In a perfect world, the tenants and managers of the Carmen-Marine apartment building would have joined forces months ago. By now they’d be the model of resident-run subsidized housing.
At stake is a 27-story, 300-unit high rise at the intersection of Carmen Avenue (5100 north) and Marine Drive. It was built in the late 1960s with a federally guaranteed low-interest loan; in return the Department of Housing and Urban Development regulates rents and limits occupancy to low-income tenants.
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It was right about then that Metro Management Inc., MHDC’s for-profit subsidiary, started managing the Carmen-Marine complex. “Our goal was to buy it from the current owner and preserve it for the low-income,” says Ferrera. “We’re old-fashioned liberals; we believe that society has an obligation to house the poor.”
So in early January, 1990, MHDC notified tenants of their intentions to ask HUD for permission to raise rents. “The notice came in an unsigned flier that they slipped under our doors,” says Osberger. “They weren’t even calling for a meeting so that we could meet them and they could explain their case.”
Residents thought the rent hike was exorbitant, and they began to worry about Ferrera. He seemed patronizing, a little too old-fashioned. Apparently he didn’t understand that it was a new day in low-income housing. Tenants and managers were supposed to be partners; the days of top-down ultimatums were over.
The plan proposed that rent levels be maintained while residents negotiated a sale with the owners and HUD. After that, the tenants would calculate their monthly payments based on their needs. A contingency fund would be created to meet unexpected expenditures, like a rise in insurance premiums. They would apply for a 50 percent reduction on local property taxes and install new windows to trim their heating bills. With planning, perseverance, and a little luck, they would keep expenses down.
Their message struck a chord with politicians and nearby residents, many of whom back the tenants’ group. Two retired developers, Howard Landau and Herbert Heyman, working in a program supported by the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, went so far as to underwrite the tenant group’s initial buy-out costs with a $250,000 loan.
