Monday, February 16, 2009

Advocates call for financial rescue plan to protect tenants in mult-unit buildings

Tenants Together supports the efforts of the Partnership to Preserve Affordable Housing to make sure that tenants in apartment buildings are protected in the federal bailout plan.

Here is the latest policy statement from PPAH:

Dear Friends and Allies,

As the Obama Administration begins to release the remaining $350 Billion in TARP funds, the Partnership to Preserve Affordable Housing is calling for the creation of a Multifamily Foreclosure Prevention Program to help rescue the many thousands of over-leveraged affordable housing units now at risk in New York City and around the country.

The program should be guided by the following four principles:

1. Loans on overleveraged buildings must be reduced to a level based on the buildings' value to a responsible owner committed to operating the building for the long term for the cash flow it now produces.

2. The federal agency that administers the rescue program must ensure that tenants benefit from loan modifications by negotiating use agreements with building owners that ensures the future financial and physical integrity of the project as well as affordability and habitability for tenants.

3. Where possible, the rescue program must promote the transfer of buildings, at appropriate prices, to buyers who are committed to owning and operating the building as affordable rental housing for the long term.

4. Local housing agencies and tenants must play a role in the program to ensure preservation outcomes are consistent with local housing conditions.

PPAH is asking the administration to require participation in the Multifamily Foreclosure Prevention Program as a condition of any additional federal resources.

Please see the attached statement.

Please join us in this call!

Sincerely,

Partnership to Preserve Affordable Housing
Community Service Society
Legal Aid Society
Pratt Area Community Council
South Brooklyn Legal Services
Tenants & Neighbors
Urban Homesteading Assistance Board

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for helping to bring some attention to the often overlooked plight of renters in the foreclosure crisis.

    ReplyDelete