Annual Awards Past Honorees

University Neighborhood Housing Program (UNHP)

University Neighborhood Housing Program (UNHP), just off of our 40^th year, works to create, preserve, and improve affordable housing and bring resources to our Bronx community in three primary ways; as a community-based affordable housing developer, a Bronx-focused researcher, and through the Northwest Bronx Resource Center as a direct-service provider.

With a stake in 27 multifamily buildings, home to 1,216 low-income families, UNHP is well positioned to highlight the issues that directly affect affordable housing such as rising costs for insurance, water, and repairs and the income difficulties tenants face. While the majority of our work benefits the Bronx and its residents, the UNHP Multifamily Research and Action Center (MFRAC), a collaborative effort with major multifamily lenders, foundations, public agencies, owners, and managers seeks to preserve affordable, quality housing in the Bronx and other low income neighborhoods in NYC.  The primary tool of that effort is the Building Indicator Project (BIP) database which utilizes a scoring system to identify levels of physical and/or financial distress in over 70,000 multifamily buildings citywide.  The BIP is updated quarterly and used by 47 community organizations and advocacy groups, 7 agencies, 41 financial institutions, and bank regulators. Our goal is to improve the living conditions and preserve the long-term affordability of multifamily rental units for low-income NYC households.

Formally created in 2012, the Northwest Bronx Resource Center works to build financial stability and housing security for Bronx residents through free bilingual and interconnected eviction prevention, housing help, financial coaching and financial empowerment services offered in person and virtually.  Each year we reach over 1,000 Bronx residents through our services and programs. In all the ways that we work, UNHP seeks to center and lift the voices of those most affected by issues of affordability. Recent community efforts include Lobby Link in-person services for the tenants in our buildings, launching the Bronx Housing Research Network to build multifamily finance and community acquisition knowledge among organizers and tenants groups, and organizing NWBRC housing seekers to identify and share their frustrations with the housing lottery.

We believe that our mission-driven collaborative approach of direct assistance to Bronx residents, ownership involvement in affordable multifamily properties, and relevant research into the issues that impact the Bronx, allows UNHP to bring a unique perspective and community-involved solutions to complex affordable housing preservation issues for the Bronx and for NYC’s lowest income families and individuals.

Community Preservation Corporation (CPC)

CPC was founded in 1974 as a direct response to the chronic issues of property abandonment and blight facing New York City’s neighborhoods and its multifamily housing stock. Uniquely, CPC was created to be a self-sustaining nonprofit that did not rely on charitable support. CPC started with a revolving pool of funding for short-term construction loans to finance building improvements, and a second pool to replenish the revolver by replacing the construction loans with long-term mortgages. Revenue would be generated through origination and servicing fees, which would allow for financial independence.

Since its founding five decades ago, CPC has invested over $15 billion to finance the creation and preservation of more than 230,000 units of affordable and workforce housing and is an equity investor with approximately 4,500 affordable units under ownership. Throughout its history it has continued to bring innovation to its mission of investing in the housing needs of underserved communities.

In the 1980s, CPC spearheaded the creation of the Public Private Apartment Rehabilitation program, with substantial loan purchase commitments from the New York City Police Pension Fund and the New York City Employees’ Retirement System. It was the first time any public pension fund in the country had invested in upgrading housing. This innovative model was later replicated with the New York State pension fund.

In the 1990s CPC built on its successes, taking its unique expertise and business model into every region across the state of New York. With offices in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, and the Hudson Valley, CPC created new public and private partnerships to transform former factories, theaters, and manufacturing centers into anchors of housing and commerce, revitalizing Upstate New York’s historic downtowns and city centers.

Located in the southeast Bronx and created as middle-income rental housing, Parkchester was the largest privately planned community in America when it was built in 1942, but by 1995 the complex was in dire straits. CPC joined two partners to acquire 6,360+ unsold units, retail space, and garages. Completed in 2005, the $250 million revitalization of Parkchester’s 171 buildings, 12,271-residential units, and 500,000 square-feet of retail space was the largest ever in the country at the time.

Following Hurricane Sandy in October of 2012, New York City designated CPC to administer its disaster recovery funding under the Build it Back Multifamily Program. Likewise, New York State selected CPC to run the SPARC program in 2015 to restore and create affordable housing in upstate communities impacted by a host of storms. When COVID-19 hit in early 2020, CPC was asked to administer financial relief through the small buildings program under the New York Forward Loan Fund, as well as the Surge Staffing Loan Program which filled a funding gap at New York City safety net hospitals.

Today, CPC uses its unique expertise in housing finance and public policy to expand access to affordable and workforce housing, advance diversity and equity within the development industry, and expand investment in the green economy and lessen the impact of climate change.

This includes the creation of CPC Mortgage Company in 2019 with its mission to provide flexible Agency mortgage capital in communities to expand and preserve affordable and workforce housing nationwide. In 2020 CPC launched the ACCESS initiative to provide financial resources and capacity building opportunities to BIPOC real estate entrepreneurs, with the goal of promoting and enabling greater racial diversity, equity, and inclusion in the industry.

In 2024, CPC entered its 50th year on the heels of several significant milestones. In April, Climate United, a coalition of three nonprofit organizations including CPC, was the recipient of a $7 billion award from the EPA’s National Clean Investment Fund. CPC leads the coalition’s multifamily market strategy through the deployment of targeted investments to decarbonize multifamily housing nationwide. In December 2023, as managing member of Community Stabilization Partners, CPC was chosen by the FDIC to service and asset manage $5.8 billion in loans, encompassing nearly 35,000 units of rent stabilized multifamily housing from the former Signature Bank portfolio.

CPC’s ability to create a positive impact in communities is rooted in its spirit of innovation and collaboration, and it is well positioned to continue to grow and serve the needs of communities for the next 50 years and beyond.

Eric Enderlin, President, NYC Housing Development Corporation (HDC)

Eric Enderlin has served as President of the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC) since October 2016. As President of HDC, Mr. Enderlin is tasked with leading the nation’s largest municipal Housing Finance Agency towards furthering the Administration’s goals to create and preserve affordable housing and rehabilitate the city’s public housing stock. Mr. Enderlin brings more than 20 years of experience in public policy and affordable housing to HDC. He most recently served as Deputy Commissioner for Development and Special Advisor at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). Prior to joining HPD, Mr. Enderlin was Assistant Director for Asset Management and Private Market Operations at NYCHA; worked as a consultant with the Louis Berger Group in its Economics Department; and served as Principal Planner and land use mediator with the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing (NJ COAH). Mr. Enderlin holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics and a Master of Science in urban planning and policy, both from Rutgers University.

Denise Scott, Strategic Advisory, Bell and Notice Advisors, LLC/Former President of LISC

Denise is the founder and CEO of Bell and Notice Advisors. Drawing from over four decades of leadership experience in community development, she advises nonprofit, public and private sector leaders on community investment and affordable housing strategies. She is nationally known for her strategic expertise.

Denise currently serves on the boards of the Consumer Finance Protection Board, NYC Housing Development Corporation and Queens Museum. From 2016 to 2022 she served on the Board of Directors of NY Federal Reserve Bank, serving as Chair from 2019 to 2021.

Prior to launching Bell and Notice Advisors she served in executive leadership roles at Local Initiatives Support Corporation, for over 24 years, culminating with her role as President.

During her tenure as President, Denise led LISC’s investment in 37 cities and rural areas in 49 states with a firm commitment to ensuring local leaders have the platform and capacity to drive strategies for equitable community change. She is responsible for providing vision and setting the strategic direction for local offices and national programs and leading implementation of enterprise priorities like Project 10X, LISC’s ambitious agenda to close racial health, wealth, and opportunity gaps.

Under Denise’s leadership LISC invested as much as $2 billion annually in urban and rural community development and expanded its footprint by nearly 20% with seven new local offices, primarily in the Southeast. She was also instrumental to LISC’s response to the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in communities of color, guiding the organization’s significant engagement with all levels of government, corporate donors, and philanthropy to support families, community-based nonprofits and small businesses in areas ranging from rent relief to the Paycheck Protection Program to equitable vaccine distribution.

Denise has a MS in Urban Planning from Columbia University and has taught at its Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation as a Visiting Assistant Professor. She also holds a BA from CUNY Hunter College.

CLARA FOX AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT

Ted Weinstein

Director of Bronx Planning, NYC Dept. of Housing Preservation & Development

A lifelong resident of the Bronx, Ted Weinstein has spent almost his entire adult life working on behalf of the Bronx and its communities, both professionally and through numerous civic and community organizations.

After attending Bronx public schools, Ted’s first formal activity began at age 19 with his appointment to his local community planning board in the East Bronx.  When his family moved to Co-op City, he organized his building association, joined various civic organizations, and was appointed to that area’s community (planning) board. After the birth of his children, Ted and his family moved to Riverdale, where his activities have included serving as the first resident president of his building cooperative and serving for nine years as an elected member of his local community school board.

But Ted Weinstein is probably best known for his work for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).  Ted joined HPD in 1980 as the director of the newly created Pelham Parkway Neighborhood Preservation Program (NPP) Office, which later became the Pelham Parkway/Soundview Office, and then finally a newly created South Bronx NPP Office.  In 1996, that office was reorganized as HPD’s Bronx Borough Planning Office, with Ted serving as Director of Bronx Planning.  With Ted as leader of the team, the unit has carried out numerous planning functions for the borough, with particular emphasis on new construction. Their work has supported the selection of sites, development teams, programs and projects, resulting in the construction of thousands of affordable residential units for the Bronx. Ted has been a strong advocate for affordable mixed income housing, including creating opportunities for senior and special needs populations, and for homeownership.  Recently asked what keeps him happy, Ted responded “attending groundbreakings and ribbon cuttings, through which I can see the fruit of my and my team’s labor”.  He particularly enjoys meeting the families who have moved into their new homes in the newly developed buildings.

Ted believes that among his most important roles has been to represent the needs and interests of HPD and the City to the communities of the Bronx, and to convey the interests and needs of the communities of the Bronx to HPD and the City.  In pursuit of these goals, he has attended more than a thousand community meetings, listening to residents and other stakeholders, and providing information about HPD’s programs, policies, and processes.