NYC HPD
Request for Qualifications will be used to identify potential buyers who will preserve and maintain affordability. On April 5, 2018, Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Maria Torres-Springer announced the release of a Request for Qualifications to establish a list of Qualified Preservation Buyers. The Request for Qualifications will identify qualified buyers to purchase and rehabilitate buildings in the City. It will be used as a resource to create a list for potential sellers to find buyers who will maintain the affordable units created in purchased buildings.
Interested potential buyers will apply for the Request for Qualifications through HPD. Applicants can be nonprofit or for-profit organizations, however, all applicants must have an interest in and demonstrate a capacity to maintain the long-term physical and financial viability, regulatory compliance, and responsible ownership of housing. Applicants who demonstrate the requisite experience and capacity required to acquire, rehabilitate, manage, and preserve the long-term affordability of occupied or vacant multifamily buildings will be considered for the Request for Qualifications.
The Request for Qualifications will also play an integral part of Housing New York 2.0’s Neighborhood Pillars Program. Non-profit organizations included on the list will be eligible for additional financial and technical assistance through the Neighborhood Pillars Program. The program will help qualified organizations identified by the Request for Qualifications process to purchase unregulated and rent-stabilized buildings. The program is expected to fund the acquisition of preservation for about 7,500 homes over the next eight years. Commissioner Torres-Springer stated that the Request for Qualifications will be “a matchmaking tool to connect regulated buildings with qualified developers committed to affordability and creates a direct pipeline to [the] Neighborhood Pillars Program.”
HPD is also partnering with the New York Acquisition Loan Fund to develop the Neighborhood Pillars Program. This will leverage private financing to expand the City’s Acquisition Loan Fund, which will allow nonprofit organizations to have the capital and technical assistance to successfully compete in the acquisition process. The Department also worked with the City Council to pass the Predatory Equity bill, which was signed into law early this year. Under this law, HPD will publish a “Speculation Watch List,” which identifies recently sold, rent-regulated buildings where tenants are at risk of displacement due to potentially predatory investors.
The initial submission deadline for the Request for Qualifications is May 31, 2018.
Click here for the Housing Preservation and Development’s Press Release and here for more information on the Request for Qualifications.
By: May Vutrapongvatana (May is a CityLaw Intern and a New York Law School Student, Class of 2019.)