The NYCHA Journal

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A Blueprint For Change
Blueprint for Change NYCHA Leadership Top Story 

A Blueprint for Change in the News

LaToya

On July 28, NYCHA Chair and CEO Greg Russ introduced A Blueprint for Change, a set of ideas that outlines potential pathways for the Authority’s reorganization and investing of capital to stabilize and improve its properties, with additional impacts that could drive jobs and recovery strategies. Several media outlets, elected officials, housing professionals, and advocates have reported on this announcement and/or posted on social media.  

Read the press release here and see below for the media coverage related to this exciting and groundbreaking announcement.  

Recent Media Coverage:

The Daily News published an op-ed on February 11 written by Errol Louis, political anchor at NY1 News, in support of creating a Public Housing Preservation Trust 

“New York has a great shot at finally solving the decades-old chronic funding crisis that has crippled the city’s public housing authority. The question is whether our leaders have the will and the nerve to move beyond past failures and seize the chance to transform our largest source of permanently affordable housing. 

…It’s the first strategy in a long time that might bring in the tens of billions of dollars needed by NYCHA — and on one level, it’s surprisingly simple.” 

Read the op-ed in full at the Daily News. 

NYCHA Chair & CEO Greg Russ appeared on NY1’s “Inside City Hall” with Errol Louis on February 5 to discuss NYCHA’s A Blueprint for Change, a set of proposals to transform and invest in the Authority’s properties, residents, and organization. Watch the interview here: NYCHA Chair Greg Russ Looks for Better Path to Repairs (ny1.com).

NYCHA Chair & CEO Greg Russ appeared on Fox5 News with Lisa Evers on February 9 to discuss A Blueprint for Change and how to turn the agency around while protecting residents’ rights. 

The Daily News Editorial Board published an op-ed on February 1 in support of NYCHA’s A Blueprint for Change ideas titled “NYCHA’s last hope: A public housing trust is the best chance to save New York’s beleaguered authority.” A Blueprint for Change is a set of proposals to transform and invest in the Authority’s properties, residents, and organization. 

The Editorial Board writes: “…it’s refreshing to see an innovative, actionable idea from NYCHA’s chair, Greg Russ, who last summer published a smart reorganization blueprint calling for the Legislature to authorize creation of a Public Housing Preservation Trust…”  
 
Read the op-ed in full at the Daily News. 

The New York Post Editorial Board published an op-ed on December 25, 2020, “How to save NY public housing.” 

“This new public-private entity may be public housing’s last best chance to survive.  

State legislative leaders must do the right thing and grant NYCHA the authority to create it — or find a way to fund the repairs themselves. The clock is ticking.” 

Read the op-ed in full at the New York Post. 

Support for A Blueprint for Change

The Community Service Society: A plan, if realized, to restore decent living conditions to Public Housing

“The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and its Chair, Gregory Russ, are to be commended for putting forward an approach that, if realized, will restore decent living conditions to all developments in the next decade. And it will do so without resorting to privatization or the construction of market rentals on NYCHA campuses…”

“…This is an ambitious plan, which may encounter many hurdles, but it merits our encouragement and cautious support. Bear in mind it is, in a sense, a “worst-case strategy” should nothing else work. If Washington turns over in the upcoming national election, a number of federal initiatives may also come to NYCHA’s rescue—an infrastructure package that includes public housing and several bills proposed by Representatives Maxine Waters, Nydia Velazquez, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  These will net $70 billion in capital funds for public housing nationwide, $20 billion for NYCHA. Perhaps, in these dire times, there is reason for some optimism.”

The Public Housing Authorities Directors Association:

“PHADA commends the leadership of NYCHA for devising a creative, responsible and comprehensive strategy for addressing a massive backlog of physical needs in its largest in the nation public housing inventory. The plan envisions firm and sustained financial commitments from local and state government as well as private sources, together with reasonable federal legislative reforms that provide local flexibility necessary to achieve system-wide physical transformation while ensuring that those most vulnerable and needy live in modern, clean, safe and healthy homes and enjoy all the protections currently offered under federal laws and regulations. Importantly, these concepts are transferrable, and they offer an effective model for many other housing authorities facing similar, albeit smaller in scale, challenges throughout the nation.  PHADA calls on HUD to support and seek from Congress appropriations necessary to carry out the NYCHA plan. In doing so, PHADA encourages HUD and Congress to be mindful that all PHAs across the country need special considerations to address their capital needs through similar initiatives and programs. All PHAs should be funded in a full and equitable fashion to ensure the future of affordable housing in America.”

Social Media Mentions

https://twitter.com/CSSNYorg/status/1288138549850767363?utm_source=doc%2bblue7%2b29&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=doc%2bblue7%2b29
The newly proposed @NYCHA preservation trust would restore decent living conditions to all developments in the next decade without resorting to privatization.

NYU Furman Center thread.  

A public trust for public housing. RAD is great, but even if there is a perfect RAD/PACT program, NYCHA will still be – by far – the largest landlord in the country! Finally, a plan to help ALL public housing in NYC. Next step we’ll be looking for: REAL resident decision-making!
@LISC_NYC supports @NYCHA’s unprecedented plan to improve operational accountability & transform critical building standards & services” -Executive Director Valerie White. Read more on Blueprint For Change event.
I was honored to have @gregruss51 privately pitch this innovative plan weeks ago. @SecretaryCarson has always advocated leveraging resources for capital repairs. And while we have no control over 13x the congesssional TPV allocation, @HUDgov will always work to preserve @NYCHA!
CEO, National Association of Housing & Redevelopment Officials Adrianne Todman: Repairing @NYCHA units will take resources, creativity, and the courage to forge ahead despite daily criticism.  Congrats to Greg Russ and his team for this visionary plan.   
Executive Director of the New York Housing Conference Rachel Fee: I wrote this op-ed bc NYC needs #publichousing. COVID crisis only underscores its importance. Investing in its restoration should be part of economic recovery. @NYCHA put forward Promising New Plan to Save New York City Public Housing via @GothamGazette
The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA): NYCHA Chair & CEO Greg Russ presented A Blueprint for Change at @theNYHC’s 2020 Rising Leaders Network Summer Series. CLPHA applauds NYCHA’s promising & innovative new strategy to preserve, protect & improve the nation’s largest public housing portfolio.

Previous Media Coverage:

NY1: Un­der­standing NYCHA’s Po­ten­tially Massive Financial Shakeup  
“Now, Greg Russ, the chair and CEO of NYCHA, is proposing a new plan, one that would essentially change the way the Housing Authority is financed. This move, Russ said on Inside City Hall on Tuesday evening, will enable the agency to receive a different type of housing voucher from the federal government and could leverage billions of dollars for repairs.”

NY1: NYCHA Head Proposes Public Trust for Struggling Agency  
“A year after he took over the agency, Greg Russ, the chair and chief executive officer of the city’s public housing agency, is proposing an unprecedented financial restructuring of the New York City Housing Authority, the largest in the country.”

Politico: [PRO] NYCHA planning massive restructuring 
“The New York City Housing Authority unveiled plans on Tuesday for a seismic overhaul that would place more than 100,000 apartments into a new corporation which the agency would control. Officials hope the switch could facilitate billions of dollars in capital funding that could finally repair the agency’s crumbling portfolio.” (Subscribers to Politico Pro may log in to read the rest of the article.)

The New York Post: NYCHA boss plans to revamp housing units by handing city-owned corporation  
“It’s a paper shuffle that could really pay off. The New York City Housing Authority unveiled plans Tuesday to boost federal funding for Gotham’s public housing by handing two-thirds of its apartments to a new city-owned corporation — but the embattled authority would still handle day-to-day operation of the units.” 

Gotham Gazette: Opinion: A Promising New Plan to Save New York City Public Housing  
“The New York City Housing Authority is putting forward a promising new plan to preserve each public housing unit in its portfolio. Mayor Bill de Blasio, and previous mayors, have put forward multiple plans intended to save NYCHA, but this one bears attention and support because with sufficient community input and political support, it has a real chance of success.”

Excerpts from POLITICO New York: The crafty political calculus behind NYCHA’s new rescue plan

“‘[Blueprint is] brilliant,” said Council Member Ritchie Torres, a former NYCHA resident who served as the chair of the Committee on Public Housing. ‘It’s the boldest vision for preservation that NYCHA has ever presented to the public.’ Its elegance, Torres said, lies in addressing complex political problems with a simple solution: the Public Housing Preservation Trust.”

“Currently, the federal government provides vouchers used to pay rent for low-income residents. The new nonprofit would leverage the value of those vouchers to finance and manage NYCHA’s extensive repair work, a Herculean effort that would amount to one of the biggest public works projects in the city’s history. The trust would then hire a reorganized NYCHA as a type of contractor for day-to-day management, which [Chair] Russ said would be done with the same union workers currently in the Authority’s employ.”

“Blueprint aims to achieve all of [NYCHA’s funding] goals. And it hinges on a cunningly literal reading of federal guidelines.”
(Subscribers to Politico Pro may log in to read the rest of the article.)

The Gotham Gazette: New Yorkers Should Back NYCHA’s New Blueprint for Change

With so much attention focused on the COVID-19 catastrophe and the 2020 elections, our leaders and the media have all but overlooked the importance of a plan to improve the lives of 300,000 low-income and working-class New Yorkers, many of them people of color. The plan merits support from all of New York’s elected officials.

New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) Chair Gregory Russ has produced an innovative “Blueprint for Change.”