A Blueprint for Change
NYCHA Unveils Ideas to Invest in Its Properties and People
To ensure that public housing is here for New Yorkers for another 85 years and beyond, NYCHA Chair and CEO Greg Russ unveiled A Blueprint for Change, a set of ideas that outlines potential ways that NYCHA can invest in its properties, residents, and organization.
Since his appointment last summer, Chair and CEO Russ has led NYCHA’s work to improve services to residents in several critical areas – including heating, elevators, pests and waste, lead, and mold – in accordance with the Authority’s 2019 agreement with the federal government. At the same time, NYCHA has been working to transform its organizational structure and operations, such as through a property-based management model that is more responsive and accountable to residents’ needs.
A Blueprint for Change builds upon these efforts by introducing an innovative way to invest in and preserve all of the Authority’s buildings and apartments – a Public Housing Preservation Trust. Once created, a Public Trust would bring much-needed repairs and renovations to 110,000 NYCHA apartments, complementing the efforts to rehabilitate 62,000 apartments through PACT/RAD. For the first time in many decades, NYCHA will have a comprehensive plan to fix every building.
A Public Trust would be able to rehabilitate NYCHA’s buildings by overseeing construction more efficiently and quickly. It would also allow NYCHA to access a new funding stream, Tenant Protection Vouchers, which are HUD’s most valuable resource – worth nearly twice as much as other federal funding sources.
By using the Public Trust model, NYCHA will ensure a public process and full end-to-end public control and ownership of the properties. NYCHA would remain permanent owner of the land and buildings and would enter into a long-term ground lease with the Trust. The Trust would oversee construction and improvements, and NYCHA staff would continue to maintain and manage the properties. Residents would maintain all their rights and protections for perpetuity, including rent that is capped at 30 percent of household income. It’s a model similar to the NYC School Construction Authority, an agency that builds and renovates schools for the Department of Education, which worked well when the schools were in dire condition in the 1990s.
This would be the largest investment in New York City’s public housing since the 1950s – an investment that would help the city recover economically from the COVID-19 pandemic. It would bring thousands of new jobs and healthier homes to residents. Renovations would incorporate the latest energy-efficient technologies and appliances, fostering a greener and cleaner NYCHA.
Considering that NYCHA’s apartments and buildings currently have over $40 billion in major repair needs, a figure that grows at the rate of about $1 billion a year, A Blueprint for Change is more necessary than ever.
“At the heart of A Blueprint for Change is the mandate to improve NYCHA families’ quality of life, renovate and preserve their homes for the decades to come, and restore their trust in the Housing Authority,” said Chair and CEO Russ. “My colleagues and I are working hard on these goals every single day because we know that NYCHA is a vital resource in New York City, a pathway for progress, stability, and opportunity.”
Learn more about A Blueprint for Change here.