THE CENTER FOR NEW YORK CITY NEIGHBORHOODS, Inc.

The Center for NYC Neighborhoods is a powerful and fast-growing non-profit that promotes and protects thriving communities in New York by supporting affordable homeownership. We at the Center believe that affordable housing is a human right, and that by supporting homeowners we uplift the greater community. In light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, we are working closely with neighborhoods to build equitable recovery. We believe families deserve dignified housing that's affordable, resilient, and sustainable in light of both economic crises and climate change. Our long-term goal is to give homeowners the tools to build intergenerational wealth. That’s why we work every day to keep New Yorkers from losing their homes to foreclosure and other threats.

Affordable homeownership is the building block of New York City’s neighborhoods, and a basic strategy for many New Yorkers to build equity and intergenerational wealth. Unfortunately, this wealth-building model has never been under greater threat, with the city’s homeowners facing multiple, interrelated challenges — e.g., the threat of displacement due to gentrification; the costs of home repairs and flood insurance; and the continued concentration of foreclosures in working class communities of color. We at the Center address these issues by delivering dollars and services to homeowners individually and pushing for change in homeownership at the systemic level. We work with New York City’s low- to moderate-income homeowners, helping them to navigate complex challenges, including mortgage fraud, scams, and displacement, so they can keep their homes and remain in the neighborhoods they love. Our network model allows us to serve homeowners in neighborhoods across the city.

The Center achieves our mission by using a reinforcing cycle of research, advocacy, thought leadership, pilot programs, and technical assistance to make the case for governmental changes, programs, and investments that stabilize homeowners and expand affordable homeownership. Our research is driven by data and by experience on the ground with homeowners, and analyzes past and current trends to shed light on bad practices and make recommendations on best practices and policies. Upon dissemination, our research and recommendations gain traction through advocacy through partners, coalitions, and outreach. Through intentional and targeted thought leadership, we uplift successful interventions via our research and also through pilot programs and program incubation efforts. Together, we demonstrate impact that spurs interest and investment by a broad group of stakeholders, including public sector, private philanthropy, and for-profit investment, to gain support for new initiatives that meet the pressing needs of homeowners. These efforts are aimed both at sustaining the Center and our vision, programs, and interventions, and at building the capacity, strength, and organization of the field.

We meet the complex and diverse needs of thousands of homeowners at scale through three main strategies:

Homeowner Services: The Center pilots, develops, and implements programs that provide direct services to meet critical homeowner needs, including foreclosure prevention advice and assistance, storm recovery assistance, resiliency counseling, help with repairs, advice on energy efficiency, and more. Our programs depend on homeowners having a trusted, high-quality service provider who is an expert in their issues and an advocate for their goals. We deliver many of these services at scale through a network of more than two dozen community-based nonprofits across New York City that we administer, coordinate, and fund. To date, we have provided homeowner services to more than 250,000 New Yorkers. Our interventions have preserved more than $10 billion in property value.

Lending: We believe that lack of access to beneficial and appropriate capital for homeowners has been at the root of the racial wealth gap and the crisis in affordable homeownership. Our lending programs, offered through our wholly owned subsidiary, Sustainable Neighborhoods LLC, take direct aim at these problems by providing new and innovative sources of capital and working to bring successful models to scale. Our lending provides affordable financial assistance to LMI families and families of color to help them keep their homes, enabling asset-building and economic mobility. The Center also demonstrates models for mortgage origination and servicing at scale for homeowners who are not served by traditional capital or banking outlets. To date, we have provided $134 million in loans to struggling homeowners.

Systems Change: We utilize data and our experience on the ground with homeowners to shed light on bad practices and make recommendations towards better policies and other intervention efforts that will uplift communities. Our research and recommendations gain traction through advocacy with the help of partners, coalitions, and outreach. Through intentional and targeted thought leadership, we uplift successful interventions and create specific programs via our research.

The Center has a track record of mobilizing and advocating for systemic legal, policy, and process change on behalf of homeowners at the city and state level through our communications and policy work. And for over ten years, we’ve funded, coordinated, and trained a citywide network of over two dozen CBOs to deliver homeowner interventions at scale across the city, adding new services in line with community needs. We work on our own and in collaboration with our partners to analyze program data to identify and track trends, develop pilots and interventions to homeowner challenges, and advocate for the city and state to fund these necessary services for homeowners that are particularly critical for low- to moderate-income families.

This is the Center's Impact since its founding in 2008 to date.
People Reached: 2,986,835
People Served: 250,640
Homes Strengthened: 800
Homes Saved: 15,143
Homeowner Savings: 134,603,536
Money Invested in Resiliency: $1,105,874

In 2019 alone:
We served over 20,300 clients.
We saved over 800 homes.
We delivered over $18,680,000 to homeowners.

In addition, our zero-interest loan program leveraged one funder's $80 million investment 12 times over to preserve more than $1 billion equity, saving 1,942 homes from foreclosure in 2.5 years, and influencing how courts and municipalities work with impacted clients.