annualreport2006 Affordable Housing in New York City: An Oxymoron? contents 1Welcome 2 Want to make a difference? Our chairman has some suggestions. The “bottom line.” Our president discusses ho w we measur 3 e success. 4 Giving. Affordable housing in New York City— no, it’s not an oxymoron. Make sure your charitable dreams come tr ue: Become a donor 18 . 22 Help make your clients happy: Information for attorneys. The numbers: Our audited Financial Highlights ASSETS BY FUND TYPE financial statements. Unrestricted 50%: Field-of- Designated Scholarship Donor-advised 38% Interest 32% 13% 5% 24 Non-advised 12% GRANTS BY PROGRAM AREAS Notes 27 Education, Arts, Children, Community Health and Specia and the Humanities Youth, and Development and People with Projec 43% Families the Environment Special 1% A 18% 22% Needs 16% uditors TOTAL ’ Report 29 EXPENDITURES Financial Highlights 30 i istrative Investment Committee 30 Governing Body Suburban Divisions 34 31 T rustee Banks Staff 39 38 Funds in 2006 40 Grants in 2006 52 welcome SINCE 1924, THE NEW YORK COMMUNITY TRUST HAS BEEN HELPING MAKE DONORS’ CHARITABLE DREAMS COME TRUE BY FUNDING THE NONPROFITS THAT MAKE OUR CITY A VITAL AND SECURE PLACE IN WHICH TO LIVE AND WORK. WE HAD ASSETS OF $2 BILLION IN MORE THAN 1,800 CHARITABLE FUNDS IN 2006, AND MADE GRANTS TOTALING $157 MILLION. WHETHER YOU’RE GIVING TODAY, OR ENDOWING A FUND TO SUPPORT A CAUSE OR SOLVE PROBLEMS WE CAN’T NOW IMAGINE, THE TRUST MAKES IT EASY TO BE A PHILANTHROPIST. WE INVITE YOU TO LEARN ABOUT US AND HOW TO JOIN OUR FAMILY OF DONORS. chairman’s message As more and more City neigh- no strings attached; others come with a broad or borhoods are transformed into narrow field of interest, such as health or city areas for luxury housing, many of parks. So when there is a compelling City need for which we have no specified funds—such as afford- our less fortunate residents are able housing—we use money from funds estab- being displaced and are unable lished by individuals who trusted that future gen- to find affordable apartments. erations would use their generosity to effectively The Trust’s 2006 Annual Report meet contemporary problems. focuses on grants we have made to address this problem. The An equally important aspect of our grant program following pages illustrate how our is The Trust’s 900 donor-advised funds, which also grantmaking programs can effec- provided a source for the grants listed in this Annual Report. Under this arrangement, a donor tively respond to a critical—and reserves the right to recommend the charities to seemingly intractable—issue in a receive grants from his or her donor-advised fund variety of ways, such as making and the purposes for which the grants shall be grants to organize tenants, sup- used. There is great synergy among grants from porting an advocacy group to our unrestricted, field-of-interest, and donor- increase State financing, and pro- advised funds. Many donors consult with our tecting low-income homeowners program officers for guidance prior to making a from predatory lenders. recommendation; often our program officers gain important insights from our donors based on these donors’ experience with other charities and The primary sources of funding for these grants their knowledge of particular areas of need. were The Trust’s unrestricted and field-of-interest funds, each of which provides The Trust with Finally, I want to pay special tribute to our out- flexibility in its grantmaking. standing staff at The Trust and to our president, Lorie Slutsky, whose reputation as one of the About two-thirds of The Trust’s assets are held in pre-eminent leaders in the not-for-profit world funds set up by donors who wanted to establish is well deserved. flexible, permanent funds during their lifetimes, or leave a legacy through bequests and deferred giv- ing plans. Some of these funds were left to us with SAMUEL S. POLK 2 president’s message “These have been the happiest to scale programs that have proven effective or years of my life,” says an exuber- testing new ways of doing things. It requires ant Melanie Harris, who lives in working with government, other funders, and the business sector. It most often takes a lot of housing developed by New time and tolerance of frustration and failure, Destiny, one of the grantees we and always the optimism and efforts of many feature in the Giving section of people and agencies. this report. You’ll find out the number of housing units the And if you read further on, you’ll find out how agency has produced, and how it you can make your charitable dreams come shares its expertise with other true, for yourself and for many more people nonprofit housing developers. like Melanie Harris. You’ll also read about the capital- ization of a housing loan fund, LORIE A. SLUTSKY and correcting code violations in apartment buildings for low- income tenants. But hearing the joy in Ms. Harris’s voice when she describes her life since moving into her apartment is, ultimately, The Trust’s bottom line. It’s what makes our work so rewarding. And that’s a good thing, because much of what we support doesn’t lend itself to quick or easy resolution. Whether it’s affordable housing, job training for the chronically unemployed, help- ing poor people get health care, protecting our water quality, nurturing young artists, or improving public education, we are committed to funding a variety of approaches—bringing 3 giving “THERE HAD BEEN TWO FIRES IN OUR BUILDING,” SAYS RAMONA SANTANA. “WE FOUND OUR WAY TO HOUSING HERE AND NOW. THE ORGANIZER WENT WITH US TO THE BANK THAT HOLDS THE MORTGAGE ON THE BUILDING, AND GOT THEM TO TALK WITH THE OWNER AND HAVE HIM MAKE THE NECESSARY REPAIRS. HOUSING HERE AND NOW TAUGHT ME THE STEPS I NEED TO TAKE TO ENSURE MY RIGHTS AND I’M WORKING WITH OTHER FAMILIES TO PRESERVE AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD.” The astronomical cost of living housing in the poorest neighborhoods. And it in the City has been a hot topic wasn’t a good landlord. New York was then a for years. And as with lots of city in decline, unable to pay for much-needed issues, there’s a fault line. On services. Crime soared, streets got dirtier, mass one side is “real estate.” On the transit didn’t work, people left. And the City’s other, “housing.” The first often tenants lived in unheated apartments, with implies owning, the second, peeling lead paint, intermittent hot water, gap- ing holes, and no security. renting. And while some bemoan the scarcity of real But residents came together, forming tenants’ estate, the housing shortage is associations and small community groups to truly frightening. advocate with the City. And the City responded with a number of programs that There’s an air of inevitability about the notion allowed tenants to take over their buildings, of the City becoming a haven for the rich and a with money for repairs. The Trust made shrinking ghetto for the poor, with no place for grants to many of the newly formed housing middle class New Yorkers. Leaving aside for the groups, and we started our Neighborhood moment the issue of equity, New York’s sense of Revitalization Program, which supports hous- itself—as a city of neighborhoods, mom and ing and economic development projects in pop stores, and many cultures and classes—is low-income communities. crumbling. As Adam Gopnick writes in the January 8, 2007 issue of The New Yorker: Today, the City is a different place. There are vir- . another bookstore closes, another the- tually no City-owned buildings; neighborhoods atre becomes a condo, another soulful that once terrified their residents have been gen- place becomes a sealed residence. Only trified; and for many New Yorkers, life is good. twenty-five years ago, a walk from Tribeca to SoHo and the Lower East Side would But for poor and middle-income New show as many kinds and classes—rich, Yorkers, young people, and the elderly, finding aspiring, immigrant—as it had a century and keeping a decent apartment they can before; now that walk is likely to show only afford are still a nightmare. Mayor the same six stores and the same two banks Bloomberg’s affordable housing initiative, and the same one shopper. which will spend $7.5 billion to build and rehab 165,000 units, is certainly welcome. For more than 30 years, The Trust has support- Unfortunately, it’s not enough. ed a host of approaches to revitalizing commu- nities by building and preserving decent, The Trust has been making grants to develop affordable housing. Beginning in the 70s, when new sources of capital and financing, strength- landlords walked away from buildings whose en nonprofit housing groups, advocate, orga- rent rolls didn’t support their costs, the City nize tenants, and monitor the effects of hous- found itself the largest owner of deteriorating ing policies on poor communities. This section 5 The Santana family and neighbors. looks at the work of six of the twenty-five non- mortgages will increasingly become the targets profits we supported in 2006 to preserve and of predatory lenders. To “outmarket” predatory build affordable housing. lenders, the agency, with its extremely limited marketing budget, is getting the word out HOW ELUSIVE IS THE AMERICAN DREAM? through local City Council members, flyers, Despite the proliferation of condo and coop newspaper ads, and presentations to block asso- conversions, New York has the lowest home- ciations.