Tenants, electeds demand federal funding for NYCHA

Assemblymember Khaleel Anderson and Senator Chuck Schumer advocated for greater investment in NYCHA while touring homes in Far Rockaway. Photo via Anderson/Twitter

By Jacob Kaye

Far Rockaway New York City Public Housing Authority residents rallied alongside local elected officials to call for greater federal investment into public housing last week.

Led by Senator Chuck Schumer and Assemblymember Khaleel Anderson, tenant leaders and residents of NYCHA’s Ocean Bay Apartments in Arverne, demanded an $80 billion investment in federal public housing funds from the American Jobs Plan.

Of that money, they requested that $40 billion be allocated to spend on building up NYCHA’s infrastructure.

“For far too long, our public housing infrastructure needs have been left unaddressed, left to get worse, and have brought serious harm to hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers,” Schumer said. “However you want to put it: public housing residents, and NYCHA residents in particular, are in need of some real help, and this, right now, is a now-or-never moment. We must repair, upgrade and transform our public housing so it is both livable and sustainable.”
NYCHA residents have been subject to lead paint, mold, broken pipes and water outages for years. For nearly three months last year, residents of the Astoria Houses were without gas and had to cook meals on hot plates.

In 2019, a federal monitor was appointed to oversee NYCHA after its former chair, Shola Olatoye, after a federal investigation found that she had mishandled lead paint and water pipe inspections.

“Senator Schumer and Assemblymember Anderson know firsthand NYCHA’s massive financial need after decades of disinvestment, and we are grateful for their ongoing support and advocacy," a NYCHA spokesperson told the Eagle in a statement.

A recent proposal, titled Blueprint for Change, aimed to bring private investment into NYCHA to improve conditions for residents but was strongly opposed by tenant groups and lawmakers.

“These are our homes we are fighting for, said Lawanda Johnson-Gainey, the Carleton Manor Tenant Association President. “So we stand together as one because NYCHA buildings need the funding, but privatization is not an option.”

This week, the public housing authority is hearing public testimony on its new 5 year plan, which activists say is too similar to the old plan.

“The time is now to invest in NYCHA,” Anderson said. “Because of this historical neglect, my constituents in Far Rockaway and tenants across New York City face threats to their quality of life, health, well-being, and safety. We must seize this moment of opportunity.”