Message from Interim Chair & CEO Stanley Brezenoff
Dear Colleagues,
Since my appointment as Interim Chair and CEO of NYCHA earlier this year, I have taken a good, hard look at the Authority’s significant challenges and how they can be addressed. My top priority is to improve the state of our buildings and residents’ quality of life and ensure that public housing remains a vital resource in our city.
Our buildings need $32 billion worth of major repairs, from the renovation of kitchens and bathrooms to the replacement of roofs and boilers. At the same time, the federal government has reduced its funding to NYCHA by billions of dollars since 2001.
To get the resources NYCHA needs, and bring improvements and repairs to residents faster, we must take a new and radical approach. NYCHA’s Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program is the path forward. By converting apartments to Section 8 funding and using other federal programs, PACT generates much-needed revenue for critical improvements such as new kitchens, bathrooms, windows, elevators, boilers, roofs, and common areas. At the same time, PACT maintains permanent affordability and residents retain their rights: Rents remain at 30 percent of household income and, in almost all cases, residents can stay in their homes during the renovations. In addition, NYCHA continues to own the land and has the right to foreclose if there is any threat to permanent affordability.
One PACT initiative, the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program, has been very successful at Ocean Bay Apartments, generating hundreds of millions of dollars for improvements for residents. We are converting Twin Parks West, Betances, and dozens more developments to RAD in the near future. Staff at these developments have been deployed to other NYCHA developments.
As part of NextGeneration NYCHA, we originally planned to use PACT to renovate 20,000 apartments by the year 2026. Now, we are expanding and accelerating this effort to bring PACT to 62,000 apartments by 2028. Approximately 142,000 residents – more than a third of NYCHA residents – will benefit from PACT, which will bring billions of dollars of renovations and major repairs to their homes.
Given the severe funding realities NYCHA faces, I am confident that PACT is the best way forward to truly improve the condition of our buildings and residents’ quality of life. I look forward to working with you and other partners as we continue to develop these and other plans to generate the funding NYCHA needs to best serve residents. Thank you for your hard work and commitment.
Sincerely,
Stanley Brezenoff
Interim Chair & CEO
