Mayor Bill de Blasio says he has a ten-year plan to resolve $24 billion in vital repairs to thousands of NYCHA apartments.
Called NYCHA 2.0, the initiative aims to deliver “top to bottom renovations” for 175,000 public housing residents, fund repairs across the rest of NYCHA units and launch “aggressive” tactics to address lead paint, mold, elevators, heat and vermin issues.
The New York City Housing Authority will also launch three new programs: Build to Preserve, under which the city will develop on NYCHA land in order to fund $2 billion in repairs; Transfer to Preserve, for which the city will sell “air rights,” or unutilized development rights, to generate $1 billion toward repairs; and Fix to Preserve, which will improve services, infrastructure and maintenance to tackle health and safety issues that stem from heating, mold, pests and lead.
The NYCHA 2.0 plan, combined with a November announcement to convert 62,000 NYCHA units into Section 8 housing and an expected $8 billion in federal, state and city funding, will total $24 billion, addressing 75 percent of NYCHA’s outstanding repair costs, officials said.
Currently, NYCHA has a repair bill of $31.8 billion in capital need, but that bill covers just the next five years. NYCHA projects that its unmet capital need will grow to $45.2 billion over the next 20 years, according to a July report from the housing authority.
NYCHA 2.0 plan and Teamsters
The mayor also announced this week a tentative agreement with Teamsters Local 237 to establish new work rules and a fair wage for more than 5,000 NYCHA employees.
Workers still have to ratify the contract, but de Blasio says the deal will establish a schedule, for the first time in 50 years, “that really allows everyone to get the repairs they need on a much more timely basis.”
Currently, NYCHA staff work 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday, which “just didn’t cover the times” that NYCHA residents needed help, de Blasio said at the announcement. Under the new agreement, work will be done seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
“We put out the 2.0 plan and this labor deal will strengthen that plan instantaneously,” de Blasio said, “and allow us to get a lot more done than we’ve been able to in the past.”
