Who We Are > CPC History

Early Successes

At first, CPC's emphasis was on restoring and rebuilding New York's aging neighborhoods. CPC focused its early efforts on two communities: Washington Heights in Manhattan and Crown Heights in Brooklyn. Because of widespread housing abandonment, the city's Housing and Development Administration (currently the Department of Housing Preservation and Development) designated these communities as Neighborhood Preservation Areas.

CPC worked to coordinate public and private resources to create a "one-stop shop" where local owners could obtain construction and permanent financing, public subsidy, and assistance in moderate rehabilitation. CPC's goal was to preserve the existing housing stock on a scale that could stem abandonment and to create a model that could be replicated elsewhere.

Initial efforts were successful. For example, in Washington Heights, CPC loans helped rehabilitate nearly 12% of the community's housing stock --approximately 9,000 units in about six years.