The New York City Council Committee on Public Housing held an oversight hearing on the impact of PACT / RAD this week. New York Housing Conference’s Brendan Cheney testified about the importance of PACT given the lack of direct capital subsidy from the federal, state and city governments:

The federal government has shirked their responsibility for decades, and while there was a brief window of hope last year that Congress might come to the rescue, Build Back Better is now stalled and federal housing funding is very unlikely. To avoid receivership, NYCHA is obligated by a federal monitor agreement to improve living conditions for residents through operations transformation and a capital repairs plan.

The New York Housing Conference (along with United for Housing partners) has called on the City and State to provide $1.5 billion per year each for NYCHA’s capital repairs. Unfortunately, neither Governor Hochul nor Mayor Adams have agreed to that level of support. We will keep pushing for the State and City to step up.

With or without significant City and State support, the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program, utilizing the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration program, has proven to be an effective way to preserve public housing.

Read the full testimony here.