Singing, “We’re fighting for a homestead, we shall not be moved,” members of the New York City Labor Chorus and Trinity House tenants confronted trustees, parents, and Trinity School students on Saturday in an effort to voice their concerns regarding the rumored sale of their affordable housing units.
The rally, held in front of Riverside Church, was the tenants’ latest challenge to Trinity School over the future of their building.
The school built Trinity House, located on 92nd Street and Columbus Avenue, in 1968 as part of the government-subsidized Mitchell-Lama affordable housing program. But now that the 40-year mandatory preservation period stipulated in the low- to moderate-income housing deal has lapsed, Trinity School is looking to sell the 200-unit building to a developer, who could convert the units to condos—a threat currently facing a number of Mitchell-Lama buildings in the city.
“They’re trying to sell it to the highest bidder,” Trinity House resident Howard Pflanzer said. “They feel they can make a lot more money by selling it ... to increase the endowment at the expense of the tenants.”
Tenants received word as early as June 2007 that the school was in search of a developer to sell the building. The proposed buyer, Pembroke Companies Inc., announced its intention to withdraw the building from the Mitchell-Lama program upon its purchase. But the sale was rejected by New York’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and negotiations between the school and developers have continued without results.
HPD’s decision was praised by many state and city officials.
“Trinity House is a community staple,” Congressman Charles Rangel, (D—Upper West Side) said in a May press release. “I commend HPD for rejecting Trinity’s sale on the grounds that it will not preserve affordable housing for future generations.”
Despite the ruling, the school is still actively searching for a buyer and has not yet met with Trinity House tenants, they say. Speaking at Saturday’s rally, Community Board 7 Chair Helen Rosenthal said the board “represents both you [the tenants] and the school ... if we want to be a community, we need to look out for all of our interests.”
Rosenthal emphasized the importance of preserving affordable housing, particularly at a time when it is threatened.
“We used to be the neighborhood with the most affordable housing,” she said. “Now we only have three buildings left.”
Some tenants believe the current economic crisis may ironically help them save the building.
“The financial crisis means developers can’t borrow money,” James Paul, co-chairman of the Trinity House Tenants Association, said. This “could decrease their ability to purchase and renovate Trinity House.”
But, Paul added, “We don’t want them in two or three years time, when the dust has settled, to enter into talks again.”
The rally was held as Trinity School celebrated the start of its 300th anniversary year. While the school claims on its Web site to teach “students to be responsible and caring, both inside the school, and as citizens of the city, nation, and world,” tenants like Pflanzer wondered “what kind of citizens they are talking about when the school themselves can’t be good neighbors.”
lydia.wileden@columbiaspectator.com
