Tenant-ive Changes By Kathleen McGowan

In a move to make the city’s program for tax-delinquent buildings more tenant-friendly, Harlem City Councilmember Bill Perkins introduced a new bill last month that would make it easier for tenants to take over their own buildings and run them as low-income co-ops.

The changes, if passed by the Council, would modify the city’s third-party transfer program, which conveys run-down, seriously tax-delinquent private properties into the hands of specially chosen responsible owners. (Since the law was passed in 1996, only a handful of buildings have gone through the process, but hundreds more are in the pipeline.) Perkins’ bill would make it so that if 60% of the tenants were interested in taking over their home, they could do so, with the help of a nonprofit.

"Essentially, we’re trying to provide qualified and willing tenants the opportunity to own their own homes, as is the case with other [city Department of Housing Preservation and Development] programs," said Perkins. "The con- cept of tenant ownership is over 30 years old, and we’ve seen that it is successful time and time again." Perkins said that although he did not have the explicit support of Council Speaker Peter Vallone, who controls the progress of most Council legislation, he has heard "what I consider to be positive signals."

"That change is good. It should have been in the first law," said Susie Britton, president of the tenant association in a Central Harlem building that had serious repair problems before the tenants began managing it. Britton said that she and the other tenants are more than ready to officially take over the property, currently slated for the third-party transfer program.

Along with the changes, Perkins also introduced a two-year freeze on the transfer program, a move that he admits is part negotiating tool. "We want to meet with HPD, and perhaps a moratorium will help."

Reprinted with permission from City Limits Weekly.