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{{unreferenced, date=September 2019 The United Housing Foundation (UHF) was a
real estate investment trust A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...
in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
that constructed numerous
cooperative housing A housing cooperative, or housing co-op, is a legal entity, usually a cooperative or a corporation, which owns real estate, consisting of one or more residential buildings; it is one type of housing tenure. Housing cooperatives are a distinc ...
projects, including
Rochdale Village Rochdale Village (pronounced ) is a housing cooperative and neighborhood in the southeastern corner of the New York City borough of Queens. Located in Community District 12, Rochdale Village is grouped as part of Greater Jamaica, corresponding t ...
in
Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
and
Co-op City Co-op City (short for Cooperative City) is a cooperative housing development located in the northeast section of the borough of the Bronx in New York City. It is bounded by Interstate 95 to the southwest, west, and north and the Hutchinson River ...
in
the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
.


Purpose

In 1951, the United Housing Foundation (UHF) was organized to provide broader sponsorship for
cooperative housing A housing cooperative, or housing co-op, is a legal entity, usually a cooperative or a corporation, which owns real estate, consisting of one or more residential buildings; it is one type of housing tenure. Housing cooperatives are a distinc ...
formalizing the success of
Abraham Kazan Abraham E. Kazan (1889–1971) is considered the "father of U.S. cooperative housing". Biography Abraham Kazan was born in 1889. Growing up as an eyewitness to appalling tenement conditions, Kazan believed that housing was a vital obstacle for ...
and his associates. By 1965 UHF and its predecessors had created some 23 cooperative housing projects in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, ranging in size from the 124-unit
Mutual Housing Association Crestwood Hills is a neighborhood within Brentwood, Los Angeles, California Brentwood is a suburban neighborhood in the Westside region of Los Angeles. History General Modern development began after the establishment of the Pacific Bran ...
in
the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
to
Rochdale Village Rochdale Village (pronounced ) is a housing cooperative and neighborhood in the southeastern corner of the New York City borough of Queens. Located in Community District 12, Rochdale Village is grouped as part of Greater Jamaica, corresponding t ...
in Queens, with 5,860 apartments and also its own food stores, nursery schools, a credit union, and a multitude of civic and social organizations, to make it an integrated and well-rounded community. The primary architect who designed the buildings with Kazan was
Herman Jessor Herman J. Jessor (June 15, 1894 – April 8, 1990) was an American architect who helped build more than 40,000 units of cooperative housing in New York City. He, along with Abraham Kazan, was a driving force of the cooperative housing movement in ...
. The United Housing Foundation worked primarily in New York City and
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
State, using financing from
savings bank A savings bank is a financial institution whose primary purpose is accepting savings account, savings deposits and paying interest on those deposits. History of banking, They originated in Europe during the 18th century with the aim of providi ...
s, insurance companies union pension funds and other conventional sources and also direct
mortgage loan A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any p ...
s from the State of New York. The UHF emphasis was on high-rise, large-scale projects to meet a mass need for lower priced housing in New York.


Largest cooperative effort

With the support of the Mayor of New York City and Governor of New York State, UHF developed
Co-op City Co-op City (short for Cooperative City) is a cooperative housing development located in the northeast section of the borough of the Bronx in New York City. It is bounded by Interstate 95 to the southwest, west, and north and the Hutchinson River ...
which now houses over 15,000 families, or about 40,000 people. UHF built schools for the project and turned them over to the Board of Education of New York City for operation. In addition, the community has three shopping centers with co-op supermarkets, branches of New York City banks and specialty shops and service stores necessary for service of this size community.


Other resources

Records relating to the United Housing Foundation are on deposit at the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation Center, Cornell University.


See also

*
List of New York City housing cooperatives A partial list of housing cooperatives in New York City. Projects originally built as housing cooperatives * Alku and Alku Toinen, started in 1916 by Finnish immigrants * Hudson View Gardens (1923–25), Hudson Heights, real estate developer ...
*
Cooperative Village 267px, Hillman Housing buildings on Grand Street as seen from the East River towers. Amalgamated Dwellings is seen between the second and the third tower Cooperative Village is a community of housing cooperatives on the Lower East Side of Ma ...
*
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) was a United States labor union known for its support for "social unionism" and progressive political causes. Led by Sidney Hillman for its first thirty years, it helped found the Congress of Ind ...
*
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), whose members were employed in the women's clothing industry, was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States, one of the first U.S. unions to have a primarily female membe ...
*
Penn South Penn South, officially known as Mutual Redevelopment Houses and formerly Penn Station South, is a limited-equity
on the ...
Housing cooperatives in the United States Organizations established in 1951 Co-op City, Bronx Real estate investment trusts of the United States 1951 establishments in New York City