I met Elizabeth Wilson in her hospital bed. She was a senior staring at the end of her life. She hired me to sell her coop and was looking forward to enjoying her last remaining years with the money from her sale. Neither of us saw what was coming next.
She happily accepted Barry’s offer three months later. Barry was qualified, had his pre-approval and his ratios all were looking good. He never imagined that his application would be rejected by the board with no explanation. But it was, so we started over.
Then we found a buyer named Jeffrey for more money. He was qualified with pre-approval and good ratios. He signed contracts, submitted his application and was promptly rejected with no explanation. Elizabeth was getting weaker and weaker, but she had faith that she would see the end of the tunnel. We were baffled but undaunted, so we started over.
After Jeffrey we found buyer Boliver for even more money. Rejected again by the board. After Boliver we found Yesenia who was also rejected, and then Gindy who was also rejected. Five buyers in all were found, signed contracts, submitted board applications with fees and all five were rejected over a two year period. Elizabeth died in an assisted living facility, never seeing the windfall she had earned and was looking forward to.
The problem is New York State still has unaccountable co-op boards who still decide the future for our families. Their decision yea or nay is final and can’t be challenged in court or even disclosed as to why. Isn’t it time we got rid of this?
Co-ops are affordable housing which are owned and controlled by the residents. The word co-op is short for cooperative. The first true cooperative development was started in 1918 by a group of Finnish artisans – the Finnish Home Building Association in Brooklyn, New York. The early cooperatives were sold to high income people who wanted the advantages and economies of individual home ownership without all of the responsibilities. Co-op residents quickly discovered they could legally reject membership to people not of the right racial, ethnic, or religious background.
The front line of racial and ethnic discrimination is, and has always been, housing. Nationally we still see case after case of housing discrimination still happening. Westchester just settled one in 2017. However, New York state is still turning a blind eye to legal discrimination under the veil of secrecy. Co-ops still legally reject qualified applicants from housing without explanation or ability to challenge.
Realtors groups are lobbying to create transparency and disclosure requiring coop boards to give a reason in writing to an applicant, and establish a reasonable time frame for co-op boards to act on applications. It is too late for Elizabeth, but not too late for you. Support the Coop Disclosure proposals in New York State and make sure what happened to Elizabeth, Barry, Jeffrey, Boliver, Yesenia and Gindy never happens again.