Today, Mayor de Blasio announced a plan to raise revenue and improve maintenance and operations in public housing. Building on his announcement last month to convert 62,000 public housing through RAD and other programs, the Mayor announced plans to maximize revenue through infill and air right sales. In addition, heightened attention is paid to maintenance needs and operations. The plan announced here, is found in detail in 2 parts:
NYHC is supportive of expanding RAD conversions and leveraging NYCHA land to maximize revenue to finance needed repairs. HDC will add a team of housing finance experts to partner with NYCHA and also expand its asset management portfolio to include the new conversions. This additional capacity and oversight is welcomed news.
Maintenance and operations improvements slated for implementation will be even more meaningful if the deal reported here by Politico on more flexible work hours from the Teamsters is adopted.
The strategies announced today in combination with city, state and federal appropriations will leave a budget gap of about $8 billion, out of $32 billion in estimated capital needs. NYHC will be advocating for the City, State and Federal government to increase funding to ensure that public housing residents are provided decent and safe housing conditions.
On Friday, NYCHA is expected to respond to the Southern District Court following the Court’s rejection of the settlement agreement between NYCHA and US Justice Department. In advance of Friday’s court proceeding, the New York City Congressional Delegation sent a letter to HUD Secretary Ben Carson opposing receivership. The letter, led by Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, a champion of public housing, has outlined many examples of receiverships that have failed public housing residents. While additional oversight is definitely needed, we agree with the Congressional delegation that receivership is not the right solution.