PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Arielle Hersh, Director of Policy and New Projects at Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB)
2:44:53
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4 min
Arielle Hersh from UHAB provided testimony on the proposed reforms to the 3rd party transfer (TPT) program, emphasizing the importance of improving living conditions in distressed buildings and protecting homeowners. She highlighted UHAB's experience in empowering low and moderate-income residents to become homeowners through TPT over the past 22 years.
- Hersh suggested additional improvements to the program, including swift movement through the program for designated buildings, creating off-ramps for HDFC cooperatives, and extending the ability to remove properties from the TPT list to HPD cooperatives.
- She emphasized the need for additional capital funding to ensure smooth pipeline movement and suggested expanding various HPD and DEP programs to include HDFC cooperatives.
- Hersh expressed support for corrective action plans and the opportunity for HDFCs to work with HPD-approved monitors to address multifaceted issues beyond tax distress.
Arielle Hersh
2:44:53
sorry.
2:44:53
Hi, Tricintas, members of the committee.
2:44:55
Thank you so much for the opportunity to testify.
2:44:57
My name is Ariel Hurst, and I am the or policy and new projects that you have.
2:45:02
For 50 years, you have as empowered low and moderate income residents to take control of their housing and become homeowners in the buildings where they already lived.
2:45:10
And we've done that.
2:45:11
Especially over the last over 22 years through TPT, including nearly a 1000 distressed rental units that have been transferred or in the process of becoming transformed into safe and stable homes where residents have the opportunity for affordable home ownership.
2:45:27
I'm gonna try to be brief since I know the clock is ticking, but I do wanna say that we really are hardened by the council's interest in engaging seriously, which with what we know is a difficult and deeply fraught piece of legislation and seriously engaging with the issues here and really wanna uplift this effort to improve living conditions in aging and to distressed buildings for the tenants' emblem and to reform some of those past mistakes to really we wanna affirm prioritizing the most distressed properties, improving outreach and notice requirements to residents, and really focusing on helping homeowners get back on track before a crisis while also protecting them from speculators and scams.
2:46:12
We also think that there are sort of a small bucket of additional improvement that we would love to keep talking about to really accomplish those shared goals of safe and dignified housing and wanna highlight that once a building is designated for foreclosure, we really wanna lift up that it must swiftly move through the program towards comprehensive or hairs.
2:46:33
We deal with many of these as a sponsor and developer on these projects, and the longer that they sit waiting for that capital investment from a construction loan closing, the more intractable these issues get.
2:46:44
We also must create off ramps for HDFC cooperatives that address governance first and really look at long term financial.
2:46:54
May I thank you.
2:46:56
Long term financial and capital needs planning.
2:46:59
I am really interested in the discussion today around corrective action plans and would really want to highlight that giving HDFCs in particular the opportunity to work with an HPD approved monitor to create a corrective action plan and then make meaningful milestones on that step would be huge, as we know that this is a multifocal issue, not simply one of tax distress.
2:47:21
And we were really encouraged to see that ability to remove tax class 1 properties in existing HPD loan pipelines from the TPT list and think that should be extended to HPD COOPERatives.
2:47:32
We know that we're currently working with over 40 HDFC cooperatives in the HPD preservation programs like GHPP and PLP loans where shareholders are working to address those property tax arrears and invest in capital needs proactively and really want to see that folks who are doing the work to get their buildings and their cooperatives back into shape are not penalized for doing so.
2:47:54
And we know that, of course, this program is going to need additional capital funding to ensure the pipeline move smoothly.
2:48:01
Many of the round 10 projects, including some of ours, waited 5 plus years for construction closing.
2:48:08
Again, the longer those buildings sit, the harder it gets.
2:48:11
And we have sort of a bucket of additional resources and programs that we think might really help address some of the root causes of those physical, financial, and organizational symptoms of distress that we see, particularly in HDFC coops.
2:48:26
They include additional capital funding for HPD preservation pipelines, like the ones I mentioned, the Greenhousing preservation program, and the participation loan program, as well as having HPD really engage with HDFC cooperatives on the current version of the HPD cooperatives of regulatory agreement to address outstanding issues and really collaboratively work with the community to find a better version of this document.
2:48:52
We also think that more HPD and DEP programs should be expanded to include HDFC cooperatives and help them address that physical and financial distress, including the unlocking doors program, the DEPMST program, and the landlord ambassador program, which I was so heartened to see deputy commissioner mention is on track to being expanded.
2:49:14
So in brief, and thank you again for the opportunity to testify.
2:49:19
I welcome any questions specifically about HDFC cooperatives.
