Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to deal with New York’s public housing crisis will involve $24 billion in vital repairs using capital funds, he said Wednesday.
According to de Blasio, NYCHA 2.0 will feature three new programs.
Build to Preserve, he said, will deliver roughly $2 billion in capital repairs through new development on NYCHA land, while Transfer to Preserve will deliver about $1 billion in capital repairs through the sale of air rights. Fix to Preserve, he said, will improve services, infrastructure maintenance and immediately address health and safety problems including heating, mold, pests and lead.
The initiatives, along with the Section 8 conversion plan announced in November, will address an estimated $16 billion in capital needs at NYCHA developments. This funding supplements an expected $8 billion infusion of federal, state and city capital funding.
NYCHA has pegged its overall capital backlog at nearly $32 billion, based on its most recent needs assessment.
“We now have a comprehensive plan to deliver nearly $24 billion in major repair needs over the next decade,” said NYCHA interim chairman and chief executive Stanley Brezenoff.
De Blasio's announcement coincided with an agreement with the New York City Housing Authority's largest union, Teamsters Local 237, which will enable the agency to staff for weekend cleaning. The tentative agreement includes a 2% pay hike starting in May, followed by a 2.5% increase in August 2019 3% in 2020.
Carol Kellermann, president of the watchdog Citizens Budget Commission, said shifting to mixed-income "infill" development and selling air rights will enable NYCHA to maximize the value of its land assets and raise billions of dollars for capital repairs.
NYCHA 2.0 “provides a solid blueprint for NYCHA's turnaround, but its success still depends on additional actions from the federal, state, and city governments and labor unions,” Kellermann said.
The authority serves 400,000 residents, or 5% of the city's population, in 175,000 apartments.
Recent crises have included lack of heat in many units throughout the winter, mold and rodent infestation, media reports of staff sex orgies on agency overtime and the forced resignation of Brezenoff’s predecessor, Shola Olatoye, after a city Department of Investigations probe accused Olatoye of lying to federal regulators about lead-paint statistics.
NYCHA's strain on the city's operating and capital budgets has resonated in the capital markets.
Fitch Ratings ranks NYCHA maintenance, along with mass transit funding, as "notable spending pressures" on the city. "Some of the funding will be for capital projects and likely debt-financed, which may pressure already sizable carrying costs," Fitch said.
