Bronx, NY

Foreclosure problems are increasing on a building in Bronx that had been purchased during the bubbly days. In a large hall on the ground floor of a house (1520 Sedgwick Avenue) in West Bronx that hip-hop music had bloomed and spread across the world as an international culture. One generation afterwards once more the building is the focus of attention but for a different reason.

This hulky brick structure overlooking the River Harlem is now the battleground with tenants on one side and real estate investors on the other. Supported by politicians and housing advocates efforts are on to continue to keep the building as a state-run rent-protection programme.

The tenants have lost the battle and the building was sold off in 2008. Today more than a year later allegations of housing code violations have piled up against the owners of the building and tenants are furious with the present landlords. The housing advocates and experts opine that the problems related to this building could well start off a string of similar incidents in this locality inhabited by people coming from the low-income group.

The latest target of foreclosures is not only individual houses but whole blocks of apartment buildings inhabited by hundreds of households. It was not the tenants who took the loans but the investors who have lived far away from these one time highly leveraged units.

The banks and owners are trying to recovering their overwhelming losses from hopeful property deals in localities like South Bronx, Corona and Washington Heights and Queens, for the tenants time is running out as they grapple with the worst effects of the housing crisis – living in crumbling houses infested with rats clouded by foreclosure threats.

Since the taking over of 1520 Sedgewick Avenue by the new owners in the middle of 2008 the number of code violations have spiked from 82 to 598 – a jump of more than 600% according to HUD. Diana Levy of Urban Homesteading Assistance said, “Because it was well maintained and families decided to stay there, relationships grew and it ended up leading to one of the most important cultural contributions in decades. If that were to fall apart, it would be an indicator of what’s going to happen to communities that are stable in the outer boroughs.”

For a good number of decades 1520 Sedgewick having 102 units was a much wanted affordable place to stay in for the working class households. In 1997 Sylvia Jones had moved in. She remembered that the main lobby was so well looked after that one’s face was reflected on the floor. Everybody interacted like one large family hosting Christmas parties and Halloween get-together.