Affordable Housing Transfers Face Long, Costly Repairs Before Tenants See Relief
New York foreclosed on 2201-05 Davidson Avenue in the Bronx in 2025, wiping out $27 million in back taxes and transferring the 47-unit building to nonprofit Neighborhood Restore. The property will eventually move to affordable developer Lemle & Wolff, which also manages it. Tenants hoped for immediate relief, but 18 months later the building still carries more than 700 housing-code violations — more than 15 per unit. Emergency repairs have stopped leaks and restored the elevator, but floors remain unlevel and scaffolding covers the exterior.
Lemle & Wolff plans a gut rehabilitation down to the floor joists, requiring tenants to move in stages while preserving their current rents. The developer is still securing a private construction loan to supplement city financing. Rent collections have fallen since the transfer; some tenants who stopped paying under the previous owner have not resumed. Organizers from Our Bronx are pushing residents to pay rent, especially those interested in forming a housing cooperative. Affordable housing operators citywide report collections down several percentage points since the pandemic, while insurance and utility costs have climbed sharply.
City Council member Pierina Ana Sanchez is leading an effort to revive the Third Party Transfer program, which foreclosed on more than 500 properties and 7,000 units between 2008 and 2019. The program was shut down after a class action lawsuit alleged the city took buildings without paying just compensation; the city proposed a $60 million settlement this fall. Sanchez’s SAFER Homes Act would add safeguards for owners before foreclosure. Another Bronx building transferred through the program, 1968 Marmion Avenue, took eight years to complete its renovation, offering a timeline for what Davidson tenants may face.
The post Affordable Housing Transfers Face Long, Costly Repairs Before Tenants See Relief appeared first on Propmodo.
