In the Media

CHPC’s expertise has been valued for over 70 years and our non-partisan analysis and opinion features widely in the media. You can read all of our latest press mentions here.

Mortgage Woes Linked to Broader Neighborhood Despair

By Jarrett Murphy, City Limits, February 3, 2012

In a city with more than 3.3 million housing units, what does it mean for the rest of us that 3,000 properties went into foreclose in the 3rd quarter of last year, or even that 17,000 or so went into default in all of 2010? A new report suggests it could mean a great deal: Turns out housing code violations are higher in buildings located close to multi-unit residences that have gone into foreclosure. The research from the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, funded by Enterprise, looks at buildings that are over-mortgaged or have gone into foreclosure.

Distressed Apartments Raise Risk for All

By Jacqueline Hlavenka, GlobeSt.com, February 2, 2012

Single-family homes weren’t the only housing type severely impacted by the economic downturn, new research shows. According to a new study from Citizens Housing & Planning Council, over-mortgaged and foreclosed multifamily buildings increase the risk of deterioration of nearby buildings and raise costs for private owners and the city in the form of additional Emergency Repair Program expenditures. … Harold Shultz, senior fellow at the CHPC, tells GlobeSt.com that he hopes the study will raise awareness about the distressed multifamily market.

Distressed buildings bring down their neighbors

By Amanda Fung, Crains New York Business.com, February 2, 2012

“Our study suggests that proximity to an over-mortgaged building increases the likelihood of increased code violations, with New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development stepping in to carry out additional emergency repairs,” said Harold Shultz, senior fellow of Citizens Housing and Planning Council. “As a result, the city should continue its efforts to closely monitor and prevent deterioration in those communities troubled by over-mortgaged multifamily buildings.”

As Case-Shiller Craters Again, Should New York Care?

By Matt Chaban, New York Observer, February 1, 2012

After improving in the first half of last year, the Case-Shiller Home Price Index began to plummet in the middle of 2011, and it has reached a new low with the release of the November numbers yesterday. Does this have any bearing on New York, considering the Case-Shiller only tracks single-family homes? In short, yes. “Obviously, housing weighs on the larger economy, so that has an impact on us,” said Harold Shultz, an analyst at the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, which closely follows the Case-Shiller from a city perspective.

City Feels Foreclosure Effects

By Laura Kusisto, Wall Street Journal, February 2, 2012

Foreclosures that have depressed property prices and caused the deterioration of single-family neighborhoods across the country have had similarly harmful ripple effects in New York City when apartment buildings are foreclosed, according to a new report. “In single-family neighborhoods, you see empty homes and swimming pools filled with algae, in a way that you don’t see them in multifamily neighborhoods,” said Harold Shultz, a Senior Fellow at the Housing and Planning Council.

The Mod Squad: Will Bruce Ratner Transform the Way New York Builds, or Is Prefab Another Project Too Far?

By Matt Chaban, New York Observer, 7 December 2011

Given the complexity of building a 32-story prefab tower—with taller ones to come—a number of building professionals were suspicious the firm could achieve the 20 percent cost savings Forest City has been boasting about. Among them is Jerilyn Perine, the executive director of the Citizens Planning & Housing Council and a former housing commissioner in both the Giuliani and Bloomberg administrations, where she worked on a number of low-income modular projects. “I’m not against modular. I think it has its place,” she said. “I don’t think it’s like discovering fire.”

NY1 In the Papers

Pat Keirnan, NY1 In the Papers, November 17, 2011

Michael Kimmelman’s New York Times Arts Section cover story on Making Room was picked up by NY1′s “In the Papers” segment. The mention is at 1:45 into the clip.

WNYC News Blog Architects Attempt to Make Illegal Apartments Safe, Well Designed

Cindy Rodriguez, WNYC News Blog, Novemer 7, 2011

“The guy who brought you your Chinese food delivery where does he live, students that you see on the train, where are they living,” asked Perine, who once headed the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development. “We have to start thinking about people’s lives for real not just how we would like to imagine success, like everyone is married with two kids in a house or a big apartment some place.”

Imagining Housing for Today

Michael Kimmelman, New York Times, November 17, 2011

Most new homes in the city today are still designed for nuclear families. According to the nonprofit Citizens Housing & Planning Council, two parents raising young children occupy only 17 percent of New York dwellings; another 9 percent house single parents with children under 25. The city meanwhile has a growing population of singles — students, young professionals, immigrants, empty-nesters and the elderly — who can’t afford market-rate rentals. (That’s not to mention a report last week from the Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy group that has frequently clashed with the Bloomberg administration , which put the city’s homeless population at 41,204, up from 31,000 a decade ago.)

Crackdown on Conversions Confronts Danger and Necessity

Patrick Arden, City Limits, November 7, 2011

Enforcement will never eliminate the underground housing market, said Sarah Watson, a senior policy analyst at CHPC, who noted that increased fines have not lessened the illegal housing stock. “It’s too widespread,” she explained. “There’s no doubt the path forward is difficult politically, but we need to recognize that there’s a mismatch between the types of housing we have and the ways we’re really living today. The housing stock has not kept up with how people have changed.”

Rethinking Ways to Divide Living Space

Fred A. Bernstein, New York Times, November 10, 2011

IS there a mismatch between the housing New Yorkers need and the housing that gets built? Only 17 percent of dwelling units in the city are occupied by parents raising children under 25, according to the nonprofit Citizens Housing and Planning Council, but most new homes are designed with such traditional families in mind.

At event for innovative housing, a doubter

Crain's Insider, November 8, 2011

At a conference yesterday in midtown, architects and advocates pitched solutions for the high cost and low supply of housing in the city. Their proposals were innovative, ingenious and illegal: not allowed by city rules and codes.