Deep Inequities in Housing Risk and COVID Impact Continues

New York, NY – The Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development (ANHD) releases its annual Housing Risk Chart, How is Affordable Housing Threatened in Your Neighborhood? to highlight specific risk indicators to affordable housing occurring at the community district level. The 2021 edition of ANHD’s Housing Risk Chart shows that the impact of COVID-19 and a multitude of housing threats continue to hit communities of color hardest, despite COVID-19 restrictions lifting and narratives around a return to normalcy.

Seven of the ten districts with the highest rates of death from COVID are over 75% people of color, and all of them rank in the top 20 citywide across all housing risk factors. This is unfortunately the same trend we saw in the first few months of COVID and in last year’s Housing Risk Chart.

ANHD’s 2021 Housing Risk Chart reveals an array of ongoing deep inequities in our city that present a multitude of threats to stable, safe, affordable housing, especially in BIPOC neighborhoods. New NYCHA data illustrates alarming issues with building conditions in some of the wealthiest neighborhoods that otherwise face low COVID, economic, and housing threats.

ANHD also found that neighborhood disparities in COVID deaths are much greater than the disparities in COVID cases. For example, Elmhurst and Corona residents are only two times more likely to get COVID than residents of the Financial District, but six times more likely to die from it.  

Most of the top-ranking districts for foreclosure filings and share of non-bank home loans - indicators that show if homeowners are at risk for displacement - are majority BIPOC. As ANHD has reported in the past, non-bank lenders are more prevalent in Black and Latinx neighborhoods, but they are not covered by the Community Reinvestment Act and employ more higher-cost Federal Housing Administration loans than bank lenders, putting Black and Latinx borrowers at greater risk of foreclosure and financial distress.

"This year's Housing Risk Chart reveals what we have seen throughout COVID; our BIPOC communities continue to be the districts most at risk. ANHD’s research and analysis continues to shed light on the housing challenges and inequities that neighborhoods’ face. We must target programs and resources to the areas where tenants and homeowners struggle to attain adequate and affordable housing. Thank you to the NYC Council and our community-based partners for their continued support in getting this critical, local analysis out to the communities who need it most. We need a just recovery that ensures every New Yorker has a Right to A Roof,” said Barika X Williams, Executive Director of ANHD.

“We have a chronic housing affordability crisis in New York City, a situation that has been exacerbated by COVID. As we continue to fight this unprecedented pandemic, the report by the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development highlights alarming inequities that can threaten the affordability of neighborhoods. We must all work together to ensure that housing in New York is affordable and accessible to all,” said NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson. 

“We need to find better ways to invest in affordable housing. That is why I have proposed some far-reaching solutions, including a public bank, which would have the capacity to invest in communities that can succeed, but which are neglected by traditional banks. And we have to make sure New York City doesn’t make the situation worse, which is why I have been working so hard to reform programs like the Third Party Transfer Program or TPT. As Chair of the Housing and Buildings Committee, I look forward to working with ANHD to support all New Yorkers, especially those who need affordable housing,” said NYC Chair of the Committee on Housing and Buildings, Council Member Robert Cornegy, Jr. (Brooklyn, District 36).

"ANHD's Housing Risk Chart reflects what many of us have seen on the ground - the impacts of the pandemic have had a disproportionately devastating impact on New York's communities of color. Not only are disparities apparent in public health indicators, but across all of the analysis' housing and financial demographic categories. We can and must use this data across all levels of government to hone programming and resources that alleviate these impacts on underserved New Yorkers and that empower them effectively as we work toward a just recovery for our city," said NYC Council Member Carlina Rivera (Manhattan, District 2).

“ANHD’s annual Housing Risk Chart is an especially powerful tool this year, showing the clear links between housing vulnerability, COVID death rates, and communities that are majority people of color. Our affordable housing crisis rages on, and not surprisingly, its impacts are being felt deeply in communities hard hit by the pandemic. The Housing Risk Chart will help us determine where to focus our efforts during this critical time, and I thank ANHD for their ongoing service to New Yorkers,” said NYC Council Member Helen Rosenthal (Manhattan, District 6).

“COVID-19 recovery planning must include a focus on uplifting immigrant communities and communities of color. That process begins by understanding the issues our communities face, primarily when accessing and maintaining safe, affordable housing. ANHD’s research and data are essential tools for everyone from organizing groups to government agencies to learn where best to focus our efforts. NMIC is proud to partner with ANHD in this work, and we look forward to the publication of their annual Housing Risk Chart, which is an invaluable resource in the fight for fair and affordable housing in our communities,” said Rodrigo Sanchez-Camus, Esq. Director of Legal, Organizing, & Advocacy Services of NMIC.

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About the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development (ANHD):

ANHD builds community power to win affordable housing and thriving, equitable neighborhoods for all New Yorkers. As a member organization of community groups across New York City, we use research, advocacy, and grassroots organizing to support our members in their work to build equity and justice in their neighborhoods and city-wide. We believe housing justice is economic justice is racial justice.

www.anhd.org | @ANHDNYC