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Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) receives $200,000
Housing for Everyone Grant from the TD Charitable Foundation
Support from the TD Charitable Foundation will help UHAB
Support HDFCs in the Bronx with Local Law 97 Compliance
NEW YORK, NY, MAY 13, 2025 – UHAB, a nonprofit that helps low- to moderate- income New Yorkers create and preserve affordable homeownership, was recently awarded a $200,000 Housing for Everyone grant from the TD Charitable Foundation, the giving arm of TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank®. UHAB is one of 36 nonprofit organizations selected from more than 270 applicants to receive a Housing for Everyone grant as part of the TD Charitable Foundation’s annual, signature program, which has helped support organizations providing affordable housing and affordable housing services since 2005.
Access to housing remains a major issue for individuals and families across the country. But sustaining homeownership amid the increasing costs of maintenance and other economic pressures is just as prevalent of a challenge. This growing burden has put significant financial strain on many households, particularly those with lower incomes, underscoring the need for the TD Charitable Foundation’s 2025 Housing for Everyone grant program. This year’s focus was on supporting organizations that provide solutions through post-purchase support to help those struggling to maintain homeownership due to rising property taxes, increasing home insurance premiums and expensive repairs, for example.
To address some of these challenges, UHAB will use the Housing for Everyone grant to support homeowners by supporting 15 distressed Housing Development Fund Corporations (HDFCs) in the Bronx with compliance costs related to Local Law 97, New York City’s landmark building emissions law.
The initiative is designed to address the financial barriers low-income HDFC co-ops face in complying with LL97, including upfront filing and reporting fees. Many of these co-ops are home to Black, Latinx, and immigrant families in buildings that lack the reserves or access to capital to meet city-mandated energy upgrades—putting them at risk of steep fines, rising maintenance costs, or even foreclosure.
This funding comes at a critical time. Despite a growing need for energy-efficient retrofits in aging buildings, existing incentive programs often overlook the specific needs of co-ops serving low- to moderate-income residents. The TD grant will directly fund compliance costs while UHAB continues to provide technical assistance to guide co-op boards through the LL97 process—helping to stabilize over 900 households and preserve affordability.
“We’re proud that UHAB has been selected as a recipient of the TD Charitable Foundation’s 19th annual Housing for Everyone grant program,” said Margy Brown, Executive Director of UHAB. “This year’s focus on sustaining homeownership for low- to moderate-income families is at the heart of our work. Our project tackles the problem of energy burdens, one of the most urgent challenges facing HDFC co-ops today, posing a real threat to long-term housing stability. With TD’s support, we’re helping co-ops overcome the financial barrier to improving building efficiency, and preserving affordability for hundreds of New York families.”
“The costs of owning a home can rise substantially as houses begin to age, putting owners, especially those in low- to moderate-income neighborhoods, in a vulnerable financial position,” said Paige Carlson-Heim, Director of the TD Charitable Foundation. “That’s why supporting the critical assistance and educational programming of UHAB through the Housing for Everyone grant program is crucial. UHAB is setting people up for long-term success, empowering them with resources to ensure they can stay in their homes over the long term.”
Through the TD Charitable Foundation’s 19th annual Housing for Everyone grant program, a total of $7.2 million was awarded across the bank’s footprint to help support programming for low- to moderate-income homeowners. Organizations were selected for their programs focused on post-purchase homeownership support, such as foreclosure counseling, agency-owned and/or managed financial assistance funds, legal assistance and/or property tax relief programs, and energy efficiency improvements. Since 2005, more than $63 million has been granted to support more than 620 affordable housing projects and initiatives through the Housing for Everyone program. Learn more about the Housing for Everyone grant program here.
About UHAB
UHAB empowers low- to moderate-income residents to take control of their housing and enhance communities by creating strong tenant associations and lasting affordable co-ops. UHAB primarily serves and creates limited-equity housing co-ops, or HDFCs (Housing Development Fund Corporations), which provide permanently affordable homeownership to low-income New Yorkers between 50-120% of area median income (AMI). Our services include tenant organizing, technical assistance and training for low-income homeowners, affordable housing development and preservation, green energy programs, and low-cost loans. Our goal is to keep low-income New Yorkers in their homes and create new affordable homeownership opportunities. UHAB’s mission is to empower low- to moderate-income residents to take control of their housing and enhance communities by creating strong tenant associations and lasting affordable co-ops.
About the TD Charitable Foundation
The TD Charitable Foundation is the giving arm of TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank®, one of the 10 largest banks in the U.S., providing more than 10 million customers with a full range of retail, small business and commercial banking products and services at more than 1,100 convenient locations throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Metro D.C., the Carolinas and Florida. Since its inception in 2002, the Foundation has distributed over $361 million through donations to local nonprofits across the bank’s footprint. Learn more about the TD Charitable Foundation here.
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Quotes from our Partners:
“Addressing climate change must go hand in hand with protecting affordable housing and uplifting the communities most impacted by systemic inequities. This project represents a crucial step in ensuring that low-income, homeownership communities, like HDFC co-ops in the Bronx, have the support they need to meet the goals of Local Law 97 while preserving long-term affordability,” said Jennifer Leone, Assistant Commissioner/Chief Sustainability Officer at New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. “UHAB’s decades of trusted work with HDFC co-ops and their deep-rooted commitment to empowering residents and addressing climate change make them the ideal partner to lead this critical effort. We are proud to support this initiative and look forward to seeing its impact on building a greener, more equitable New York City.”
Media Contact:
Rania Dalloul
Chief Advancement Officer
UHAB
dalloul@uhab.org
Natasha Brown
Corporate Communications Manager
TD Bank
Natasha.Brown@td.com