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NYCHA Now
A Blueprint for Change
Blueprint for Change December 2020 

Residents and Stakeholders Provide Comments on NYCHA’s Transformation Plan

Latoya Jordan

Dear Colleagues,

This week, the public comment period for NYCHA’s draft Transformation Plan closed. We received more than 300 comments from residents, employees, and other stakeholders on how to comprehensively restructure NYCHA. We appreciate the feedback and look forward to using these comments to help shape the Transformation Plan moving forward.

As part of the 2019 HUD Agreement, the Transformation Plan is NYCHA’s vision for a more effective and responsive organization, driven by ideas and feedback received through numerous stakeholder engagement sessions throughout 2019 and 2020. It is part of A Blueprint for Change, a comprehensive set of ideas to transform and stabilize the Authority that was introduced in July; Blueprint includes a Stabilization Strategy which calls for a public trust to leverage valuable federal vouchers to raise capital for NYCHA developments. These initiatives will generate jobs and contribute to the city’s economic recovery while preserving NYCHA for future generations. (Read more about A Blueprint for Change at on.nyc.gov/blueprintforchange.)

The six-week public comment period was the first time NYCHA presented a strategic plan for public response. The 322 responses mainly focused on repairs and maintenance, transparency and communication, safety and security, resident accountability, and stabilization and management. This vital feedback will help us enhance the Transformation Plan with additional ideas, such as adding a section for Safety and Security, creating plans to organize a resident committee to develop recommendations on resident accountability, the possibility of creating a tracking system for tracking daily caretaker tasks, and exploring new performance metrics. 

Although the public comment period is now closed, we plan to hold town hall meetings for residents and employees and continue outreach to ensure that your feedback is included in the Authority’s future plans. We welcome your input at all stages of this process. 

Moving forward, NYCHA will present a final draft of the plan to the Federal Monitor, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) at the end of January. If the plan is approved, NYCHA will kick off the analysis and implementation phase in March. 

The Transformation Plan will set us on a path to a far brighter future, but this is only the beginning of a long process to create a NYCHA that better serves residents, employees, and the city.

We thank you for your feedback and look forward to continuing to work together to transform NYCHA and change the way we do business.

Sincerely,

Greg Russ  
Chair & CEO