Working Together to Transform NYCHA

Engaging Residents and Other Stakeholders 

As part of the HUD Agreement signed last year, NYCHA has been working on its Transformation Plan to change how it delivers services to residents. In order to do that, NYCHA needs to re-structure its organization, its management, and its workforce, while ensuring that stakeholder input is front and center in the decision-making process.   

NYCHA has been conducting a variety of engagement activities since late last year, gathering feedback  and ideas from residents, employees, partner agencies, and elected officials for what should go into the Transformation Plan. 

“We don’t have a choice, we have to get this right,” said Arvind Sohoni, NYCHA’s Senior Director of Strategic Planning. “Maintaining these affordable apartments is too important – to our residents, to us, and to the city. To get it right, we need to listen to those who understand these problems best: our residents and our front-line staff.” Property Management Case Study Workshops conducted earlier this year are a good example of this inclusive approach. Teams from across NYCHA, including residents, Property Management, Human Resources, Finance, and others, brainstormed property management strategies in a budget-constrained simulation. 

Deputy Director of Strategic Planning Danny Townsend explained that each team in the workshop had to determine key functions of property management and then staff the case study accordingly. “Then we gave them the budget. In some cases, there was less money for staffing than they needed,” he said. “So, they had to think it through, be creative, and prioritize. All those findings and feedback were then wrapped into the planning process.” 

Workshop takeaways included the desire for a decentralized property management model that would shift responsibilities and staff to the local level, and there was also notable feedback on the annual recertification process and procurement. 

Resident engagement activities to date have included resident town halls as well as regular meetings of the Citywide Council of Presidents (CCOP) and Resident Advisory Board (RAB). In the coming weeks and months, NYCHA will continue to expand engagement – including through interaction with government officials, labor partners, and advocacy groups. 

“We must remember that our mission is in service to our residents,” said Eva Trimble, NYCHA’s Executive Vice President for Strategy & Innovation. “The only way this Plan is successful is if we truly understand what our residents expect and require from us, not just as their landlord but as a resource for their economic mobility.”  

Stay tuned for more updates on Transformation Plan engagement activities.