NYCHA Delivers Historic $5.1 Billion Capital Investment Over Last Five Years  

NYCHA has made historic progress with the completion of 810 construction projects in the past five years, resulting in an investment of over $5.1 billion in capital improvements across its public housing portfolio. 

After temporarily pausing or slowing construction activity during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to protect resident health and safety – and navigating the resulting inflation and global supply chain issues – NYCHA is now completing more capital work annually than at any point in its recent history. The Authority steadily increased expenditures each year to $1.25 billion in 2025, despite unprecedented instability in the construction industry since 2020. 

Guided by its Transformation Plan goals, NYCHA established its Asset and Capital Management (A&CM) division in 2022 to restructure and significantly improve the efficiency of capital projects, sustainability and resiliency, real estate development, and comprehensive modernization functions. The A&CM division is dedicated to serving NYCHA residents and strengthening the long-term sustainability of the city’s public housing infrastructure.   

Notably, the Authority’s annual capital expenditures have topped $1 billion in each of the last three years, delivering thousands of new heating systems, roofs, elevators, interior and exterior waste compactors, brickwork renovations, CCTV and lighting installations, apartment upgrades, community center and playground renovations, and more. As of January 1, 2026, NYCHA is managing over $6.3 billion of active investments across 506 projects. 

“Following the 2019 HUD Agreement, and as a result of our implementation of the Transformation Plan, NYCHA is now completing more capital work annually than at any point in recent history,” Chief Executive Officer Lisa Bova-Hiatt said. “The completion of more than 800 projects is a testament to our dedication to not only enhancing and expediting service delivery, but to making tangible improvements on the campuses and inside the homes and buildings of NYCHA residents. We look forward to continuing this momentum with the hundreds of projects that are already underway this year.”  

Chief Asset and Capital Management Officer Shaan Mavani added: “Our strategic and operational transformation efforts in recent years have successfully strengthened our project delivery capabilities, allowing these historic capital expenditures. Each dollar spent contributes to meaningful improvements for NYCHA residents – from new heating systems to playground renovations, and everything in between. Critically, as part of these efforts, we’ve made considerable improvements in how we partner with other areas of NYCHA and how we serve our customers, by providing a previously unprecedented level of transparency, engagement, and regular communication with residents and other stakeholders about the projects taking place on their campuses and in their communities.”  

Modernizing Properties  

Between 2021 and 2025, NYCHA expended more than $5.1 billion in federal, City, and State capital grant funds and energy performance contracts. This includes just under $1 billion in federal disaster recovery funds, which in the previous five years (2016 to 2020) comprised the bulk of NYCHA’s $3.9 billion capital projects expenditure driven by the $3.2 billion Superstorm Sandy Recovery and Resilience program.  

The 810 capital projects completed citywide during this period created the equivalent of over 620 full-time jobs for low-income New Yorkers, with more than half of these specifically for NYCHA residents. Over that time, capital projects have also increased in size and complexity, including Comprehensive Modernization projects that are currently underway with $1.2 billion in total budget.  

City funding between 2021 and 2025 supported a diverse range of projects to enhance residents’ quality of life, including roof replacements; waste infrastructure improvements; upgrades to community centers, playgrounds, and sport courts; as well as security lighting and cameras. In addition, State funding supported critical building systems, such as elevator replacements to improve accessibility and reliability, heating system upgrades to enhance resident comfort, and facade repairs that preserved the structural integrity and appearance of NYCHA buildings.   

In total, NYCHA has replaced or renovated thousands of major assets through capital projects, with a focus on prioritizing the systems that most directly impact resident health, safety, comfort, and convenience:   

• 177 heating systems renovated, including 156 boiler replacements and/or upgrades to new technologies, distribution system improvements, and domestic hot water system renovations;  

• 277 elevator replacements;  

• 757 waste and pest management assets replaced, including rat slabs, interior compactor rooms, waste yards and trash hoists;  

• 744 roofs replaced;  

• 217 building facades repaired with sidewalk sheds removed at 314 buildings;  

• Over 3,700 CCTV cameras and 3,100 lighting assets installed;  

• Over 3,300 apartment upgrades;  

• 25 community centers upgraded;  

• 68 new or improved playgrounds and sports courts; and 

• Strengthened resiliency to storm surge and cloudburst flooding at 30 properties.   

Transforming Service Delivery 

NYCHA has been able to effectively accelerate property modernizations due to increased federal, State, and City funding after the HUD Agreement was signed and a targeted restructuring as part of the Transformation Plan. The establishment of the A&CM division was coupled with a multi-year effort to transform organizational culture and values, policies, processes, and systems, as well as staff capabilities, and led to historic capital investment. Major areas of focus included: 

• Strengthening of project schedule management and expanded use of alternative project delivery models;  

• Integration of dashboards and key performance indicators into day-to-day management and decision-making at all levels;  

• Improved coordination with City agencies through dedicated liaisons, escalation arrangements, and joint process enhancements;  

• Extensive new tools and staff training programs focused on construction project and vendor management, and other areas; and 

• Establishment of a highly effective capital emergency response team for rapid response to structural, facade, and other emergency situations.  

NYCHA has also strengthened transparency and quality of engagement with residents and external stakeholders regarding capital projects through:   

• The new and public Capital Projects Tracker, which features details on projects’ scope, location, and status;  

• Dedicated Property Liaison teams;  

• Public, user-friendly guidance documents on capital projects engagement;   

• Expanded templates and tools to support stakeholder meetings, communications, onsite signage, and noticing;  

• New stakeholder surveys to capture project feedback; and 

• An interactive website for Updated Design Guidelines.  

Along with these efforts, A&CM completes over 580 quarterly stakeholder meetings with NYCHA property management and resident leadership each year, in addition to over 5,000 project-specific stakeholder engagement touchpoints.   

Building on Success 

In 2026, the Authority expects to complete construction on over 125 projects and expend more than $1 billion in capital funds for the fourth consecutive year. Building on successful pilot demonstrations through the Clean Heat for All program – a partnership between NYCHA, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and the New York Power Authority – NYCHA will expand the deployment of easy-to-install window heat pumps for both space heating and cooling across several properties this year and through the next five years. The Authority is also planning large-scale waste plumbing, kitchen, and bathroom rehabilitation at several properties, applying an innovative, cost-effective model to target the root causes of leaks and mold – which comprise close to 20 percent of NYCHA’s $80 billion in capital needs.  

Additional information on these and other property modernization efforts is available on NYCHA’s website at the Modernizing NYCHA Properties page.