Members help fulfill dreams
of affordable housing
ByDEBORAHA.MILES lower rents or offer
Partnerships
PEF members at the state Division of affordable housing.”
In New York state several hundred
Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR)
large funding housing companies receive
play a major role in providing affordable More resources
administrative funding from DHCR. They
housing for state employees. “The right to decent and
are called neighborhood preservation
They don’t deal directly with a potential affordable housing is every
companies.
renter or buyer, but their financial savvy citizen’s right, just as it is
Many programs and agencies are
results in getting an affordable price tag to achieve the American
dedicated to providing affordable home
on housing for low- to moderate-income dream. PEF members, as
ownership opportunities to low- and
New Yorkers.
ACOSTA
public employees, are
moderate-income families. They include
“With grants and tax credits that match entitled to benefit from
the Neighborhood Stabilization Program,
bond financing, we are able to provide their service and
and the Achieving The Dream and Keep
housing for people with incomes 80 employment by taking
The Dream programs
percent lower than the median income in advantage of all the resources that are
“We also partner with other agencies
New York City, which is $59,800 for a available to them in New York state,”
under the Home For Working Families
single family,” said PEF member Luis Acosta said.
program,” Acosta said. “If a developer is
Acosta, a housing and community “Fortunately, we have a new federal
structuring an affordable housing project
development representative at the Office of administration and more resources.
in which at least 50 percent of the funds
Community Development President Obama understands housing is
are financed through bonds provided by
“We help subsidize the cost of an industry. Developing affordable
an agency, such as the Housing Finance
developing a project through grants and housing also creates jobs for those in the
Agency (HFA), we can provide grants on
low-interest loans to private developers, building trades and property management.
the average of $35,000 to $345,000.
which brings down the cost of financing,” It engages the banks and private investors
Because it is bond financed, it is eligible
Acosta said. to participate in the financing.
for tax credits.”
“Bank financing is still necessary, but “It also engages other professionals
DHCR has offices in Albany, Buffalo,
with the subsidies less money must be such as investors, underwriters and
Syracuse and New York City, all devoted
borrowed, and less money repaid. This market analysts,” Acosta said. “It makes a
to helping developers and investors get
lowers the operating costs of the project positive impact and stimulates the
the best value for their buck, so they can
and that enables developers to charge economy. We are glad to play a role in it.”
pass on the savings to New Yorkers.
SUPPORTINGEACHOTHER—
Morethan300unionmembers
attendthe56thAnnualNYS
EmployeesBrotherhood
Committeeluncheonin
ManhattanFebruary29to
celebrate“WhatWeCan’tDo
Alone,WeCanDoTogether.”The
eventbeganwithapanel
discussionfollowedbyaluncheon.
ItincludedPEFVicePresident
PatBaker,PEFRegion10
CoordinatorVernettaChesimard,
andPEFRegion11Coordinator
JemmaMarie-Hanson.Assembly
MemberJaneleHyer-Spencer,
receivedtheBenjaminPotoker
Award.PicturedareMarionFox,
EdwardGoldstein,Hanson,
RichardeenAgard,LeslieJohnson,
andIndraM
—
at
P
t
h
i
o
a
t
c
o
e
b
.
y Richard Dillard
www.pef.org TheCommunicatorApril2009—Page13
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