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CARRION DELIVERS 7TH ANNUAL STATE OF THE BOROUGH
HIGHLIGHTS CONTINUED BRONX INVESTMENT BOOM—TAKES ON SUB-PRIME MORTGAGE CRISIS
Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, Jr. delivered his 7th State of the Borough Address at Fordham University today. Carrion’s rousing speech highlighted the unprecedented economic boom that the Bronx is experiencing including the creation of more private sector jobs than any other Borough and a more than 50% cut in the unemployment rate since 2001. Just last year there was 1.5 billion dollars invested in the Bronx. 65% of the 1.5 billion invested was in residential development, 27% in institutional including 13 new schools and 8% in commercial development. “When I became Borough President I said the Bronx is open for business, and through an aggressive economic development plan that included private investment, housing development , small business opportunities, and home ownership we have proven that the Bronx is sound investment,” stated Carrion. Carrion pointed out that at least seven of ten constituent requests and complaints his office gets are related to housing. Carrion said . “Since I took office in 2002, $2.2 billion has been invested in residential real estate, 40% of our budget has gone to housing development and 35,000 new units have been built, 15,000 of which are classified affordable.” “The Bronx is growing and everyday more and more people are calling the borough home,” stated Carrion. “The Bronx is not only the place to open a business, it is a place to raise a family.” Carrion also pointed out his aggressive strategy to increase homeownership in the Borough. This strategy included an annual homebuyers fair and workshops that attracted several thousand families who learned how to qualify for a mortgage and finance their first home. Since Carrion to office over 7500 families have bought homes in the Bronx. “In order to build on our recovery and sustain our growth we must hold on to the middle class,” stated Carrion. “The way we do this is by providing opportunities for young families, as they enter the middle class, to own a piece of the American Dream right here.” Carrion also unveiled plans to hold a summit on the sub-prime mortgage crisis that is hitting the city. A recently released report by the Federal Reserve of New York identified sub-prime loans and foreclosure rates by ZIP Codes throughout the entire state. This report shows that the Bronx is being hit particularly hard. The largest number of sub-prime loans in The Bronx was in zip codes 10466 (1055 loans) and 10469 (999 loans), both in the Northeast Bronx. The highest foreclosure rates on sub-prime loans were in 10459 (16.3%), 10457 (16.1%), and 10460 (15.9%) in the central South Bronx. As a result, the Borough President will host a Foreclosure Prevention Summit with leading government agencies, Government Sponsored Enterprises and not-for-profits to target financial and education support to Bronx neighborhoods with high sub prime mortgage and foreclosure rates. The purpose of this summit is to target existing financial and educational resources identified for foreclosure prevention to Bronx homeowners facing foreclosure. “The time for action is now”, stated Carrion. “We are not going to let another homeowner unfairly lose their home. The business community and government must work together to address this serious issue.” ###
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