Sam Moskowitz, Gouverneur Gardens board president, testifies on reform recommendations

Okay, so we're going to start with Sam Moskowitz.

And then I think there is someone, Jean Hall, I know was here in person, but I think there's someone else who may be using her account.

So we'll start with Sam Moskowitz, followed by Jean Hall.

Thank you.

Can you hear me okay?

Yes, we hear you.

Okay, I'm sorry I wasn't able to be there in person, but I've been listening to every word online from my office.

My name is Sam Moskowitz.

I'm the board president of Gouvernir Gardens, which is a 60-year-old, 782-unit Michelama co-op on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

I really appreciate everyone who's still there and everyone who showed up today.

I know preserving affordable housing for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers is not as sexy as banning horses.

So I truly appreciate you all being here.

I know for me personally, this is the most important hearing of the day, even though we won't be reading about it on the cover of the Post tomorrow.

So our community at Gouvernir Gardens represents both the profound success of Michelama.

But also shows the urgent need for structural reform.

Over 70% of our residents are low income, many of whom are seniors aging in place, and we're currently undergoing a $54 million capital improvement project to replace much of our aging infrastructure.

After serving on the board for about 10 years and building relationships with other Michelamas, I'm very aware of the challenges we face.

And I'm not here to complain, but I just wanted to come and give a list.

of recommendations.

So first, I won't dwell on the skyrocketing insurance costs because it's already been covered at length.

I calculated our unit cost is about $1,800 per unit for insurance, which has doubled over the past few years.

And so I just urge you to do whatever you can to further subsidize these costs and help us out.

So we don't have to further pass on these costs and burden our low-income residents.

Second, which has also been touched on a lot today, is we really need to stop sacrificing the long-term stability of this program with short-term affordability.

So for too long, the pattern has been don't raise carrying charges and deferred maintenance.

The financial crisis facing us is not just a product of this recent inflation.

It's a very...

Your time is expired.

Sorry.

Well, I did submit a full written testimony, and I have a number of recommendations, including

requiring multi-year budget projections, standardizing the reporting for one-, three-, and five-year budgets to transition developments from reactive crisis management to proactive planning.

Like Dick said, adopt simplified zero-sum budgeting, simplifying the process with HPD to avoid these disruptive double-digit spikes.

Assisting us by allowing us to hire a owner's rep earlier in the contract process for capital improvement.

Not doing so is a huge missed opportunity and costs our residents both financial resources and in their health.

And finally, mandate the tracking of key indicators that would indicate financial distress, specifically vacancies and arrears.

We budget for 5% vacancy loss, but it should be lower.

But if there's co-ops that have higher losses, they need to be on some sort of corrective plan and helped by HPD in advance.

So I did submit a much longer written testimony.

Thank you all for your time.

And thanks again.

Great.

Thank you so much.

And next we have Jean Hall.