Urban Homesteading Assistance U-Hab

Organizing and policy:since 1998 uhab organizers have reached out to and engaged thousands of tenants in over 700 buildings across new york city. Since 2018 the department has focused on organizing tenant associations in east brooklyn (brownsville, east flatbush and east new york) in partnership with brooklyn legal services, and we launched a tenant-led neighborhood group called hope (housing organizers for people empowerment). As part of the citywide stabilizing nyc initiative, we organize in buildings owned by predatory equity landlords and collaborate with other housing organizing groups in brooklyn to develop borough-wide campaigns.we continued to organize several buildings owned by jason korn, one of which initiated a rent strike at the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic in order to demand rent forgiveness and repairs. We also participated in several coalitions, including stabilizing nyc, housing justice for all and the brownsville green justice coalition. We also continued our work under a contract with brooklyn legal services to connect tenants in east brooklyn to resources that would help them secure their rights, fight unlivable conditions in their buildings, and prevent unlawful evictions during the pandemic.

Member services provides tools and support that directly save money for housing development fund corporations (hdfc) co-operatives in order to sustain the community of hdfc members and families. Hdfcs are operated and managed by their residents. The unique challenges that co-ops face include financial barriers, old physical building stock, and having multiple decision makers. Hdfcs are unique among types of affordable housing (homeownership) but also among co-ops (serving low-income families, remaining affordable for future generations).uhab staff have continued our efforts to monitor the needs of hdfc residents so that we may advocate for and coordinate response among agency partners to support our community members. Member services staff deliver in person and virtual trainings in partnership with hpd as part of the housing management and maintenance training contract, and partnership with steven winter associates to deliver operation & maintenance training to building owners on energy efficient building systems.membership engagement: for our 392 members in 431 locations; we continue to see growth in membership for co-ops who've joined to use co-op accounting programs, bulk fuel purchasing through uhab fuel, and market and match and access membership status for benefits such as discounted registration rates for the cnyc housing conference. Our staff support building leaders organizing their community through the affordable housing is for all (ahifa) building leaders group.bulk purchasing programsuhab fuel: we engage hdfcs to join our bulk fuel purchasing program, in partnership with energo (formerly marathon energy corporation) to save on delivery of oil and natural gas for heating sources, and to connect to energy efficiency programs and resources. There is monthly income for this program.flip insurance: the 37th annual flip renewal has concluded with 392 co-ops in 431 locations (totaling 6,547 units with tiv $2,200,951,166.co-op accounting programsco-op accounting: our bookkeeping services provides regular monthly services to clients to assist buildings with their financial tracking. We have new clients for co-op accounting, including new connected book$ subscribers and hdfcs requesting assistance in meeting compliance for payroll deadlines, addressing troubleshooting and situations of past due taxes. Our team continues to provide training and financial assistance on financial filing requirements, audited statements, basic and advanced accounting topics. Climate and resiliency (formerly energy services) programsco-ops go solar: uhab continued the second round of our co-ops go solar award with nyserda to assist building owners in the hdfc community to access renewable technologies to install rooftop solar and access community solar programs. Our campaign has a youth training track to take on interns from local high schools and statewide programs to provide environmental justice and climate justice training for youth interns and the larger hdfc co-op community.youth green equity and clean energy internship programs: seven interns were placed through the mayor's office of sustainability nyc accelerator program and supported through the nyserda clean energy internship program as part of a statewide workforce development initiative. All interns received uhab's youth green equity training. As an approved host organization for the nyserda clean energy internship program, uhab is able to hire youth who are undergraduate and graduate students and receives salary reimbursements to offset a percentage of the intern salaries. Affordable multifamily energy efficiency program: uhab performs outreach and lead generation for the affordable multifamily energy efficiency program, a joint program of nyserda and the statewide utility companies which provides incentive rebates to building owners for energy conservation measures such as air sealing, lighting, and gas heating systems. Uhab completed a number of projects bringing in-unit measures to hdfc shareholders. Uhab partners with utility company and energy agency partners to pilot energy efficiency improvements for the hdfc community.clean heat for co-ops: uhab continued to engage building owners in the community with a multiyear campaign that is supported through an award with nyserda to assist building owners in the hdfc community to upgrade systems away from fossil fuels for space heating, hot water, and stove appliances. This brings increased comfort, better air quality, and renewable technologies to your building. Green trainings and education: member services continues to offer a range of trainings for the hdfc community. Our staff have developed and expanded trainings on energy efficiency and how to complete efficiency projects. Classes include planning for energy projects, electrification for co-ops, heating system trainings on steam boilers and steam distribution, and hydronic boilers and hydronic distribution, and community solar.green outreach and consultancy: uhab provided outreach for a survey effort by the mayor's office of climate & environmental justice (mocej) and the environmental justice advisory board (ej ab) in partnership with community-based organizations (cbos) on a city-wide public engagement initiative to gather specific data to inform an environmental justice report. The goal of this project was to disseminate a city survey to target audiences throughout nyc and gathered information related to inclusivity and engagement with respect to the city's environmental decision-making. Benchmark services: uhab assists and trains hdfc leaders to file and post grades for local law 84/2009 benchmark compliance and local law 33/2016 disclosure of energy efficiency scores and grades. A nominal fee is applied to buildings that request assistance with filing the report, and uhab encourages building owners to file on their own behalf with the support of nyc sustainability help center.