University Neighborhood Housing Program, Inc.

Goals of UNHP

• Encourage appropriate private and public investment in Bronx housing and neighborhoods to benefit the many low and moderate income households who call the Bronx home.
• Promote housing and financial stability through the free services offered at the Northwest Bronx Resource Center.
• Maintain the habitability and affordability of UNHP's affordable housing portfolio
• Seek to create and develop new affordable housing.
• Identify and address physically and financially deteriorated multifamily buildings through our Multifamily Assistance Center and its tool, the Building Indicator Project (BIP).
• Collaborate with private, public and non-profit agencies to fulfill our mission and work with neighborhood residents and leaders to enhance our community.

The Multifamily Assistance Center and its tool, the Building Indicator Project (BIP), is a collaborative effort between UNHP, major multifamily lenders, public agencies, owners, and regulators to preserve affordable, quality housing in the Northwest Bronx and other low-income neighborhoods in NYC. Using UNHP's Building Indicator Project (BIP) a scoring database that uses violation, lien and other data, UNHP has been able to work successfully with our partners to improve these distressed properties. The use of the BIP by banks and regulators has grown significantly, there are 47 active lenders using the database as well as the four bank regulators.

Maintain and share with lenders, community groups, bank regulators and public agencies the UNHP BIP database. Meet yearly with major NYC lenders, share research and information about special programs to improve multifamily rental housing.

UNHP researches issues that impact the affordability of multifamily housing and brings together partners to address these issues. Our research and action to bring about a discounted water and sewer program for affordable housing is an example of this work.

The Northwest Bronx Resource Center is a collaborative effort with six other effective nonprofits to provide a wide range of free housing and financial services to our community. UNHP assists 3,000 low-income families and individuals each year with free tax preparation, NYC Rent Freeze, online affordable housing enrollment, eviction, and foreclosure prevention and financial advisement and counseling. UNHP is an HPD Housing Ambassador and an NYC Financial Empowerment site.

Provide resource fairs and outreach events to have direct encounters with neighborhood residents. Organizing other community partners and public agencies to attend, these resource fairs, and outreach events offer on-the-spot assistance and the opportunity for follow-up for Bronx residents. UNHP's Bronxtober Fest is an example of this work - a daylong resource fair featuring close to 100 attendees, 9 nonprofit experts, 4 NYC agencies, workshops and enrollment in Housing Connect and NYC Rent Freeze. Read more on our website www.unhp.org

UNHP is part of the ownership structure of 27 affordable housing properties – home to 1,216 low-income households. Our strategy to maintain affordability and habitability is to provide intensive asset management and field inspection, seek low-cost improvement loans and programs, and reduce operating costs through energy-saving improvements and programs.

UNHP has a small, but skilled and dedicated staff. Our Executive Director is our founding director with over 40 years of experience in community development and organizing. Each department is headed by skilled individuals, some with over 15 years of experience with the organization. UNHP receives graduate student interns from Fordham University's IPED graduate program who work at UNHP for three semesters. These grad students greatly increase our capability at no monetary cost to the organization. UNHP also collaborates with community partners, local colleges, and private institutions to achieve our mission.

Accomplishments
• The UNHP Multifamily Assistance Center and its tool, the Building Indicator Project (BIP) identifies and addresses distressed multifamily buildings in New York City. The BIP is shared with 38 banks, 4 banking regulators, and HPD and 46 community groups, The use of the BIP has aided in the improvement of tens of thousands multifamily rental units in NYC.

• UNHP is a lender and community-based developer. UNHP loan funds were the key components in the preservation, purchase, and renovation of 69 multifamily buildings in the Northwest Bronx. UNHP’s low interest and rehabilitation lending have assisted an additional 2,100 units of affordable housing. UNHP has lent over $5.9M with 127 loans. As a developer, UNHP oversees 27 affordable buildings that provide decent affordable housing to 1,216 families.

• UNHP began in 2000 to incorporate research as a method of advocacy and organizing around issues that impact housing affordability. Two well-attended forums, UNHP’s report “Affordable Water for Affordable Housing”, our long-time advocacy and updated 2017 research played a role in the creation of a $10M water and sewer credit for affordable housing. In 2017, UNHP launched a ten-part online blog series called Views from the Northwest Bronx covering issues affecting the affordability and viability of Northwest Bronx neighborhoods, including changes in community development, Bronx demographics, multifamily housing sales, and the impact of city housing policy and private investment in the borough. In 2018, UNHP organized two forums on the preservation and improvement of the Community Reinvestment Act, one with local Bronx banking research and the second with FDIC Martin J. Gruenberg as the speaker.

• In 2012, UNHP created the Northwest Bronx Resource Center (NWBRC) to address the lack of neighborhood services and the high use of predatory financial products. Over time, the addition of new partners and services at UNHP’s NWBRC has enabled us to provide direct eviction prevention and affordable housing services, in addition to the wide range of financial services already available at the NWBRC. In 2016, the NWBRC became an NYC Financial Empowerment Site and offers free 1:1 financial advisement with a coach from Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners as well as a group financial education 4-session workshop known as Getting Ahead. UNHP partners with NYC Tenant Support Unit to offer twice monthly 1:1 assistance to prevent eviction and UNHP staff meet twice weekly with low-income Bronx residents seeking to freeze their rent or apply for the NYC affordable housing lottery. In April 2017, UNHP was designated an HPD Housing Ambassador by HPD and enrolls Bronxites into the NYC affordable housing lottery. UNHP NWBRC has worked with over 2,800 Bronx residents at Resource Fairs, Outreach events and through the services we provide.