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BRONX TIMES REPORTER, APR. 8-14, 2022 BXR
BY ROBBIE SEQUEIRA
The marathon COVID-19 pandemic has
pushed NYC homeowners to overwhelming
mortgage distress — some to the brink
of foreclosure — but perhaps no borough
is disproportionately affected by virusfueled
mortgage distress more than the
Bronx.
In 17 out of the Bronx’s 25 ZIP codes,
mortgage delinquency of 30 days or more is
above 4%, according to a housing analysis
compiled by the Center for NYC Neighborhoods.
And for some areas like Mott Haven
and Hunts Point, delinquency has boomed
to 13%.
More than 10% of homeowner households
in the borough were more than 20
days delinquent on their mortgages.
According to the Center for NYC Neighborhoods,
rates of mortgage distress also
were distributed along with historical patterns,
with some of the hardest-hit neighborhoods
having been at the center of the
2008 foreclosure crisis and predatory lending.
Additionally, the city’s majority Black
neighborhoods were most at risk for foreclosures,
with these ZIP codes having an
average of 8.48% of homeowners who had
failed to make their mortgage payments
for more than 30 days.
Much like the 2008 foreclosure crisis,
market research suggests that the postpandemic
effect on homeowners is poised
to be felt most strongly among communities
of color, potentially fueling the already
widening racial wealth gap.
Factors such as flood proneness or disadvantages
with the city’s annual tax lien
sale — which expired last month at the request
of housing reform groups — have led
to high levels of mortgage distress.
According to an analysis prepared by
the New Economy Project, the city’s Tax
Lien Sale List in 2021 included nearly 3
million square feet of vacant residential
land across the five boroughs — on which
more than 3,600 units of affordable housing
could be built, if the debt for that land
was not sold to investors and summarily
resold or foreclosed upon.
Following its expiration last month, legislation
authorizing the sale of those liens,
which dates back to the administration of
then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani — stipulates
that the sale will not happen again unless
the City Council and mayor explicitly authorize
new legislation.
Homeowners in City Council District 12
(Wakefield) and 18 (Parkchester) had some
In 17 out of the Bronxs 25 ZIP codes, mortgage delinquency of 30 days or more is above 4%, according
to a housing analysis compiled by the Center for NYC Neighborhoods. File photo
of the highest number of properties on the
city’s Tax Lien Sale List.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has made incentivizing
and retaining homeownership in the
state a priority in her $216.3 billion budget,
outlining more than $400 million in funding
for homeownership initiatives.
In their one-house budgets, the Senate
and Assembly have allocations for foreclosure
prevention services, acquisition funding
for permanently affordable homeownership
units, and home repair funding.
Bronx has highest missed mortgage
payments, biggest disparities
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