Adi Talwar
A view of NYCHA's Wagner Houses in East Harlem from the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge.
News, investigations and analysis about the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), the nation’s largest public housing system. This series is generously supported by the New York Community Trust (NYCT).
A través de políticas actualizadas, HUD requerirá que los propietarios, incluidas las autoridades de vivienda pública como NYCHA y los propietarios que aceptan vales de vivienda afiliados a HUD, adopten un enfoque más holístico cuando investiguen a los posibles inquilinos.
Through updated policies, HUD will require landlords—including public housing authorities like NYCHA, and property owners who accept HUD-affiliated housing vouchers—to take a more holistic approach when vetting potential renters.
Niani Taylor, who lives in Brooklyn’s Van Dyke Houses, is among the small but growing number of NYCHA residents who report income from self-employment. Advocates say the Housing Authority could foster more entrepreneurs by expanding initiatives like its Business Pathways program, which helped Taylor grow her catering company. “I put my all into it.”
More than 36,000 NYCHA apartments have either undergone conversion or are in the process of being converted to the RAD-PACT program, which officials say has helped drive billions in needed repairs. But tenants—some of whom will get a chance to vote this year on whether they want their developments to join the initiative—remain distrustful of the change.
The rally comes after state lawmakers released budget proposals that include up to $389 million for public housing and Section 8 residents who were left out from the state’s pandemic-era Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP). But tenants are pushing for more, pointing to estimates that public housing tenants across New York owe nearly $590 million in rent.
In a budget resolution unveiled last week, the State Senate earmarked $389 million for public housing and Section 8 tenants statewide who applied for, but were left out from, New York’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP). The Assembly proposed $385 million for the same purpose.
It is time for New York to meet its public housing needs. It has the land. The technical ability to restore and replace NYCHA’s housing stock to meet tenant needs and low-carbon performance is there.
Adams will announce a proposal during her State of the City speech Wednesday to support and expand NYCHA tenant-owned businesses, the number of which has jumped significantly in recent years as residents turn to home-based ventures such as catering, child care services and carpentry.
The New York City Comptroller’s Office will investigate oversight of NYCHA contractors and eviction rates at privatized developments — the first of two probes under a new initiative that lets NYCHA tenants weigh in directly on public housing audits.
The length of time it takes NYCHA to rent out available apartments has climbed in recent years, one of many factors exacerbating the city’s affordable housing crisis, lawmakers say. “They just say it’s not ready,” said one resident currently living in a homeless shelter who has been waiting more than 10 months to move into the NYCHA unit she was approved for.
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