New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development


The Department of Housing Preservation and Development is the department of the government of New York City responsible for developing and maintaining the city's stock of affordable housing. Its regulations are compiled in title 28 of the New York City Rules. The Department is headed by a Commissioner, who is appointed by and reports directly to the Mayor. The current Commissioner of HPD is Louise Carroll, who was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio in May 2019. Former Commissioners have included Maria Torres-Springer, Vicki Been, Jerilyn Perine, Richard Roberts and Shaun Donovan, among others. HPD is headquartered in Lower Manhattan, and includes smaller branch offices in each of the city's five boroughs.

Overview

Established in 1978 in the wake of Local Law 45 of 1976, the Department is the largest municipal developer of affordable housing in the United States. HPD is currently in the midst of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's Housing New York initiative to create and preserve 300,000 units of affordable housing by 2026. In Fiscal Year 2017, The City of New York financed more than 32,116 affordable homes, breaking the all-time record previously set by former Mayor Ed Koch in 1989.

Third Party Transfer program

The Third Party Transfer program was started in 1996 under Giuliani's administration to let the Department of Housing and Preservation transfer “derelict, tax-delinquent buildings to nonprofits that could rehabilitate and manage them”, ostensibly for working-class people, freeing the city from ownership, or responsibility for tenants. The DHP followed a rule selecting “every other building in the same tax block with a lien—even for a few hundred dollars”—if even one was picked for TPT. The TPT was characterized by Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration as “a tool for taking over "distressed properties" in "blighted" areas”. The report, however, holds that characterization is held in tension with its findings which implicated malfeasance by both NYC's HPD and the Department of Finance, detailing how the agencies were “targeting and taking of numerous Black and Brown owned properties, and thus stripping these communities of millions of dollars of generational wealth”. According to Ritchie Torres, “TPT is quite different from and far harsher than a typical foreclosure from the perspective of a property owner. If you are the target of a foreclosure, you get a share of the proceeds from the sale of your property. Under TPT, the city can completely strip you of all the equity in your property”. The TPT process strips the minority owner of: the property; its value; and mitigates the sweat equity, and resources invested; all with no compensation.

Organization