Photo Courtesy of Edwin Torres/Mayoral Photography Office
Mayor de Blasio made the cluster site announcement at the Banana Kelly Resident Council in the Bronx.
By Michael V. Cusenza
Arguably the most formidable albatross of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s first four years in office, the homeless crisis shows no signs of slowing in Hizzoner’s second term.
In what de Blasio characterized this week as “an historic move” to address the dilemma, the City will help not-for-profit developers acquire and rehabilitate residential “cluster site” buildings, currently used to house homeless families, and convert them into permanent affordable housing.
And if negotiations to buy cluster sites are not successful, the City will use eminent domain to acquire the properties, de Blasio declared on Tuesday.
“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,” the mayor said. “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.”
In February, de Blasio unveiled “Turning the Tide on Homelessness, Neighborhood by Neighborhood,” the administration’s 114-page vision to tackle the crisis. One of the three strategies outlined in the borough-based plan called for completely eliminating the use of cluster apartment units – a practice the City has relied on over the past 17 years – by the end of 2021, and commercial hotel facilities by the end of 2023. The ambitious arrangement also commits to reducing the current number of shelter sites by 45 percent; and keeping homeless New Yorkers closer to their communities and supports that they need.
To achieve the goals set in “Turning the Tide…” the City said it has to shutter cluster sites through “negotiated resolution or use of eminent domain.” The administration noted that it is financing the acquisition of cluster buildings by locally-based nonprofit developers, who will rehabilitate them working with the City 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.
According to the administration, during the transition, the cluster apartments will continue to be operated as shelter for New Yorkers experiencing homelessness, with funding and services provided by the City Department of Homeless Services. Homeless families residing at these locations that are prepared for housing permanency at the point of transition to nonprofit ownership will be offered the opportunity to remain as tenants with a new rent-stabilized lease if they wish to remain in the building, officials noted. 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.
