Many of New York City's co-op apartments owned by low-income households could soon fall out of the hands of the people they were designed to help.
How these residents became owners goes back to the 1970s, when buildings were falling into disrepair, landlords had all but abandoned them, and the city was in poor financial shape. So, housing officials sold many of these buildings to their tenants for as little as $250 per unit.
"They [also] put a lot of sweat equity into their apartments over decades," New York Times reporter Nikita Stewart told WNYC. "But it turns out that sweat equity couldn't always pay the bills. You're looking at low-income residents who couldn't always pay the high maintenance fees that are necessary to maintain buildings."
As of now, the residents of about 1,300 units are facing the threat of foreclosure after falling behind on taxes and maintenance fees. And if developers purchase these co-op buildings, occupants could once again have to rent their apartments.
"Many of them are like, Why can't the city let me take the building over for $1, and forgive all the taxes, and let us start over?" said Stewart. "Because they feel that the city helped create this mess. They feel that city officials didn't give the guidance that was necessary for first-time co-op owners to basically run a business. Running buildings this large is like running a business."
Stewart spoke with WNYC's Richard Hake.
Correction: An earlier version of the audio posted with this story misrepresented what would happen to residents when their co-ops buildings became rentals. Tenants would have their rents regulated under the rent regulation system. See the Department of Housing Preservation and Development's term sheet for developers for more details. The audio was removed Aug. 2, 2018.