Comment on Proposed Revisions to the Trust’s Voting Procedures

September 29, 2025 Michael

What is NYCHA proposing? NYCHA is proposing to update the Public Housing Preservation Trust Voting Procedures using lessons learned from the completion of seven development votes and an analysis of the process and procedures NYCHA followed during these votes.

When and where are the meetings about the proposed revisions to the Voting Procedures? NYCHA will hold a meeting on the proposed revisions to the Voting Procedures. The public meeting will take place at 3:30 PM on October 20, 2025, in the Ceremonial Room located at 90 Church Street, Fl. 5, New York, NY 10007. The public meeting will also be held online via Zoom:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_F3Xxof10QDioHJ7qReYhZw
Webinar ID: 899 1253 0200
Passcode:114563

How do I comment on the proposed revisions to the Voting Procedures?
• Email: You can email comments to public.comments@nycha.nyc.gov.
• Mail: You can mail comments to the following address:
NYCHA Public Comments
P.O. Box 3422
New York, NY 10008
• By speaking at a meeting:
Public Meeting
October 20, 2025, at 3:30 PM
Ceremonial Room, 90 Church Street, 5th Fl., New York, NY 10007

Is there a deadline to submit written comments? All comments must be emailed or postmarked no later than October 28, 2025. NYCHA will review and consider all feedback before determining if the proposed changes to the procedures are appropriate.

Will comments made on the proposed revisions to the Voting Procedures be made public? Shortly after the deadline to submit written comments, you can review the comments and NYCHA’s responses to the comments by visiting on.nyc.gov/nycha-policies.

Statement of Basis and Purpose of the Proposed Revisions to the Voting Procedures

On June 16, 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law the New York City Public Housing Preservation Trust Act. The Act provides a pathway for addressing the overdue repair, rehabilitation, and modernization of 25,000 NYCHA apartments. Central to the Act is providing residents the power to determine the future of their developments: developments will only transfer to the Public Housing Preservation Trust if the residents vote to join the Trust.

On December 12, 2022, after consultation with residents and advocates and a public comment process, NYCHA released the final voting procedures required by the Act. The voting procedures outline the process by which residents are informed, engaged, and able to vote on whether or not to join the Trust, enter into the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program, or reject both options and remain in Section 9.

Since the release of the final voting procedures on December 12, 2022, NYCHA has conducted seven development votes. The development votes have provided meaningful insights into how the voting processes and Voting Procedures can be improved to better serve residents, allocate staff resources, and maintain the integrity and transparency of the vote. As required by the Voting Procedures, NYCHA conducted an analysis on NYCHA’s successes and challenges in engaging residents and what efforts NYCHA could undertake to further improve resident participation in votes at their developments. The Initial Residents Vote Analysis can be found here.

Based on the experience from these initial votes, NYCHA is recommending two updates to the Voting Procedures and seeks public comment on those revisions. Specifically, NYCHA seeks to revise the number of in-person voting days and to clarify the process to be followed in the event of a tie between two or more ballot options.

In-Person Voting:

The Voting Procedures provide residents with three options for casting their ballot: (1) vote online during the entire 30-day vote period, (2) vote by mail during the entire 30-day vote period, and (3) vote in person during the final 10 days. The Initial Residents Vote Analysis found that all three options were utilized by residents. Resident voting behavior aligned with NYCHA’s expectation that all three options for casting a ballot would be utilized. It is assumed some residents may prefer the convenience and ease of voting online with credentials provided by the vote administrator, while others less comfortable with technology may prefer the convenience of voting with a mail-in ballot. Others still may prefer in-person voting, be that a result of comfort in hand-delivering their ballot to the ballot box or perhaps reflective of excitement to participate in person during such an impactful decision for their families and fellow residents.

With respect to in-person voting during the final 10 days of the voting period, the Initial Residents Vote Analysis revealed that 40 percent of in-person votes were cast in the first two days and 30 percent of the in-person votes were cast during the final two days. Days three through eight of the voting period received very few votes. On average, the third and fourth days only received three in-person votes each, days five and six received one in-person vote on average each day, day seven received three in-person votes, and day eight received on average five in-person votes. To better align the voting procedures with residents’ actual voting behavior observed to date, NYCHA proposes in-person voting be available during the final five days of the voting period.

Runoff Election Process:

The Voting Procedures provide that in the event of a tie between two voting options, a runoff vote shall be held between the two options. This process was followed at Hylan Houses, where the vote administrator determined that there was a tie between the option to join the Trust and the option to join PACT. NYCHA seeks to further clarify the runoff process through technical amendments to the voting procedures. Accordingly, NYCHA proposes the following changes applicable to runoff elections:

Clarify that the runoff vote process shall apply not only in ties between two options but also in the unlikely event that all three ballot options receive the same number of resident votes;
Confirm that the number of online, mail, and in-person voting days during a runoff election shall remain unchanged; and
Clarify that the minimum voter turnout threshold calculated by the vote administrator shall apply to a runoff vote.