MAJOR POLICY STUDY BY CENTRO AT HUNTER COLLEGE FINDS HOUSING EMERGENCY AND OVERCROWDING DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECTS CITY LATINOS

Center for Puerto Rican Studies Researcher Also Finds Non-Immigrant and Immigrant Blacks Fare Poorly

Date: July 31, 2003
Contact: Marisa Osorio (marisa.osorio@hunter.cuny.edu)
Phone: (646) 235-2391
Contact: Felix Matos-Rodriguez (felix.matos@hunter.cuny.edu)
Phone: (212) 772-5715

A new public policy study by the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College (CENTRO) finds that Latinos are disproportionately dependent on the tight New York City rental market. Also, the reduced availability of affordable and low-rent housing affects Latinos more than other groups.

"This report shows unequivocally that affordable housing should be one of the most important priorities for any elected official who cares about New York’s Latino community," said Carlos Vargas-Ramos, the report’s author and a CENTRO researcher.

The report’s findings include:

• The vacancy rate is at one of its lowest levels in years (2.94%). For low-rent units ($500 or less a month), the vacancy rate is even lower (1.54%).
• Latinos are disproportionately dependent on the tight rental market. Fifty-two percent of non-immigrant whites and 59 percent of immigrant whites rely on the rental housing market. However, for Latinos the ratio is higher: 73 percent of non-immigrants and 85 percent of immigrants are reliant on rental housing.
• Blacks fare poorly as well, renting at 78 percent for non-immigrants and 75 percent for immigrants.
• Latino neighborhoods are among those whose residents spend the greatest fraction of their- income on rent.
• Latinos tend to live in neighborhoods that are disproportionately affected by stressed housing. Overcrowding stresses the physical infrastructure of homes and this stress creates hazards that can trigger asthma, exposure to lead paint and asbestos.
• The federal government has turned its back on the provision of housing at the most critical level. It has shut off the financing for new public housing when the need is increasing. The state and city governments have not met the demand for low-and moderate-income housing, while the private sector has demonstrated that it is only interested in meeting the demand for housing at the high end of the spectrum.

Vargas-Ramos said these serious housing issues can be remedied if the federal, state and city governments finance the construction of new low-and moderate-income housing and the rehabilitation of deteriorated existing structures. He added that the provisions in federal law that prohibit the use of federal funds to add new units of public housing must specifically be repealed.

The CENTRO researcher also said state and local governments must use the capital and operating funds available to them through federal sources to mitigate environmental hazards in public housing. If additional housing at the low- and moderate-income levels is not provided,

Vargas-Ramos warned, the city will find that:

• Overcrowding will persist.
• The deterioration of housing stock will continue.
• Environmental hazards present in homes will proliferate, exacerbating health conditions among those who can least afford it.
• Stressed housing stock may become uninhabitable.
• Homelessness will remain unabated or will grow.

"This report shows how important it is that elected officials and housing developers in the private sector find ways to provide affordable housing for Latinos," said Felix V. Matos-Rodriguez, director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College. "Overcrowding has a very negative impact on many aspects of the quality of life for Latinos, including health." He added that this study is just "the tip of the iceberg."

"More extensive research on Latino housing and public health issues is needed to find out how they relate and in order to provide specific solutions to the ills that plague Latinos," Matos-Rodriguez said.

The entire housing policy study can be found at www.centropr.org.

Centro is the only university-based research institute in the United States devoted to the interdisciplinary study of the Puerto Rican experience. Centro is also the oldest and largest Latino research and archival institution in the Northeast. Its Library and Archives are the principal Puerto Rican Studies research collection in the country and the most extensive Latino research and archival facility in the Northeastern United States. It is also the only library and archives in the State of New York exclusively dedicated to Puerto Rican and Latino documentation. Centro will be celebrating its 30th anniversary during the 2003-2004 academic year.

About Hunter
With a highly diverse student population of more than 20,000, Hunter is the largest college in the City University of New York (CUNY) system and the first choice among all CUNY applicants. Founded in 1870, the College offers more than 170 undergraduate and graduate programs. Hunter is noted for its professional schools in education, health sciences, nursing and social work, as well as its excellence in the liberal arts. Heralded as the "Crown Jewel of CUNY" by The Princeton Review, Hunter College has a distinguished reputation for nurturing talented minority scientists and meeting the challenge of providing high-quality science education in the 21st century. The College also oversees the Hunter College Campus Schools serving gifted and talented students, preschool through grade 12. For more information about Hunter College, please visit our Web site at http://www.hunter.cuny.edu.

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