City's housing, retail programs are recognized by HUD.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has recognized two of New York City's homeownership and community development programs as "Best Practices." The HomeWorks and StoreWorks programs were selected as two of HUD's 50 Best Practices for the year 2000, out of a pool of more than 2,000 nominations nationwide.

HomeWorks and StoreWorks were created as part of the Giuliani administration's disposition plan to accelerate the sale and rehabilitation of City-owned buildings. Administered by the NYC Department of Housjng Preservation and Development, both programs take distressed City-owned buildings and turn them into homes and, in the case of StoreWorks, businesses for community residents

"The success of these programs stems from the fact that they make high-quality rehabilitated homes affordable to moderate- and middle-income families, which in turn bolsters private economic activity that benefits all residents of the community," remarked HPD Acting Commissioner Jerilyn Perine. "We are extremely proud that these important programs received 'Best Practice' recognition from HUD."

In the first round of HomeWorks and StoreWorks, 699 dwelling units and 36 commercial spaces in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens have been rehabilitated and sold. Round II is now underway, with 491 dwelling units and 61 commercial spaces currently in development.

Under the HomeWorks program, started in 1995, vacant one- to four-family, City-owned buildings are conveyed through a competitive request-for-proposals process to experienced developers at $1/building, then completely rehabilitated and sold to individual home buyers at market prices. The developers work with lenders to provide mortgages with low down payments, and the lenders use flexible underwriting standards to allow more rental Income to qualify potential home buyers, which helps make homes affordable. Owners are required to live in the homes, increasing local investment in the neighborhood, and improving homeownership rates in areas with low owner-occupant populations.

Building on the success of HomeWorks, the StoreWorks Program was started in 1997 to rehabilitate small, vacant, City-owned, mixed-use buildings and restore them to private ownership. These buildings generally contain a storefront at street level and one- to eight-residential units above.

Neighborhood Housing Services of New York (NHS) is the developer for StoreWorks projects, acquiring the buildings, securing financing from private lenders, overseeing design and construction, and marketing the buildings once they are complete.

By creating both affordable housing and places of commerce, StoreWorks not only strengthens private investment in a neighborhood, it gives the neighborhood tangible employment opportunities, increased livable housing stock, and increased accessibility to commercial services. "It's not just the fact that 34 buildings were rehabbed, but more importantly, more than two dozen languishing commercial strips got a real shot in the arm, with brand new storefronts and new businesses," said Francine C. Justa, executive director of NHS.

Integral to the success of Home Works and StoreWorks has been the financing of the projects by private lenders. The Bank of New York, EAB, and Greenpoint Bank are valuable community partners with HPD in the effort to rebuild New York City's communities. In Round I, financing by private lenders accounted for more than 70% of funding for HomeWorks projects and more than 50% of funding for StoreWorks projects, with HPD funding and Developer Equity covering the remaining costs.

HomeWorks and StoreWorks are two of a number of programs designed to prevent the problem of abandonment by identifying and attracting potential owners who have a desire to live in and invest in a revitalized neighborhood.