Program areas at CNYC
A. In 2023, Cnyc continued to conduct all meetings including its annual conference via zoom. B. Efforts continued to focus on bringing back lapsed memberships and on advocacy for improvement in property tax law, energy and carbon reduction regulations, etc, to protect the interests and needs of housing Cooperatives and condominiums. Many online educational events were offered and regular communication with members continued to take the primary form of frequent e-blasts, with notices subsequently posted on the Cnyc website.
D. on sunday, november 12th, Cnyc held its 43rd annual housing conference as an all-virtual event. Cnyc offered 42 classes in three time frames plus a plenary session in the middle of the day. 68 knowledgeable volunteer speakers shared their expertise with 321 conference registrants, and in the plenary session, nyc chief sustainability officer rohit aggarwala sent a recorded message to participants and energy experts from the New York state energy research & development authority made presentations as did city council member gale brewer and several Cnyc leaders.
C. despite Cnyc's efforts membership remained stagnant, with only 960 Cooperatives and condominiums paying dues by the end of the year. This includes 23 New members. 64 professionals renewed their affiliation with the council and 2 New professionals joined in 2023. They all received Cnyc notices and publications, including the comparative study of 2021 operating cost, and were able to avail themselves of the benefits of the organization at no cost or at special member and affiliate rates. Since 2017, membership in the national association of housing Cooperatives (nahc) has been mandatory for Cnyc members, giving all Cnyc members full membership rights at nahc, whose advocacy function with the federal government is very important to Cnyc.
E. consistent with the council's goals of enhancing member Cooperatives and condominiums' ability to function efficiently, affordably and safely, and in compliance with all applicable laws, the council conducted 29 evening classes in the course of the year which, in the aggregate, were attended by more than 800 people. Four of these focused on explaining the responsiblities of New York city housing Cooperatives and condominiums larger than 25,000 square feet under New York's stringent carbon reduction legislation which starts to levy penalties for failure to meet compliance milestones in 2024 (and every five years thereafter); city council members were happy to alert their constituents to this important free sustainability series. F. the council compiled and published its annual comparative study of building operating costs which included data gleaned from the annual financial statements of over 1000 Cooperatives and condominiums, reported in eight categories, east side Cooperatives in manhattan), west side Cooperatives (in manhattan) , manhattan condominiums, condominiums outside of manhattan, large Cooperatives outside of manhattan, small manhattan Cooperatives, small brooklyn Cooperatives, and loft Cooperatives and condominiums. The comparative study helps members determine if their own buildings are operating efficiently and enables them to target areas where they may be able to reduce current costs. For a 7th year, consultants at decision fish prepared for the council's website an online tool to facilitate comparisons in the study. In addition to its use by Cnyc members and professional affiliates, the annual comparative study is used by brokers, appraisers, journalists and economists in studying New York city's Cooperatives and condominiums. G. the council's award winning website, www.cnyc.coop completed its 28th year in october. Links to hundreds of websites of related interest and scores of "pages" of information about Cooperatives and condominiums make this a popular information center. It continued to grow and flourish, providing information about the organization to surfers of the internet and answering their questions via e-mail the internet suffix dot coop continues to be effective in calling attention to Cooperatives and in further 'branding' Cnyc services. G. the council's director of membership and communications continued to provide information about Cnyc on social media including instagran facebook and twitter. A New board committee was formed to brainstorm New ways to expand the council's social media presence. H. Cnyc continues to urge that the city's strong efforts at carbon reduction be implemented with more equitable procedures, citing for guidance the bluepoint for efficiency, prepared by the urban green council summarizing the activities of the energy task force that it had convened in 2017. This document advocates careful attention to building's density, use, etc, in the determination of progressive percentages of reduction in reliance on fossil fuels. I. Through its action committee for reasonable real estate taxes, Cnyc continues to work with the nyc department of finance to facilitate compliance with modifications to the property tax abatement program that has been in place since 1996, sorting out confusion relating to responsibility for confirming the primary residency requirement and the 2017 online reporting forms where Cooperatives and condominiums must now confirm annually that their buildings wish to continue to participate in the abatement program. Legislation enacted in 2021 further amended the abatement program to require that for many Cooperatives and condominiums with higher assessed value to continue to have qualifying shareholders and unit owners receive the abatement they must submit an affidavit confirming that all building services workers are paid prevailing wages. This affidavit is required of buildings meeting the financial requirements, even if they don't have any building services employees. J. The council continued to work with other organizations in the real estate industry in New York city to mitigate the cost of various filings and building modifications required by law, and to expand opportunities for grants, abatements and other incentives to defray the costs of compliance for those who struggle with these costs. K. the council continues to help members cope with city laws that requires all buildings of 25,000 square feet or more to 'benchmark' their water and energy costs and to prominently display their letter grades on this benchmarking. L. the council continues to consult with leaders of diverse organizations for housing Cooperatives to combat legislative attempts at state and city levels to control the admissions process that is so important to housing Cooperatives, where ownership is shared and all shareholders are expected to contribute to the community. M. the council's director of membership and communications serves on the current code revision committee of the nyc department of buildings. N. the council's executive director continues to serve on the board of the realty advisory board on labor relations Inc. (the rab) which represents property owners in their dealings with service employees. O. The council's executive director also serves on the advisory board of 32bj's thomas shortman training fund's school for union members. It currently offers training to union members up and down the east coast. P. the council's executive director is a member of the resident management council of the real estate board of New York q. The council continued to provide courses that qualify for continuing education credit for cpas in New York state and continuing legal education accreditation for qualifying classes. R. the council's director of membership and communication runs two regular discussion groups at five or six week intervals throughout the year, one discussion group for small buildings and another for medium and large buildings. Many 'regulars' now attend these meetings and each meeting also draws New participants. The council also ran its two-session class entitled introduction to co-op board responsibilities: an intensive seminar for New directors, a session on Cnyc's model proprietary lease, and its free wheeling workshop for building treasurers, where questions brought by participants set the discussion agenda. S. the council continued to be represented on the legislative action committee of the New York state chapter of the community associations institute, joining forces with other Cooperatives, condominiums and homeowner associations statewide to work together on legislative priorities. T. the council's continues to work closely with the national association of housing Cooperatives, where the council's executive director chairs the government relations committee, and the council's assistant treasurer volunteers his services. Nahc continues to push for passage of congressional legislation introduced to enable fema to make grants to housing Cooperatives, condominiums and home owner associations when disasters destroy building-wide systems or devastate common property and legislation to enable veterans to use their low interest loan benefits to purchase homes in housing Cooperatives. U. The council's executive director serves on the board of the urban homestead- ing assistance board (uhab), Inc. Which provides funding and training for the establishment, refurbishing and maintaining of cooperative housing for low income families. Uhab leaders presented three classes at Cnyc's virtual 43rd annual housing conference. Uhab also arranged for 49 of its members to log on to classes at that conference.