Latest: New HPD Commissioner, Jan 31st HPD mtg, call City Council now! + more!

Hello again to our fellow HDFC shareholders Citywide! The HDFC Coalition is working non-stop to expand our organizing of HDFC shareholders all over NYC. But we still need your help to keep the pressure on HPD & the City so we can win our fight for the right keep control of our own buildings, keep them financially viable, preserve the equity in our apts that we have created through years of hard work and struggle, and preserve our right of self-determination, as we know what works best for our co-ops, we own our buildings and we have property rights, and we will not be pushed down the road towards becoming public housing! The City Council, the Mayor's office & HPD are beginning to hear us, but we need to keep the pressure on right now to help ensure that the Speaker of the City Council, Melissa Mark-Viverito, does not allow a vote on an expected omnibus tax resolution that would take away our D.A.M.P tax abatement (which is supposed to run until 2029) and change it so we would only get a tax abatement if we give up control of our buildings to a monitor appointed by the City that we would have to pay for! (By the way, did you know that "regular" co-ops and condos get a tax abatement that HDFCs aren't allowed to get, and they don't have to sign anything at all or give up control of their buildings? See it here http://on.nyc.gov/1cgaNA1 ) If that doesn't make you fighting mad, we don't know what will! We are asking everyone, everyone, everyone (yep, that means you!) to make phone calls NOW (starting Monday) to the following elected officials: Melissa Mark-Viverito, Speaker, NYC Council: 212-788-7210 Jumaane Williams, Housing Chair, NYC Council: 212-788-6859 Richie Torres, Council Member 212-788-6966 Marco A. Carrión, Commissioner, Mayor's Community Affairs Unit: 212-788-7418 & don't forget your local Council Member (find them here http://council.nyc.gov/districts/ !) Even if you've already sent a letter or called, call again! We want to be sure that this bill is not introduced and voted on! Don't be shy, tell them loud and clear any or all of the following: 1. Don't even think about revoking or altering our D.A.M.P. tax abatement, let it run until 2029 as it was written and is supposed to! 2. Don't even think about touching the value of our apartments! We took on abandoned buildings discarded by landlords and then off-loaded in terrible condition by the City, and we rebuilt our homes, our blocks, our schools and our communities, and we revitalized whole areas of NYC that have now risen in value, and the City is reaping the benefits through much higher real estate tax revenue from the surrounding areas. The City wouldn't attack the property values of single-family homes in Queens, or of brownstones in Brooklyn, and certainly not of a developer's property, so HANDS OFF OUR HDFCs...they belong to us not to the City! 3. These proposals were made WITHOUT INPUT OR APPROVAL FROM HDFC shareholders and that is completely unacceptable + disrespectful and SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. 4. We are PRIVATELY OWNED housing, NOT PUBLIC HOUSING! 5. We are NOT LOW INCOME HOUSING, we are MIDDLE-INCOME AFFORDABLE HOUSING from 120% to 165% AMI and we have a mix of low, moderate and middle income resident-shareholders, and a mix of incomes is what Mayor de Blasio strongly supports as stated in his press conference on housing Jan 12, 2017 (watch from the 1 hour 7 minute mark here: https://youtu.be/wo8YswR5CtU?t=1h6m59s ) 6. The buildings we got from the City had missing windows, broken boilers, leaky roofs, failing plumbing and electrical systems, non-working elevators & we are still repairing them, using the money from sales and flip taxes, so WE ARE PRESERVING AFFORDABLE HOUSING. 7. There is no place else for us to go that we can afford, so we aren't moving & that's why HDFC apartments are rarely up for sale. So, the affordability is OUR MONTHLY COSTS, NOT SALE PRICES. So why would the City be threatening to hit us with full real estate taxes if we don't sign a Regulatory Agreement that takes away our control of our homes and hands it to a "monitor" approved by HPD that we would have to pay for??? The Mayor got 0% increases for rent stabilized apts the last 2 years, so why would jacking up our taxes and forcing us to raise our maintenance be preserving affordability for HDFCs??? 8. The City isn't preserving HDFCs, WE ARE! 9. The concept of our apartments increasing in value (equity) was BUILT INTO THE PROGRAM. The City even came up with the 60/40 program whereby they would take 40% of every sale! They not only endorsed profit on sales, they took it for themselves! Who are they to turn around and point the finger at us?!?! It is NOT progressive policy for the government to steal the only wealth HDFC shareholders have! We are largely immigrants, people of color, low/moderate/middle income people and now, after all these years, elderly. We earned our equity honestly through decades of hard work and sacrifice and we followed the rules of the program and we will never let anyone take it away from us! 10. Tell them YOUR story. Tell them about the decades you and your neighbors spent repairing with your own two hands buildings no one else wanted, battled drug dealers, crooked contractors, non-profit housing groups high on Utopian fantasies who never actually want us to be self-sufficient, and City officials who failed to deliver on their many promises time and again. Next HPD presentation to HDFCs in the Bronx on Jan 31 at 6:30pm Yes, HPD is still trying to sell their awful proposal that nobody wants to sign! Let's make sure we show up and support our Bronx HDFCs who might not be aware of what HPD is actually trying to do! Take the 2 or 5 train to West Farms Square/East Tremont Ave stop just a block away from P.S. 6 located at 1000 E. Tremont Ave, Bronx, NY 10460. More info at www.hdfccoalition.org. New HPD Commissioner! Current Commissioner of HPD Vicki Been is leaving and will be replaced by Maria Torres-Springer. We at the HDFC Coalition hope to work with her on programs that will help, not hurt, HDFCs. We know that if HPD works with us, the shareholders who actually make HDFCs successful, we can help HDFCs thrive and create a win-win. Read the article here: http://bit.ly/2jz3Zop Manhattan Community Board 9 passes resolution in support of HDFCs and against HPD's plan! It happened back in October, but you can read it here: http://bit.ly/2jGTbSO Why not get your neighbors together and go to your local community board and ask that they do the same to protect your HDFC? Find your local community boad here: http://www.nyc.gov/html/cau/html/cb/cb.shtml We had a big turnout of HDFC shareholders recently at a meeting in the Lower East Side organized by Lisa Ramaci. Read about it on our website www.hdfccoalition.org. Please: If you haven't done so, it's a really big help if you take just a few seconds fill out our mailing list form: https://goo.gl/forms/JVQe3QSgEKLpIRVH3 And ask your neighbors to do so, too! Why not be the "Captain" of your HDFC to help organize your building? And to make it easy, we have the full list of HDFCs throughout the City if you can help organize more HDFCs! See: http://bit.ly/2jorlcQ Council Members Corey Johnson & Mark Levine issue letters of support for HDFCs: See them here: http://bit.ly/2jHbcQE and here: http://bit.ly/2kdxQ6H Did you thank them for their support? Recent article: If you haven't read this HDFC article from Brick Underground, it’s here: http://bit.ly/2jorL32 (But how come almost everyone quoted in the article is a member of the same "Task Force on HDFCs" who cooked up this whole god-awful proposal and is now suddenly throwing HPD under the bus, and says that they now oppose it because HPD's idea of price caps are too high?!?!?!) City Council election in Harlem: Inez Dickens has vacated her seat and the special election is set for Valentine's Day, February 14th. Who will best protect HDFCs in Harlem from misguided HPD proposal? Read about candidates http://dnain.fo/2kDjqJT and there is a debate Monday Jan 30 6:30pm at FCBC 1912 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd, New York, NY 10026. More info here: http://bit.ly/2kddfjc Finally: Don't think that someone else will call the politicians or write your letter for you! Your phone calls and letters DO make a difference and YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID! Much more to come! Remember, only YOU can help us win the fight for our right of self-determination and preserve the viability of HDFCs! We hope to see you soon! Best, The HDFC Coalition www.hdfccoalition.org https://www.facebook.com/HDFCCoalition/ https://twitter.com/HDFCCoalition hdfccoalition@gmail.com