The Center for New York City Neighborhoods
Founded in 2008 to help local homeowners threatened by the subprime lending and mortgage foreclosure crises, the Center for New York City Neighborhoods (CNYCN) coordinates and strengthens housing counseling, foreclosure prevention education, and legal services. CNYCN is a unique partnership among the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), the New York City Council, private philanthropy, and a wide network of community-based organizations with track records assisting local residents and neighborhoods with mortgage distress.
Results
- In three years, CNYCN has added more than 70 legal and housing staff to a five-borough network that has, in turn, provided 14,000 homeowners with intensive housing counseling or legal services;
- In 2010-11, the CNYCN network submitted 3,600 requests for loan modifications for eligible homeowners, securing 1,175 permanent modifications, with an additional 500 modifications still in the trial modification stage. Homeowners saved on average $12,000 a year through temporary or permanent modifications;
- To help homeowners who are seeking to obtain mortgage modifications or resolve mortgage difficulties, CNYCN also is administering the Mortgage Assistance Program, a $6.5 million gap loan fund financed by the City of New York and private donors, that provides zero-interest loans of up to $25,000 for principal reduction, arrears payment, buy-downs of second liens, and/or assistance with reinstatement of affordable mortgages; and
- CNYCN organizing partners in Queens and Brooklyn are using New York State Banking Department data in new ways to identify at-risk homeowners earlier and connect them with housing and legal services that best match their needs.
Looking Ahead
Building on the extensive direct service work of its network, CNYCN will continue to bring financial institutions and regulatory agencies to the table to explore long-term and system-wide solutions to the issues that contribute to high foreclosure rates or slow down the process towards sustainable solutions.