Public Housing Officials Outline Plan To Stabilize Apartments

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY – Public housing officials are urging lawmakers to approve a plan that would help stabilize and improve apartments in the city.

In the New York City Housing Authority's annual plan public hearing on Tuesday, Chairman Greg Russ outlined a plan to stabilize 110,000 apartments in the city.

In the plan, NYCHA would spend $9.5 billion to address mold issues, $1 billion on lead abatement to remove lead from the units, $4.1 billion to improve heat delivery, $1.6 billion to reduce elevator outages, $370 million to address pest concerns and $1.4 billion to address other concerns such as security systems.

Russ is proposing to create a new entity, the New York City Public Housing Preservation Trust, in order to access additional subsidies to trigger eligibility for what is called a "tenant protection voucher."

The trust would allowed NYCHA to procure large contracts in order to get all of the necessary work done on the apartments.

"If we can create the trust and access the vouchers, we're going to be able to stabilize our units, meet the compliance requirements of the HUD agreement, meet basic housing quality standards," Russ said at the hearing.

Russ said the development of the trust would create an economic recovery opportunity post-COVID-19 by investing in public housing as an infrastructure that is part of the city.

The plan would allow for rent to remain the same for tenants.

Russ has warned Albany legislators that the apartment buildings are at risk of collapse if they do not sign off on the major organizational changes.

"If we do not do this, the risks are very real," Russ said, according to the New York Post. "I've worked in public housing for over 50 years and the conditions I've seen in our buildings are some of the worst I've witnessed."