Tenants’ rights groups urge state to invest in public housing at Albany rally
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Housing rights advocates will rally in Albany today to urge the state to increase funding for NYCHA and other public housing systems. Photo via the Housing Justice for All coalition
By David Brand
Tenants’ rights advocates from across New York will rally today in Albany to demand more state money for public housing, three weeks after Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive budget failed to include any new funding for NYCHA and other municipal housing systems.
The Housing Justice for All Coalition, a network of tenant groups and progressive organizations, has urged state lawmakers to allocate $3 billion to improve public housing nationwide, with $2 billion of that total directed to ailing NYCHA sites.
“We’re at a time of unprecedented need,” said Upstate Downstate Housing Alliance campaign coordinator Cea Weaver. “[NYCHA] needs a deep recommitment from the state government. People are living in unconscionable living conditions, but the state government has not stepped up to fund it.”
New York City public housing needs an estimated $31.8 billion over five years and $45.2 billion over 20 years to pay for repairs and maintenance, a consulting firm hired by NYCHA to conduct a physical needs assessment determined in 2017.
For decades, the city, state and federal government have failed to invest a sufficient amount of money in public housing, leading to persistent toxic lead paint problems, busted boilers, broken elevators and other capital needs particularly in the oldest buildings, which date back to the Great Depression.
Queens is home to 21 NYCHA sites, including the Queensbridge Houses, the largest public housing complex in the United States.
More than 380,000 authorized tenants currently reside in NYCHA’s 134,084 apartments, according to agency reports, but the actual population is likely closer to 600,000, according to other city agency estimates. The federal housing administrator who oversees NYCHA has even pegged the population at 1 million.
A spokesperson for the New York State Division of the Budget told the Eagle last month that the state has “stepped up and made an unprecedented commitment to NYCHA for reliable heat, safe elevators and a better quality of life.”
“In all, the Executive Budget includes $650 million in ongoing support for NYCHA projects so that their 400,000 residents will finally see results,” the spokesperson said.
