Daniel Russo, 33

Imagine a knock on your door. There’s a young guy in a suit with an offer too good to be true: Let us renovate your apartment for free to improve your living conditions. 

But when Douglaston’s Daniel Russo is the one knocking, you can be sure it isn’t a con.

Setting out on his career, Russo knew he wanted to work in housing and provide people with high-quality, safe and — especially — affordable places to live. One way he is able to do this is through occupied rehab projects, which involve going into units where people are living and renovating around them. He said it is a rewarding field, but sometimes frustrating. 

“There’s a tremendous amount of distrust because folks have been living in poor housing conditions for such a long time,” Russo said. “And then we come along and say, out of the goodness of our hearts, we’re going to make your housing conditions dramatically better, and there’s going to be no ask of you as a resident. There’s going to be no raises in your rent. You’re going to get to stay here. And people don’t believe you.” 

One such project Russo and the Douglaston team are working on is the revitalization of the Sack Wern Houses in the Soundview section of the Bronx. About 800 residents live in 411 units on this 5-acre campus. It is an ongoing process, but Russo believes in maintaining effective communication throughout to create a positive relationship with the residents whose homes you are entering. 

“It can be frustrating because some people just don’t trust you, and they have plenty of good reasons not to,” he said. “They’ve been sold things that sound too good in their housing conditions for a long time. But that project is about 11 months into construction. At the start, we tried to democratize the process across the board … so residents would have input. And then see some of those decisions actually come and be materialized in their units.”