriched
Housing model that would provide
social security funding at the highest
possible level for both congregate
care and scattered-site housing.
Providing housing for homeless
PWAs is an issue that gives a true
reading of a government's moral
pulse: what will government-and
the voters who indirectly steer that
government-do for people who can
ultimately return little to it, not in
publicity, votes or tax revenue. So
far, the record shows little evidence
of action. 0
16 CITY UMITS April 1989
PIPELINE
Managing Disaster?
$300 rents are too low to keep the
buildings in the black, experts from
the Urban Homesteading Assistance
Board have their doubts. Cindy
Colter, director of training at UHAB,
says a good manager who under-
stands low income housing should
be able to keep these buildings afloat.
BY DOUG TURETSKY
PERCHED ATOP A HARLEM HILL
near City College, the tenants of 270
Convent A venue knew that taking
control of their building as a low
income co-op under the state's Hous-
ing Development Finance Corpora-
tion law was a big responsibility.
That's why they hired the well-con-
nected Harlem management como .
pany Webb & Brooker to help. But
the tenants of 270 Convent Avenue
as well as two other nearby HDFCs
managed by Webb & Brooker are now
thousands of dollars in debt.
Tenants at 270 Convent Avenue
say that back bills have mounted
since Webb & Brooker took over their
50-unit building in September 1987,
and the deficit has nearly doubled in
the past five months to approximately
$82,000. Tenants at 15 Fort Wash-
ington Avenue and 500 West 157th
Street tell similar tales, and they're
looking for an explanation.
As managing agent , Webb &
Brooker holds the co-op's check-
books and issues monthly reports
on check disbursements and income
from the rent roll . Leon Robertson,
Webb & Brooker's director of opera-
tions, says the cash shortfalls are the
result of the "simple arithmetic" that
the buildings' rent rolls are too low.
"You can't hold me responsible if
people close their eyes to costs," he
says. Robertson claims monthly
rents of $300 won't cover costs and
estimates the buildings need at least
$400 and $500 per unit to make ends
meet, and says he's made this clear
to tenants.
What's more, he adds, "Whenever
they (tenants) choose to send in an
accountant they can see that every
penny is accounted for ."
The tenants dispute Robertson's
claims. Arlene-Y Townes, president
of 15 Fort Washington Avenue, a 35-
unit building more than $50,000 in
debt, says Webb & Brooker never
informed the tenants of the mount-
ing red ink. When the city planned
to take back the building because it
owed $22,000 in taxes , the tenants
asked the managing agent for copies
of their spending receipts-but the
information was never provided.
Francel Jacques president of 500
West 157th Street, says, "When I
started to question bills and con-'
tracts they terminated the contract."
As for Robertson' s contention that
Donald Mack, a loan packager for
UHAB, adds that tenants take over
HDFCs without any mortgage on the
property, often a major portion of a
building's monthly operating budget.
Robertson places some of the
blame for the buildings' problems on
the city, which he says made only
cosmetic repairs before turning the
buildings over to the tenants. He says
all three buildings have required
costly repairs.
But tenants disagree. "This build-
ing never saw any repairs during the
two years Webb & Brooker has been
here," says Jacques.
Eugene Webb, chairman of the
management firm, recently received
a business award from Mayor Ed-
ward Koch.
The company includes among its
major customers New York Life,
Prudential and the federal Depart-
ment of Housing and Urban Devel-
opment. Says Robertson, "I am
accustomed to working with build-
ings that have money." 0
"COMMITMENT"
Sinc:e 1980 HEAT has provided low cost home heating oil . burner and boiler repair services.
and energy management and conservation services to largely minority low and middle income
neighborhoods in the Bronx. Brooklyn. Manhattan and Queens.
As a proponent of economic empowerment for revital ization of the city's communities. HEAT is
committed to assisting newly emerging managers and owners of buildings with the reduction of
energy costs (long recognized as the single most expensive area of building management).
HEAT has presented tangible opportunities for tenant associations. housing coops. churches.
community organizations. homeowners and small businesses to gain substantial savings and
lower the costs of building operations.
Working collaboratively with other community service organizations with Similar goals. and
working to establish its viability as a business entity. HEAT has committed its revenue gener-
ating capacity and potential to providing services that work for. and lead to. stable. productive
communities.
Throup the primary serviCe of providing low cost home heating oil, various heating
pIMt services and energy maugement services, HEAT members have collectively
saved over $5.1 million.
HOUSING ENERGY ALLIANCE FOR TENANTS COOP CORP.
853 BROADWAY. SUITE 414, NEW YORK. N.Y. 10003 (212} 505-0286
If you are interested in leamlng more about HEAT,
or if you are interested in becomlnK a HEAT member,
call or write the HEAT office.
April 1989 CITY LIMITS 17
PIPELINE
Collective Trust G r o ~ s
in the L o ~ e r East Side
nical assistance organizations and
two individuals from the commu-
nity (selected by RAIN members) who
are not involved with rehabbing any
of the buildings. The board meets
once a month and the 85 members
meet four times a year.
BY DEBRA BECHTEL
BOUTIQUES, CAFES AND LUXURY
condominiums are spreading across
the Lower East Side, but members of
New York's first community land
trust are determined that their cor-
ner of the neighborhood will remain
a haven for new immigrants and the
poor.
RAIN, which stands for Rehabili-
tation Action for Improving Neigh-
borhoods, is a collective organiza-
tion that includes 11 tenant-con-
trolled buildings with 130 units of
housing-much of. it still under
construction. Because of RAIN's
restrictive resale policy, none of those
Lower East Side apartments can
become part of the neighborhood's
speculative real-estate market.
The first completed RAIN build-
ing is a five story walk-up located at
66 Avenue C in the heart of Lois aida.
Ariel Diaz, RAIN's president, spent
five and a half years as an urban
homesteader, working every Satur-
day on the building before he moved
in 14 months ago. "We were very
afraid that some people were in this
to make a profit," says Diaz, explain-
ing that a homesteader could sell an
apartment at a price hundreds of
times more than the $250 they paid
for it-and help fuel the spiralling
rent costs in the area. "So we created
the community land trust. People
can sell their apartment, but it goes
to RAIN. This way, the apartments
will always be for low and moderate
income people. They'll stay afford-
able forever."
Born and raised in the Lower East
Side, Diaz proudly displays the build-
ing he helped rehabilitate. "My fa-
ther came here from Puerto Rico and
he was always talking about build-
ing his own home, so I guess that's
where I picked up the idea," he says,
adding that he hopes the community
land trust will help stabilize rent
prices so the area will stay racially
and ethnically mixed, a place where
newcomers and old-timers mingle
freely.
Part of RAIN's vision is bringing
the different buildings together into
a larger organization that meets the
diverse needs of the community as
well as individual homesteaders. As
Three of the buildings have al-
ready transferred ownership of the
land the buildings sit on to the trust,
Ariel Dia% in.ide a RAIN building a' 653 Ea.' Filth s"...,t:
"The apartmen'. will alway. be for law and moderate income people.
They'" .fay aHordable forever."
part of this effort, the first floor apart-
ments in many of the buildings are
wheelchair accessible, and some of
the buildings, like 66 Avenue C,
provide apartments for homeless
families and the elderly. "We're
involved in something broader than
just the buildings we're each work-
ing on," says RAIN member Gabriel
Boratgif.
Central to this philosophy is the
goal of giving local people a voice in
community decision-making-a
voice that sounds very different from
that of uptown developers. "We're
empowering people," says Diaz.
"This community is finally waking
up. We're taking charge."
RAIN's board of directors is made
up of one representative from each
building, two individuals from tech-
receiving a lease in return. If build-
ing members allow a departing ten-
ant to violate the resale restrictions,
they can lose the lease to the land.
Homesteaders in the other buildings
plan to transfer ownership of their
land to RAIN as well.
Sponsorship comes from the
Lower East Side Catholic Area Con-
ference, which provides assistance
with fundraising and financing ap-
plications. LESCAC also offers tech-
nical assistance, which is necessary
because much of the rehabilitation
work on the RAIN buildings is being
done by the local owners instead of
contractors. LESCAC operates a con-
struction office, which makes field
supervisors available to the rehab
projects and coordinates the use of
youth crews, which also saves money.
1 8 CITY LIMITS April 1989
Diaz recalls how the homestead-
ers in his building decided to take
down their old staircase by hand, a
complicated and arduous task that
required extensive technical assis-
tance. But the self-help effort shaved
$14,000 from the rehabilitation bill.
All of the buildings in the RAIN
land trust were once city owned.
Several have already been sold to
RAIN and the city has committed the
rest to RAIN as well. Five of the
buildings are part of the city's Urban
Homesteading Pro-
gram, which pro-
vides some of the
money needed for
rehabilitation at
one percent inter-
est. The other
buildings are being
funded though a
combination of
sources including the New York State
Housing Trust Fund, the Homeless
Housing Assistance Program, federal
Affordable Housing lor the Future
Community land trusts and mu-
tual housing associations are com-
mitted to providing an alternative
to the commercial real-estate mar-
ket by creating collectively owned,
affordable housing for present and
future generations.
One of70 community land trusts
across the country, the Common
Ground CLT in Dallas includes 56
units of housing, mostly occupied
by minority families earning less
than $10,000 a year. All of the
families have a say in the way the
land trust is run, and if a family
wishes to leave the trust, they can
sell their unit-but only to the CLT,
thus ensuring that the housing
remains affordable.
John Fullinwider, director of the
Common Ground CLT, explains,
"In the long run we need a non-
speculative arena to provide hous-
ing. We need what you might call
social housing or community serv-
ice housing."
Community land trusts and mu-
tual housing associations are non-
profit organizations with residents
or u ~ e r s of the property represented
on the board of directors. All CLTs
and MHAs restrict earnings any
departing residents can gain from
increases in market value. Long-
term stability is provided through
the use of 20- to 99-year leases.
The Institute for Community
Economics, based in Greenfield,
Massachusetts, is the primary na-
tional source of technical assistance
and gap and emergency financing
for CL Ts. ICE publishes manuals
and a newsletter for CLTs and its
staff travel around the country to
offer training and assistance.
The CLT approach to the crea-
tion and preservation of affordable
housing has advantages over both
limited-equity cooperatives and
public rental housing. A CLT al-
lows residents to participate in man-
agement and to receive some return
for their efforts but, at the same
time, it incorporates the expertise
and priorities of nonresident direc-
tors and eliminates the ability of
individual residents to speculate
on their investment.
Besides the enthusiasm and hard
work put in by the members of these
low income housing models, their
future depends, in part, on the will-
ingness ofthe government to invest
in them. A rare example of state
support exists in Vermont, where
real estate transfer taxes have pro-
vided $20 million for the Housing
and Conservation Trust Fund.
About half of these funds are cur-
rently being devoted to land trust
projects. The federal government
has the ability to contribute through
the Neighborhood Reinvestment
Corporation's Mutual Housing Dem-
onstration program, and could
expand NRC's funding and the
models it encourages. City govern-
ment can also provide assistance
with administrative, organizational
and fundraising costs, as well as
Section 312 loans and the Housing
Fund of the Archdiocese of New York.
Only the 66 Avenue C building is
the more obvious costs of building
acquisition and rehabilitation.
Community land trusts can also
form the basis of broader commu-
nity support systems. The Com-
mon Ground group in Dallas oper-
ates a credit union, a community
loan fund, a job placement and
employment counselling service
and a 10-unit single room occu-
pancy hotel.
Community land trusts and mu-
tual housing associations are both
doing essentially the same thing.
So why the different names?
The major difference between the
two organizational forms lies in the
percentage of residents included in
the board of directors. The "pure"
CLT model calls for the board of di-
rectors to include only one-third
residents so that the interests of
residents will not take precedence
over the concerns of the broader
community.
The "pure" MHA model provides
99-year leases but not ownership
interests (shares and deeds) to resi-
dents and, therefore, does not al-
low residents to build equity. Resi-
dents who depart are simply reim-
bursed for the entry fee they paid
plus accumulated interest.
Many MHAs and CLTs across
the country have deviated from
these "pure" models, adapting them
to fit their particular situation.
Experts say groups wishing to form
a CL T or an MHA should examine a
variety of examples of both organi-
zations and choose whichever fits
their needs. 0 Debra Bechtel
currently lived in; two others are
nearly ready for tenants and the rest
are in the midst of rehabilitation.
Those working with RAIN are
optimistic about the future. Howard
Brandstein, a project consultant for
LESCAC, says, "The buildings in
RAIN will operate more efficiently
than they would as unaligned coop-
eratives, and with its membership,
RAIN is inherently a political or-
ganization, and therefore, has a bet-
ter chance of withstanding the on-
slaught of development and internal
gentrification. "
Frances Goldin, a member of the
local community board and a long-
time housing activist, adds, "RAIN
establishes a precedent-it's a way
to guarantee that low income hous-
ing created by homesteaders remains
that way. I trust that they will stick
to this principle because they are the
grassroots in the truest sense: work-
ing class, homegrown residents of
the Lower East Side. And they built
this with their own hands." 0
Debra Bechtel is a lawyer involved in
private practice who specializes in
community development projects.
April 1989 CITY LIMITS 19
IF YOU LIVED. HERE ..
Thru June 17
a series of exhibitions and panels on housing,
homelessness, and city planning, bringing together
activists, artists, community groups,tenant organizations,
poets, academics, critics, journalists, and everyone else!
Exhibitions 77 Wooster Street (between Spring and Broome)
Tuesday - Saturday, 12-6 pm
HOMELESS: The Street and Other Venues April 1 - 29
CITY: Visions and Revisions May 1 3 - June 17
There is a full video schedule during each exhibition
Film screenings: April 18, May 23 at 6:30 pm
Poetry reading: April 17
Open Discussions 155 Mercer Street (between Houston and Prince)
All discussions at 6:30 pm
Invited speakers will make brief presentations, and then the floor will be open to all
HOMELESSNESS: Conditions, Causes, Cures Wed., April 26
PLANNING: Power, Politics, People Tues. , May 16
please come prepared to speak on the issues
Admission is free for all events
For Information: 212/431-9232
organized by Martha Rosier sponsored by the Dia Art Foundation
Competitively Priced Insurance
LET us DO A FREE EVAWATION OF
YOUR INSURANCE NEEDS
have been providing low-cost insurance programs and quality service
for HDFC's, TENANTS, COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT and other NONPROFIT
organizations for the past 10 years.
Our Coverages Include: .
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SPECIAL BUILDING PACKAGES
"Liberal Payment Terms"

306 FIFTH AVE.
NEW YORK, N.V. 10001
(212) 279-8300
Ask for: Bala Ramanathan
20 CITY LIMITS April 1989
PIPELINE
The Longest
Wait
BY LISA GLAZER
KAY WILSON SITS IN THE WAIT-
ing room of the New York City Hous-
ing Authority, fretting as she fills in
the forms for public housing. "I share
a one-room apartment with my 13-
year-old son. Now I'm pregnant, so
I need more space. I can't even fit a
crib in that apartment," she says.
Like hundreds of thousands of
fellow New Yorkers, Wilson is now
on the housing authority's waiting
list. How long she, and other city
residents, spend on the list is almost
a matter of modern folklore. Stories
about individuals who have waited
decades, even a lifetime, before re-
ceiving public housing abound. And
unlike the tales of mythological alli-
gators in New York City sewers, these
accounts are usually true.
According to Ray Henson, the
housing authority's chief of research,
there are 179,000 apartments in 318
housing projects. About four percent
of these apartments-approximately
7,500 annually-become available.
Henson says the average wait for an
apartment is 18 years. "There's a
short supply and a lot of people who
need it," he says.
Created in 1935 during the New
Deal era, the New York City Housing
Authority is now the largest public
housing authority in the nation.
Demand for apartments has swelled,
peaking at 200,000 applicant house-
holds in 1986. Since then, the num-
bers have dropped slightly. "The
need hasn't declined-we think
people are just starting to give up,"
says Herbert Hamburg, director of
the department of housing applica-
tions. "They know about the wait
and they know there isn't any more
construction in the pipeline."
Contrary to popular belief, the
waiting list is not a single, gargan-
tuan document-in fact, it is many
different lists and sub-lists. Almost
100,000 of the applicants are waiting
for housing authority apartments,
while 80,000 are trying to get into
federally subsidized Section 8 hous-
ing.
Here's how
the system
works for
people trying
to get a hous-
ing authority
apartment: a
family fills
out an appli-
cation noting
how many
bedrooms
they require,
which bor-
ough they
prefer to live in, their housing situ-
ation and income.
Sorted
At this early stage, applications
are sorted into two streams-regular
or emergency. According to Henson,
about 10 percent of the applications
get emergency classification, and are
housed within six months. To qual-
ify for emergency status, applicants
have traditionally had to be burnt
out of their homes, disabled or seri-
ousl y ill. Last year, new federal
guidelines granted emergency status
to the homeless and victims of
domestic violence. Previously, about
one-fifth of the 7,500 apartments that
became available each year were set
aside for emergency applicants. Now
that percentage has increased, to more
than one-third ofthe available apart-
ments, according to Hamburg.
The regular applicants are placed
on a separate list until they are called
for an interview. Depending on their
needs, the wait for an interview can
be anywhere from six months to in-
finity. "If you say you want a two-
bedroom apartment and you'll go to
any borough, you might get called in
for an interview in six months or a
year or two," says Hamburg. "If you
need a four-bedroom apartment and
you'll only go to a project on the
Upper West Side, you may never get
called."
At the interview, applicants must
show a bevy of documents proving
family size and income. Providing
they bring all the information, and
do not exceed permissible income
levels, they are asked to choose a
single housing project where they
want to live. (Applicants are given
information about ~ o w long the lists
are for each different project. Troub-
led projects, with a high turnover
rate, are much easier to get into than
projects with a more stable popula-
tion.)
Once a choice is made, the appli-
cation form is sent to the specific
project, where it is entered on an-
other list, which branches out like a
tree, with separate "branches" for
two-, three- and four-bedroom apart-
ments, as well as different "limbs"
with apartments set aside for the
elderly or the handicapped. The
housing authority also tries to mix
income levels within each project,
but Henson says that at the moment
new tenants are overwhelmingly
those with very low incomes. "That's
where the need is greatest," says
Henson.
The city's plan to shut the welfare
hotels is also having some impact on
the waiting list. A total of 1,800
apartments-one percent of the
housing authority's stock-is being
set aside this year and next year to
house the welfare hotel families.
Some advocates say that this pol-
icy unwittingly pits the homeless
against the working poor. "By giving
the homeless in these hotels a high
priority, you have the homeless
moving ahead of the nonhomeless.
It certainly slows down the chances
for others on the waiting list," ad-
mits Hamburg.
Without federal support for new
construction, the outlook remains
bleak for regular and emergency
applicants. "We're about the only
game in town for decent, affordable
housing for marginal and low in-
come people," says Hamburg. "But
that's not really a priority of the
(Bush) administration." 0
April 1989 CITY LIMITS 21
REVIEWS
Neighborhoods Rising
Gratz also misses on some of the
grittier issues of ownership and
control of the revitalized buildings,
never explaining how privately fi-
nanced projects will stay perma-
nently affordable and habitable for
lower income residents. And she
also tiptoes around the issues of
power and class. Still, just when your
convinced she's never going to get
tough with the entrenched powers,
she writes that community-based
development "removes the lion's
share of control and profits from the
traditional power networks-real-
tors, developers, construction-trade
unions, bankers, insurance brokers.
It thus removes a powerful support
of the political structure dependent
on the campaign contributions of
these 1 ucrati ve sources."
BY DOUG TURETSKY
"The Living City, " by Roberta Bran-
des Gratz, Simon &' Schuster, 1989,
414 pages, $21.95.
FROM THE DECIMATED STREETS
of the South Bronx to the rise of the
ubiquitous Marriott Marquis Hotel
in midtown, "The Living City" cele-
brates the efforts (not always suc-
cessful) of individuals and commu-
nity groups against intransigent
government bureaucracies and de-
velopers driven by greed. These are
tales not just of local attempts to
block huge development projects but
of grassroots efforts to revitalize
neighborhoods building-by-building
and without displacing residents.
Many City Limits readers will see
themselves in this book-literally
and figuratively. Roberta Brandes
Gratz, a former New York Post hous-
ing and development reporter, finds
her heroes among such people as the
founders of the Banana Kelly Com-
munity Improvement Association
and the "advocacy planners" at Pratt
Institute Center for Community and
Environmental Development.
While charting mega-development
projects throughout the country,
Gratz notes that a common feature
of such urban renewal schemes is
the depopulation of the neighbor-
hood either through condemnation
and bulldozing or the government-
sponsored form of redlining known
as planned shrinkage (which even-
tually heralds a bulldozer as well).
In either case the name of the game
is the same: get the poor out and
renew with a massive development
project.
Thrusting huge development proj-
ects into a neighborhood rarely, if
ever, has the effects promised by
developers and their civic boosters.
Gratz details a number of projects
promoted by "expert" planners and
big-time developers. Many of these
projects, benefitting from public
dollars and the supposed expertise
ofthese development pros, also have
mammoth cost overruns. Co-op City,
for example, has required hundreds
of millions of dollars in ongoing
public support. And instead of spark-
ing renewal in the Bronx, it acceler-
ated the demise of the Grand Con-
course and the South Bronx.
While these experts have their
plans quickly embraced by public
officials, community-generated plans
languish in government bureaucra-
cies. Gratz provides ample illustra-
tions of small, grassroots efforts that
have beat the odds of government
obstinacy and revitalized communi-
ties without disrupting the social
fabric or displacing low income resi-
dents. These efforts are part of an
ongoing, organic process Gratz calls
"urban husbandry." "The vision for
a place should come from the com-
munityup, not from City Hall down,"
Gratz declares.
But Gratz rarely moves beyond
this 'democracy factor.' At times she
seems to suffer from a 'house tour'
vision of a revi talized neighborhood.
How come a seasoned reporter can't
figure out a Chinatown building has
its windows blackened because it's a
sweatshop? And her sanitized ver-
sion of Father Louis Gigante's hous-
ing deals seems particularly inap-
propriate given recent revelations in
the Village Voice.
UWasn't that my
planet once?"
It still is.
The book excels when Gratz is
describing the determination of
residents struggling to save their com-
munities. And the book is equally
strong in its recounting of how de-
velopment projects are often foisted
on the public in the guise of eco-
nomic development or a salve to
urban blight. "The Living City"
should be 'must reading' for all those
experts down at City Hall plotting
the redevelopment of New York's
neighborhoods. 0
And for only 4 a day, you can find a job helping it! Each month Community
Jobs lists hundreds of positions available in socially responsibleorganizations
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22 CITY LIMITS April 1989
LETIERS
Perfect Timing
To the Editor:
I'd like to commend you on the
January 1989 issue of City Limits
and its coverage of New York City's
water supply. Your timing was per-
fect as new water restrictions will
undoubtedly be required with the
most recent drought alert.
Lenore Chester
Associate Director
Citizens Union of the City of
New York
Ridiculous
To the Editor:
For the most part, Lisa Glazer's
piece on the proposed Mitchell-Lama
regulation changes ("Sacred Space,"
February 1989) is accurate, but I
would like to respond to a few points.
First is the contention raised by
Mitchell-Lama Resident's Coalition
head Robert Woolis that the only
reason I am considering these rules
changes is because Manhattan Bor-
ough President Dinkins lives in a
(supposedly) too-large apartment.
That has got to be one of the most
ridiculous things I have ever read,
and I am sure that even the borough
president would agree.
The facts are, as we have stated,
there are a large number of three- and
four-bedroom apartments occupied
by only one or two people. To refuse
access to deserving families who truly
need the space and who may have
been on waiting lists for years is
simply not fair.
Politics play no part in this, and
frankly, the policy was agreed upon
before we knew David Dinkins could
be effected.
It is obviously not our intention to
victimize anyone, but it is our duty
to ensure that as many eligible fami-
lies as possible are allowed to take
advantage of the city's supply of
subsidized housing. Our 153 Mitch-
ell-Lama developments are a valu-
able resource, and one that should
continue to be used to its fullest
potential.
Abraham Biderman
Commissioner
NYC Department of Housing
Preservation and Development
Editor'S note: City Limits wel-
comes letters from our readers.
But we ask that you try to keep
your letters to 300 words in length.
A NEW APPROACH
TO BUILDING MANAGEMENT
TURF COMPANIES is offering its management and development services
to low income housing cooperatives, community organizations and coop-
erative boards of directors.
Our experienced and sensitive staff is committed to the creation and
maintenance of affordable and decent low income housing. We specialize
in responding to government issued requests for proposals, developing
management, plans for tenant associations and housing co-ops, dealing
with city bureaucracies and in general "being part of the solution" rather
than the problem.
We concentrate primarily in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Please contact John Touhey at 212/505-7156
TURF COMPANIES
297 East 10th Street
New York, NY 10009
WORKSHOP
ATTORNEY/HOUSING UNIT. For Brooklyn Legal Services Corp.
A to specialize in tenant representation. Admission to NY bar with
exp is preferred. Spanish language ability desirable. A TTORNEY/
GOVERNMENT BENEFITS UNIT. BLS also seeks attorney to do
Social Security & Supplemental Security Insurance. Responsible
for representation & counseli ng. Duties include interviewing cl ients,
drafting legal documents, client rep in federal court & at admin-
istrative hearings & participating in community legal education
programs. Admission to bar & Spanish skills preferred. Salary for
both positions pursuant to union contract. Brooklyn "A" is EOE.
Minorities, women, handicapped encouraged to apply. Resumes:
Paul J. Acinapura, Brooklyn Legal Services Corp A, 80 Jamaica
Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11207.
CHAIRPERSON, GRADUATE CITY & REGIONAL PLANNING.
Pratt Institute seeks energetic, committed individual with exp in
academic admin & teaching to oversee its progressive educational
curricula, & help plan, develop & guide new program initiatives.
Chairperson will coordinate program with other programs offered
by school & Pratt Insitute's Center for Community & Environmental
Devlpt; & will direct & actively participate in Studio teaching. At
least 7 yrs exp, working knowledge of community devlpt & urban
design& planning & a MSCP degree required. Doctorate
preferred. Salary commensurate with qualifications. Exc benefits
provided. Review of resumes begins immed & accepted until po-
sition filled. Submit applications: Personnel Dept. CLGA, Pratt
Institute, 200 Willoughby Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11205. AAlEOE.
N.Y.C.
AMERICANS FOR
DEMOCRATIC ACTION
presents
A Public Forum
THE EDUCATION CRISIS
IN N.Y.C.
Moderator:
Panelists:
Evelyn Rich
David Dinkins
Harrison Goldin
Frank Macchiarola
Deborah Meier
Date: Monday, April 10, 1989
Time: 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Place: Ethical Culture Society
2 West 64th Street
.
April 1989 CITY UMITS 23
EDITOR. Assoc for Neighborhood & Housing Devlpt seeks pIt
freelancer to produce Weekly Reader on a weekly schedule, 48
times/yr. Select & prepare calendar listings & job notices as well as
materials for cover & inside pp of 12-page newsletter. Work closely
with ANHD staff. Coordinate outreach and subscription renewals.
Requirements: Knowledge of housing issues, housing justice &
community devlpt. Interest & ability in design & prod of printed
materials & att to detail. Knowledge of Mac computers desirable,
willing to train. Salary: $250/wk, 15-20 hrs. Resume: Oda Fried-
heim, ANHD, 236 W. 27th St, NYC 10001 .
COMMUNITY ORGANIZER. Project representing tenants in SRO
hotels & rooming houses seeks organizer for extensive field work,
advise tenants of rights, develop tenants' assoc, community
outreach on SRO issues. Requires assertive, exp person, able to
deal with all types of people, writes well & has knowledge of
housing laws & regs. Salary pursuant to collective bargaining
agreement. Resume: Anne R. Teicher, MFY Legal Services, Inc,
223 Grand St, NYC 10013.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR. Nonprofit, community-based org seeks
individual with proven admin & fiscal mgmt skills. Must be
familiar with city & state funded programs. Exp or knowledge of
housing devlpt, community organizing & funding sources essen-
tial. Good communication skills required. Local residents pre-
ferred. Salary negotiable. Resumes by April 15: Search Commit-
tee, Pratt Area Community Council, 201 DeKalb Ave, Brooklyn,
NY 11205.
American Red Cross
AT HELP 1
Temporary Housing Facility
For Families With Children
East New York, Brooklyn
Has an Immediate Opening for
HOUSING RELOCATION SPECIALIST
This individual helps families to relocate to perma-
nent housing. Will identify low income housing
vacancies, prepare families for tenancy, and con-
duct housing workshops. Experience in housing
community organizing for outreach nee; sales help-
ful. BA Social Work required. Salary $21,745.
We provide excellent benefits including dental, long
term disability, retirement...just to name a few.
Send resumes to:
Bernard Gold
AMERICAN RED CROSS / AT HELP 1
515 Blake Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11207
Equal Opportunity Employer, mlf/h
ADDRESSING OFF-SITE DISPlACEMENT:
THE DISPlACEMENT IMPACfS OF MAJOR DEVELOPMENT
PROJECTS ON NEIGHBORING RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITIES
A one day conference focusing on:
litigation strategies
research! analytic approaches
future policy directions
FRIDAY MAY5, 1989
SPONSORED BY
THE COMMUNITY SERVICE SOCIETY OF NEW YORK
For information call or write:
Vic Bach, Community Service Society
105 E. 22 St., New York, N.Y. 10010. (212) 614-5492