Co-op City

This episode of 99% Invisible delves into the history and significance of Co-op City, a massive housing cooperative in the Bronx, New York. Initially met with criticism for its modernist architecture, Co-op City stands as a testament to a complex movement aimed at creating affordable middle-class housing in post-war America. The story begins with the narrator’s first impression of Co-op City’s imposing high-rises, which he initially mistook for public housing. However, Co-op City is revealed to be the world's largest housing cooperative, where residents own shares in the corporation that owns the building, granting them rights to their units and a say in their improvements. Unlike typical co-ops where shares can be sold for profit, the vision behind Co-op City, championed by Abraham Kasin, was to prevent profit-making to ensure long-term affordability. Abraham Kasin, a Russian immigrant and socialist, was passionate about cooperatives as an alternative to capitalism. As an organizer for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union, he witnessed the poor living conditions of garment workers and envisioned unions building their own apartment buildings for collective ownership. This concept of cooperative housing, while existing among the upper classes, was adapted by Kasin for the working class. The narrative then shifts to the post-World War II era in New York City, marked by a severe housing shortage. The Federal Housing Act of 1949 provided funding for slum clearance and housing construction. Robert Moses, New York City's influential urban planner, played a key role in this, aiming to replace blighted areas with better housing, including for the middle class. While many cities pursued a dual strategy of public housing for the poor and support for single-family homes, New York City sought to retain its middle-class population. Unions and socialists, including Kasin's United Housing Foundation (UHF), became key players in this effort. The UHF, formed in 1951, was an alliance of cooperatives, unions, and working-class groups. The introduction of the Mitchell-Lama program in 1955 by New York State further incentivized developers like the UHF to build middle-class housing by offering low-interest mortgages and tax breaks. This program financed over 100,000 units of affordable housing. The UHF's projects grew in scale, culminating in the Penn South Cooperative in Manhattan, a massive development housing garment workers. The dedication ceremony for Penn South in 1962 was a high-profile event attended by prominent figures like John F. Kennedy. However, this ambitious urban renewal came at a cost. Kasin and Moses, despite their overlapping visions for city improvement, faced criticism for displacing residents and destroying existing neighborhoods. Jane Jacobs, a prominent critic of urban renewal, argued that these projects destroyed existing communities and created sterile environments. The eviction of thousands of residents for projects like Penn South, with many unable to afford the new cooperative housing, highlighted the limitations of this approach, particularly for the poorer segments of the working class, who were often African American or Puerto Rican. The UHF's insistence on an equity deposit, while intended to foster a sense of ownership, also acted as a barrier. The UHF’s largest project, and arguably the crowning achievement of Kasin's vision, was Co-op City. Built on the site of a defunct amusement park, it avoided the need for evictions, a concession to critics like Jane Jacobs. However, the construction of 35 skyscrapers on a swampy site proved to be immensely expensive. The initial $235 million mortgage ballooned to $391 million due to inflation. This led to increased carrying charges for residents, who had been promised lower monthly costs. The residents felt duped and condescended to by the UHF, which maintained control over the co-op board and decisions. This led to a major turning point: the Co-op City rent strike in 1975. Residents withheld their carrying charges for 13 months, demonstrating a powerful collective action. The strike, though not achieving significant mortgage relief, resulted in the residents taking control of Co-op City from the UHF in 1976, effectively ending the UHF's building endeavors. The mid-1970s marked a shift away from the era of big government liberalism towards a more neoliberal approach. Co-op City, once seen as a symbol of ambitious government intervention, faced challenges. The worldwide recession and New York City's financial crisis meant reduced government subsidies. White flight intensified, and Co-op City, initially predominantly white and Jewish, began to transform. By 1976, 90% of the waiting list was Black and Hispanic, and by 1990, it had become a majority-Black community. Despite anxieties about crime and decline, Co-op City did not experience the widespread neglect seen in other neighborhoods undergoing racial transition. It remained a middle-class community, partly due to the equity deposit, which by the 1980s became more accessible to the growing Black middle class, fostering stability. The development has also become the largest naturally occurring retirement community (NORC) in the US, offering affordability for older residents on fixed incomes. Co-op City, which once symbolized the perils of government overreach, now serves as a reminder of what ambitious public initiatives can create. As New York City once again grapples with a housing crisis, the ambition to build on a large scale, despite the mistakes made in the past, remains crucial. The question for the city is not whether to undertake such large-scale projects again, but whether it can afford not to.