Columbia Spectator - Affordable Housing Remains an Issue

Columbia Spectator -


Affordable Housing Remains an Issue
Columbia�s Position as a Landlord Has Caused Tension in the Past and Today
By Tanveer Ali
Spectator Staff Writer


November 15, 2005

As elected officials, community leaders and residents descend on Roberto Clemente Middle School on W. 133rd St. today to officially comment on Columbia�s Manhattanville expansion plans, affordable housing is one issue on many lips.
For years, vocal residents have cast an accusatory eye toward the University for acquiring over 6,300 apartment units around it units around its Morningside Heights campus, forcing out long-term tenants, deregulating rents, and converting the housing for graduate students and faculty.

University administrators have also acknowledged that Columbia will have to address the issue of displacing West Harlem residents in the expansion process. They have also said that the University maintains strong relationships with its tenants� affiliates and non-affiliates alike�and has shown a commitment to affordable housing within its vicinity. Still, many in the community remain skeptical.

�Although Columbia is a not-for-profit, their development has always been geared to their own staff, residential, academic and internal needs. At some point I hope they consider the rest of the surrounding community and address [affordable housing],� said Jordi Reyes-Montblanc, chairman of CB9.

There are six residential buildings located within the proposed expansion zone. In a preliminary document assessing the area, Columbia estimated that there are 140 residential units in these buildings with 115 considered low-income.

University Senior Executive Vice President Robert Kasdin said Columbia will address the direct displacement of these residents by providing for their relocation.

�Columbia University will provide appropriate relocation for tenants living in Columbia-owned buildings in the target area of Manhattanville,� he said.

Kasdin added that the issues of direct displacement and affordable housing will be some of the many socioeconomic impacts addressed by the Environmental Impact Statement, which will assess how development will impact the area over the course of expansion, and through a Community Benefits Agreement�a contract between the community and developer ensuring that community needs are addressed in any proposed development. Though no date has been set, Columbia expects to start formally negotiating with CB9 in January.

Nellie Torres, a resident of 602 W. 132nd St., which is located within Columbia�s target zone, said although Columbia has promised to provide for her relocation, she and the other residents of the building have no desire to leave.

�How can you ask people to leave who have been here for several years? Where are we going to go?� Torres asked, saying she has made a West Harlem tenement her home since the 1970s and does not desire to be forced out to an unknown area in the Bronx.

Since Columbia�s plans for Manhattanville became known in 2003, Tom Kappner, chairman of the 121st-122nd Street Block Association and member of Coalition to Preserve Community, has fought to make Columbia�s record on affordable housing a major issue.

Kappner currently lives in one of what he estimates as �500 to 700� rent-regulated units owned by Columbia. The rest of the units have been deregulated as non-affiliates leave or are taken off leases and apartments are converted to affiliate housing.

�The extent of Columbia�s holdings and past impact are definitely part of this [expansion] picture,� Kappner said, addressing Columbia at an October meeting in the Community Board offices. �You single handedly have turned the area below 125th Street into an exclusive institutional preserve with upper income co-ops.�

Kappner is one of many who have called on Columbia to commit to the 197-a plan, a CB9-developed framework for the district which differs markedly from Columbia�s expansion plans and calls on the preservation of existing affordable housing stock. Columbia has said it will include the 197-a as a possible alternative development plan to Columbia�s own design for Manhattanville in the scope of its Environmental Impact Statement, a part of the approvals required for the proposed campus.

�Columbia maintains some apartments for non-affiliates and in the past has committed a small number of units to be dedicated as market-stabilized rentals. In all cases, Columbia tries to maintain positive relationships with its tenants,� University spokeswoman Liz Golden wrote in an e-mail.

She also said that Columbia is currently engaged in various programs addressing affordable housing in the city, including a partnership with the Goddard Riverside Community Center in the Tenant Assistance Project, which provides legal aid for upper Manhattan residents confronted with eviction from rent-stabilized apartments and underwriting a housing lawyer at Harlem Legal Services.

Looking back, Reyes-Montblanc said that Columbia has handled the issue of affordable housing poorly; he would have preferred that the University preserve more of its rent-regulated housing stock.

Cautiously looking ahead, Reyes-Montblanc said, �I do believe [Columbia] can be persuaded to become at least more concerned and a facilitator of housing really affordable to the District 9 community sometime in the near future.�

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