New York City Housing Authority

New York City Housing Authority
Agency overview
Formed 1934 (1934)
Jurisdiction New York City
Headquarters 250 Broadway, Manhattan, NY
Employees 13,000
Agency executives
  • Shola Olatoye, Chair
  • Michael Kelly, General Manager
Key document
Website nyc.gov/nycha

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) provides housing for low- and moderate-income residents throughout the five boroughs of New York City. NYCHA also administers a citywide Section 8 Leased Housing Program in rental apartments. These communities are often referred to in popular culture as "projects", or "developments". These facilities commonly have large income disparities with their respective surrounding neighborhood or community.

The New York City Housing Authority's mission is to increase opportunities for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers by providing safe, affordable housing and facilitating access to social and community services. More than 400,000 New Yorkers reside in NYCHA's 328 public housing developments across the City’s five boroughs. Another 235,000 receive subsidized rental assistance in private homes through the NYCHA-administered Section 8 Leased Housing Program.

List of properties

Governance

NYCHA is a New York state public-benefit corporation organized under the Public Housing Law.[1][2] The NYCHA ("NYCHA Board") consists of seven members, of which the chairman is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the Mayor of New York City, while the others are appointed for three-year terms by the mayor.[3]

Operations

The Authority is the largest public housing authority (PHA) in North America. In spite of many problems, it is still considered by experts to be the most successful big-city public housing authority in the country. Whereas most large public housing authorities in the United States (Chicago, St. Louis, Baltimore, etc.) have demolished their high-rise projects and in most cases replaced them with lower scale housing, New York's continue to be fully occupied. Most of its market-rate housing is also in high-rise buildings.

NYCHA also administers a citywide Section 8 Leased Housing Program in rental apartments. However, new applications for Section 8 have not been accepted since December 10, 2009.[4]

New York also maintains a long waiting list for its apartments. Because of demand, the Housing Authority in recent years, has selected more "working families" from applicants to diversify the income structure of occupants of its housing, as had been typical of residents who first occupied the facilities. NYCHA's Conventional Public Housing Program has 181,581 apartments (as of July 20, 2005) in 345 developments throughout the city.

NYCHA has approximately 13,000 employees serving about 176,221 families and approximately 403,120 authorized residents. Based on the 2010 census, NYCHA's Public Housing represents 8.2% of the city's rental apartments and is home to 4.9% of the city’s population. NYCHA residents and Section 8 voucher holders combined occupy 12.4% of the city's rental apartments.[5]

In mid-2007, NYCHA faced a $225 million budget shortfall.

In late 2015, NYCHA announced the formation of the Fund for Public Housing,[6] a nonprofit organization that will seek to raise $200 million over three years to supplement NYCHA's efforts and improve the lives of NYC public housing residents. The Fund received its first donation of $100,000 from the Deutsche Bank in December 2015.[7]

Statistics

History

NYCHA was created in 1934.[1] At the end of 1935, NYCHA dedicated its first development, called First Houses, located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The Authority boomed in partnership with Robert Moses after World War II as a part of Moses' plan to clear old tenements and remake New York as a modern city. Moses indicated later in life that he was disappointed at how the public housing system fell into decline and disrepair. Originally intended for working families, the projects increasingly became occupied by low-income families, many of whom had no working adult. The majority of NYCHA developments were built between 1945 and 1965. Unlike most cities, New York depended heavily on city and state funds to build its housing, rather than just the federal government. Most of the postwar developments had over 1000 apartment units each, and most were built in the modernist, tower-in-the-park style popular at the time.

In 1995, the New York City Housing Authority Police Department and the New York City Transit Police were merged into the New York City Police Department by NYC Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and continues today as the New York City Police Department Housing Bureau.

NextGen NYCHA

As of May 2015, NYCHA’s overhauling is currently in progress with the proposal of ‘NextGeneration NYCHA’, a ten-year plan aimed at preserving public housing for the future generations. The multifaceted plan introduces a new strategy designed to expand and preserve public housing, improve the current infrastructure, increase stakeholder engagement, create more affordable housing and modernize the current tools connecting residents and property management.NextGeneration NYCHA, part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's affordable housing plan, is a long-term strategic plan that details how NYCHA will create safe, clean, and connected communities for our residents and preserve New York City's public housing assets for the next generation. NYCHA residents are important partners in this work.

Map of New York City Housing Authority developments

NYCHA Map

[10]

List of chairpersons

List of notable residents

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Public Housing Law § 401; "The New York City Housing Authority is hereby constituted and declared to be a body corporate and politic with all the powers, rights and duties set forth in article five of the former state housing law." Municipal Housing Authorities Law (L. 1934, ch. 4), comprising §§ 60–78 of the former State Housing Law (L. 1926, ch. 823, as re-enacted by L. 1927, ch. 35), now the Public Housing Law (L. 1939, ch. 808).
  2. ↑ Bass v. City of New York, 38 AD2d 407 (2nd Dept 1972).
  3. ↑ Public Housing Law § 402(3)
  4. ↑ http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycha/html/section8/applicant-info.shtml
  5. 1 2 3 http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycha/html/about/factsheet.shtml
  6. ↑ "NYCHA - Fund for Public Housing". www1.nyc.gov. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  7. ↑ Bellafante, Ginia (2016-02-11). "Public Housing, Private Donors". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  8. ↑ Barry, Dan. "Don't Tell Him the Projects Are Hopeless", The New York Times, March 12, 2005. Accessed July 16, 2008. "UP, up, up it rises, this elevator redolent of urine, groaning toward the rooftop of another tired building in the Queensbridge public housing development, the largest in Queens, in New York, in North America."
  9. ↑ http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycha/downloads/pdf/res_data.pdf
  10. 1 2 http://www.nyc.gov/html/ceo/downloads/pdf/nns_15.pdf
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