838 Park: A Story of Cooperation Among Cooperatives 838 Park became an HDFC (Housing Development Fund Corporation), a limited equity—or capped income—co-op in 2005, and is one of 72 HDFC co-op buildings with 1,349 units in Crown Heights. There are 355 HDFC co-op buildings in Brooklyn with 5,291 units, and 1,283 HDFC co-op buildings and 26,201 units city-wide, according to the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB), an organization that supports residents and shareholders to create and sustain affordable housing cooperatives. Most were formed during the 1970s when landlords abandoned thousands of buildings, leaving a significant amount of New Yorkers with a housing crisis. UHAB and residents took matters into their own hand, and through sweat equity, cooperation, and collective ownership secured genuinely affordable and quality housing for low and moderate income New Yorkers. Long-term shareholder Rebecca Robinson-Lawrence recalls, “I have lived at 838 Park Place for almost fifty years and to have your home go from being nearly condemned and/or sold off to a private entity to a moderately priced cooperative is nothing short of a miracle. No one would […]
Read MoreMore Tag