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Speaker 1: Welcome to Get Connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly

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Speaker 1: conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on

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Speaker 1: one zero six point seven Light FM.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to get connected. Thanks for listening. The affordable housing

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Speaker 2: crisis in New York. It's about more than the price

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Speaker 2: of rent. How did we get here, What is happening

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Speaker 2: in housing right now? And what are some novel ways

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Speaker 2: that nonprofit developers are trying to close the gap. My

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Speaker 2: guest is Michelle de Lauze, executive director a Fifth Avenue Committee,

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Speaker 2: a Brooklyn based development nonprofit serving thousands of low and

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Speaker 2: moderate income New Yorkers each year. Michelle de Lauze, thank

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Speaker 2: you for being on the show.

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Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me.

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Speaker 2: Michelle Delouze brings more than twenty five years of public

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Speaker 2: and community service experience and has held prominent civic leadership roles,

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Speaker 2: including service on the New York City Planning Commission and

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Speaker 2: appointment to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Community

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Speaker 2: Advisory Group. You can find out more about the organization

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Speaker 2: at Fifth Avenue dot org. And Michelle, as I mentioned

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Speaker 2: right before we started recording, you were last on the

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Speaker 2: show ten years ago. It seems quite a while ago

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Speaker 2: in plain English. What does the Fifth Avenue Committee do?

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Speaker 2: Let's reintroduce you to our audience.

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Speaker 3: Great, thanks again for having me. So Fifth Avenue Committee

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Speaker 3: has been around from forty eight years. We're based in Brooklyn,

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Speaker 3: and we serve over seven thousand low and moderate income

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Speaker 3: New Yorkers every year. Our mission is to advance economic, social,

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Speaker 3: and racial justice and we do that in many different ways,

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Speaker 3: including building and managing affordable housing, training people and placing

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Speaker 3: them into living wage jobs, organizing people around their rights,

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Speaker 3: and many other services.

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Speaker 2: So what is a development nonprofit?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so, the commune development corporations are a concept that

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Speaker 3: came out of you know, the last century, the twentieth century,

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Speaker 3: and really the concept is that in order to address

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Speaker 3: our societies some of our society's most pressing issues, we

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Speaker 3: really need to have the public sector, the nonprofit sector,

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Speaker 3: and the private sector working together to solve those problems.

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Speaker 3: So as a community development corporation, that's what we do.

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Speaker 3: We really partner with the public sector and the private

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Speaker 3: sector to to build the affordable housing, to help people

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Speaker 3: get into living wage jobs, and so forth and so on.

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Speaker 3: And yeah, there there are you know, the first CDC

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Speaker 3: in the country started here in New York City and

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Speaker 3: there are thousands across the country.

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Speaker 2: How large is the role of nonprofit developers in New

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Speaker 2: York City? And you know what kind of role do

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Speaker 2: they play in housing here?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? So so nonprofits have created you know, either created

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Speaker 3: our own you know, tens of thousands, if not hundreds

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Speaker 3: of thousands of the affordable housing units that exist in

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Speaker 3: New York City. There are for profit developers who do

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Speaker 3: what we do. I think what makes us unique is

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Speaker 3: that one we really think about the needs holistically. We're

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Speaker 3: not just building the building, we're serving the tenants. We're

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Speaker 3: thinking about the community in which we're building in. We're

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Speaker 3: thinking about the whole community, you know, off for Fifth

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Speaker 3: Avenue Committee, we're really thinking about change at the individual,

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Speaker 3: community and systems levels simultaneously. We want to impact policy,

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Speaker 3: we want to build great projects. We want to help

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Speaker 3: people have the skills needed to advance their lives and

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Speaker 3: reach you know, reach their goals.

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Speaker 2: So when you talk about helping the community, are you

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Speaker 2: talking about support of housing and childcare? What kind of

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Speaker 2: things are you talking about benefit renters and buyers?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, just to give you a sense of that. So,

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Speaker 3: so you know, a few years ago Fifth Avenue Committee

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Speaker 3: built and opened New York City's first one affordable housing

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Speaker 3: project over a new and expanded public libraries in Sunset Park.

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Speaker 3: That model has already been replicated in Inwood and It's

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Speaker 3: the city is now doing new RFPs in the Bronx

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Speaker 3: and soon in Brooklyn. You know, another project we completed

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Speaker 3: in Sunset Park in the last two years combines one

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Speaker 3: affordable senior housing with universal pre K classrooms for ninety kids.

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Speaker 3: So those are some examples.

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Speaker 2: So to just put a couple of numbers on the

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Speaker 2: housing crisis in the city. Sure, According to the Coalition

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Speaker 2: for the Homeless, which is an organization that supports homeless

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Speaker 2: individuals and families in the city, the number or the

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Speaker 2: rate of homelessness is at its highest level since the

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Speaker 2: Great Depression of the nineteen thirties. Their estimate from last

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Speaker 2: August was about three hundred and fifty thousand New Yorkers

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Speaker 2: were likely to have been without homes that month. This

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Speaker 2: is in the lowest economic group. There are lots of

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Speaker 2: threads that contribute to the issue, But what would you

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Speaker 2: say are the biggest factors that has made this issue

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Speaker 2: so much more intractable in recent years.

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Speaker 3: I mean a couple different things have made it intractable. So,

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Speaker 3: you know, the vacancy rate in New York City is

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Speaker 3: the most recent study put it to one point four

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Speaker 3: percent for all housing, and then for you know, apartments

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Speaker 3: with rents below a certain number, it was less than

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Speaker 3: one percent. So there's literally there is no vacancy for apartments.

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Speaker 3: And then, of course wages haven't kept up with the

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Speaker 3: cost of rent, and so people, an increasing number of

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Speaker 3: people are rent burdened, paying a higher and higher percent

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Speaker 3: of their income towards housing costs, and anything above thirty

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Speaker 3: percent of your income is considered rent burdened. So it's

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Speaker 3: a combination of those things, basically inflation and lack of vacancy,

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Speaker 3: and there's just there's just not enough of the affordable

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Speaker 3: housing at the right rents for the people that need it.

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Speaker 2: And when you talk to families in your community, when

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Speaker 2: you put a face on some of these problems, what

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Speaker 2: are you hearing most about? The rent? That displacement and

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Speaker 2: the stability.

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Speaker 3: And then people are just feeling squeezed from all levels

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Speaker 3: and they're they're like, the fear, the anxiety is palpable.

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Speaker 3: We all so help fill vacancies and affordable housing, not

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Speaker 3: just in for our own properties, but for for profit

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Speaker 3: developers who have affordable units. And we just completed a

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Speaker 3: project in Fifth Avenue at one twenty fifth Avenue in

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Speaker 3: Park Slope. Here, over one hundred thousand people applied for

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Speaker 3: forty five apartments. Right. Each one of those is a

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Speaker 3: unique story about the number of times that they've applied,

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Speaker 3: about you know, the homelessness that they are facing, or

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Speaker 3: are you know, a shelter they're currently in, whatever their

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Speaker 3: family story is about how they've been trying to keep

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Speaker 3: up with costs and been able to do so. So

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Speaker 3: it's it's pretty heart wrenching, which is why it's so

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Speaker 3: important to like do something about it on multiple levels.

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Speaker 2: In Fifth Avenue Committee, you do have some good news

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Speaker 2: a little bit, so let's talk about that in a moment.

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Speaker 2: Speaking with Michelle de Luz, she is executive director of

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Speaker 2: Fifth Avenue Committee, we're talking about how nonprofits, this one

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Speaker 2: in particular, are innovating to make affordable housing work in

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Speaker 2: New York. The website Fiftha dot org. You're listening to

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Speaker 2: get connected on one six point seven light FM Amina

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Speaker 2: del Rio. There have been so many schemes over the

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Speaker 2: years designed to meet housing supply demand. They have not

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Speaker 2: met their targets. Why is it so hard to move

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Speaker 2: from plan to shovel in the ground.

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Speaker 3: There's a couple of different reasons. One is that the

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Speaker 3: amount of public financing and or subsidy has not been

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Speaker 3: at the scale needed to address the demand or the need.

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Speaker 3: So that's one really large reason, just to give you

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Speaker 3: like a small for instance, right, only one in four

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Speaker 3: people who are eligible for Section eight receive Section eight

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Speaker 3: in this country, right, So three quarters of the people

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Speaker 3: who are eligible for rental subsidy don't get it, right,

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Speaker 3: And if they had that rental subscitdy, they'd be able

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Speaker 3: to take that voucher and go on the private market

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Speaker 3: and access that apartment. But our federal government hasn't risen

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Speaker 3: to the challenge to invest in that level, and instead,

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Speaker 3: you know, they're thinking of doing the opposite of making

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Speaker 3: those investments. Meanwhile, the City of New York has created

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Speaker 3: a new program to try to fill the gap, at

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Speaker 3: least for some families. It's called City SEPs. Right, So

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Speaker 3: part of it is like, we need investment at the

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Speaker 3: scale of the problem to solve the problem. So that's

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Speaker 3: a really big reason why. And then quite honestly, to

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Speaker 3: a lot of it is about change in neighborhoods and

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Speaker 3: people have to be open to that change to make

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Speaker 3: room for new people.

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Speaker 2: Essentially, one of the projects that you're currently working on

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Speaker 2: to sort of bridge that gap is the Revolving Match Fund.

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Speaker 2: What is that in plain English? You know?

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Speaker 3: For them in a committee, we launched a campaign called

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Speaker 3: two thousand Brooklyn Homes to build and preserve two thousand

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Speaker 3: affordable homes for New Yorkers over the next few years.

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Speaker 3: And we're partnering with FJC Philanthropy and they have a

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Speaker 3: one million dollar commitment from Deutsche Bank where they they

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Speaker 3: basically make a two for one match available. They'll basically

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Speaker 3: lend US two hundred thousand dollars for one hundred thousand

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Speaker 3: dollars that we raise from private individuals. And that's important

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Speaker 3: because that's a it's a discounted interest rate basically that

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Speaker 3: we're paying, which is really critical because if you're paying

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Speaker 3: market rate interest rates, then it makes it harder to

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Speaker 3: actually make the projects affordable. So every single time you

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Speaker 3: have money come into an affordable housing project, you want

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Speaker 3: it to be you know, basically as low cost as possible,

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Speaker 3: so you can pass those savings on and make the

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Speaker 3: project more affordable to you know, working class New Yorkers

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Speaker 3: rather than you know, middle class New Yorkers.

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Speaker 2: Let's say there's also sort of a catch twenty two

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Speaker 2: in a sense I understand for nonprofits, pre development dollars

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Speaker 2: are harder to acquire for nonprofits. Can you explain that?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, basically, you know, it's a question of like,

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Speaker 3: who's who's going to be the first money into a project, right,

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Speaker 3: somebody always wants to have somebody else to go first.

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Speaker 3: And the pre development dollars they pay for the architect,

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Speaker 3: they pay for your engineer, they pay for your attorney.

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Speaker 3: You know, that early stage money that helps the project

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Speaker 3: move from idea to reality. And sometimes your lenders want

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Speaker 3: to see a little more reality and a little less idea,

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Speaker 3: but it takes money to go from idea to reality.

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Speaker 3: And the pre development funding it's you know, it's some

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Speaker 3: it's you know, funding that you borrow that gets repaid

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Speaker 3: when you move into construction finance when you're actually in

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Speaker 3: construction on the project, and so it's it's really important

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Speaker 3: piece of the puzzle of making the overall project a reality.

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Speaker 2: So the part of the project, it's this revolving idea.

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Speaker 2: How do the dollars come back and get recycled for

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Speaker 2: the next project.

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Speaker 3: So, for instance, our pipeline of two thousand units, it's

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Speaker 3: twenty one different projects, right, So from with the FJC

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Speaker 3: revolving Fund, that two hundred thousand dollars, let's say we

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Speaker 3: use two undred thousand of it for our first two projects.

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Speaker 3: We pay it off once we get into construction, and

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Speaker 3: then we can move to our next project that's in

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Speaker 3: pre development and reborrow it essentially so that we can

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Speaker 3: move that project along. And that's really critical that it's

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Speaker 3: available to do that.

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Speaker 2: And as you mentioned, the funding comes the rotovators from

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Speaker 2: Deutsche Bank. They're always in it, I mean banks, they're

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Speaker 2: in it for the money. What is in it for

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Speaker 2: Deutsche Bank that would keep this thing going and keep

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Speaker 2: this spreading to other nonprofits and increasing the time.

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Speaker 3: Well, but of course, besides like their alignment and you

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Speaker 3: know commitment to you know, building housing banks. You know,

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Speaker 3: more than fifty years ago, we passed the Community Reinvestment

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Speaker 3: Act and that basically came out of the twentieth century

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Speaker 3: civil rights movement and it was really a way to

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Speaker 3: have depository banks when they when they have deposits in

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Speaker 3: communities to require them to invest in low and modern

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Speaker 3: income communities and programs, and afford housing is one of

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Speaker 3: those ways that they do that.

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Speaker 2: So this two thousand homes goal, what kind of homes

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Speaker 2: are you building as and who would be who would

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Speaker 2: they be available for? And what is the timeline and location?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so they're they're they're all in Brooklyn. All two

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Speaker 3: thousands of these homes happened to be in Brooklyn. They

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Speaker 3: are a range, so they are affordable rental projects. There

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Speaker 3: is affordable senior projects. There are supportive housing, which is

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Speaker 3: housing with on site social services for formerly homeless individuals

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Speaker 3: with special needs and combined with folks that are low income.

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Speaker 3: We have an affordable home ownership project. So it's it's

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Speaker 3: a real range. Nine hundred and fifty five of the

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Speaker 3: units are in Gowanis and are part of the Gowannas

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Speaker 3: Green project that was approved as part of the twenty

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Speaker 3: twenty one neighborhood rezoning. We have projects in Sunset Park,

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Speaker 3: borham Hill Park Slope, Brownsville, really.

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Speaker 2: Really all Brooklyn And how can listeners support affordable housing

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Speaker 2: in their neighborhoods or you know, get more involved in

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Speaker 2: this well.

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Speaker 3: I would say there's a nonprofit organization called the Association

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Speaker 3: for Neighborhood in Housing Development a n HD, and they're

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Speaker 3: basically the trade association of all the nonprofit CDCs in

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Speaker 3: the city and those of us that care deeply about

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Speaker 3: affordable housing policy. And I would say they could they

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Speaker 3: could get go to their website a NHD dot org

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Speaker 3: to learn more about Fifth Avenue Committee and other member organizations,

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Speaker 3: including other CDCs in their communities. I think that's that's

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Speaker 3: an important way to learn more about the like the ecosystem,

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Speaker 3: if you will.

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Speaker 2: And what is something you would want listeners to remember

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Speaker 2: from this conversation.

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Speaker 3: I'd want them to remember that the affordable housing crisis

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Speaker 3: is solvable, and it's solvable with political will and investment

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Speaker 3: at scale.

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Speaker 2: My guest is Michelle Delah's, executive director of Fifth Avenue Committee.

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Speaker 2: You can find out more about affordable housing and the

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Speaker 2: work they are doing at fifthav dot org. Thank you

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Speaker 2: for being on to get connected.

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Speaker 3: Thank you appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: This has been Get connected with Nina del Rio on

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