Community Service Society of New York

A significant piece of news was made this past weekend at a mayoral forum featuring the five Democratic candidates for mayor discussing their vision for the future of public housing in New York City.

Before a large audience of New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) residents, tenant leaders, union members, housing advocates, and elected officials gathered on Saturday morning at the lower Manhattan Salvation Army Centennial Memorial Temple, all five major Democratic candidates pledged that, if elected mayor, they will end the current policy of requiring NYCHA to pay the city nearly $100 million annually out of its federal operating funds.

Under an agreement that dates back to the Giuliani administration and the consolidation of the city’s Housing Police force within the New York City Police Department, NYCHA pays the city $75 million annually for special police services that the NYPD provides free to private landlords under “Operation Clean Halls.”  Another $23 million goes for PILOT payments in lieu of taxes from which many nonprofit housing providers are exempt. 

Out of a combined operating and capital budget measured in the billions, returning $100 million to the Authority’s budget may not sound all that impressive.  But try to tell that to NYCHA residents enduring substandard conditions in aging, rapidly deteriorating housing stock with long waits for needed repairs.  Given the Authority’s dire financial situation – a $60 million dollar annual operating deficit, a $6 billion dollar backlog in major capital improvements – the city should not be in the business of siphoning off funds that were intended to address critical public housing needs.

This policy is even more egregious when you think about the fact that NYCHA has been increasingly starved for funding at the federal, state, and local levels for the past 15 years.

The Democratic candidates for mayor -- City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, City Comptroller John Liu, City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, former City Comptroller Bill Thompson, and former City Council Member Sal Albanese – also expressed strong misgivings about NYCHA’s Infill/Land-Lease proposal.  Through this proposal, the Authority plans to raise needed revenue by leasing available land in public housing communities for private development.  The plan has aroused controversy because it uses public open space for private development purposes to build mostly high-end housing at market rents.

Understandably, the plan has stirred opposition from resident and community leaders, elected officials, and advocates because of the speed and secrecy with which NYCHA moved forward on the proposal.

When asked about it at Saturday’s mayoral forum, all five candidates said they want to see NYCHA slow down, and open up the public engagement process so that resident and community leaders have a chance to assess and shape the redevelopment plans.  Specifically, some of the candidates said they would like to see the NYCHA Infill/Land-Lease proposal go through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP), echoing a recent resolution passed by the City Council. 

NOTE: Republican mayoral candidates Joe Llota, John Catsimatidis, and George McDonald, and independent candidate Adolfo Carrion Jr., were invited to the forum but declined.

The next mayor will inherit an incredible public housing resource which once served as the model across the nation.  Unlike large cities that have demolished or converted public housing – like Chicago, Atlanta, and Newark – NYCHA has managed to preserve its public housing.  Unfortunately, as a result of chronic funding shortfalls, management deficiencies, and increasing resident complaints, this once high-performing Authority is in a struggle to restore its image.

Saturday’s mayoral forum, which was co-sponsored by the Community Service Society and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 237, pressed the candidates for their vision for preserving this housing resource for current and future generations of low-income New Yorkers.

To underscore the critical importance of public housing in the city, and the power and influence the mayor has to guide policy and funding decisions, the Community Service Society released a detailed analysis of the city’s public and subsidized housing stock.  The report, entitled, “Good Place to Work, Hard Place to Live,” found that as the city’s economy continues to generate large numbers of low-wage jobs, the private housing market and affordable housing subsidy programs are falling further and further behind the growing needs of low-income New Yorkers.

In addition to holding the candidates accountable for their pledges to end NYCHA payments to the city, it is imperative that the next mayor make use of every policy lever at his or her disposal to address the dwindling supply of housing affordable to low-income New Yorkers. 

New York’s public housing population is estimated at a half million residents, larger than the population of Atlanta, Cleveland, or Miami.  It represents a substantial part of the housing infrastructure affordable to low-income New Yorkers.  The challenges facing public housing are not insurmountable. Leveraging NYCHA’s assets to generate revenue to support operating and capital needs may be necessary.  However, any redevelopment proposals must ensure the full and informed participation of NYCHA residents and the surrounding communities.  As evidenced by Saturday’s forum, at least the Democratic candidates are in agreement on this issue.  Let’s hope it’s not too late.

Contact: Jeff Maclin      
(212) 614-5538 (office)
(718) 309-2346 (cell)
jmaclin@cssny.org

New York’s supply of housing affordable to low-income New Yorkers has been steadily dwindling. As the city’s economy continues to generate large numbers of low-wage jobs, the amount of affordable housing being produced now is not keeping pace with the growth of the city’s low-income population – now three million people.

A new report by the Community Service Society (CSS) provides the first comprehensive analysis of New York’s public and subsidized housing inventory and the underlying causes of the losses in housing affordable to low-income New Yorkers. It also draws attention to the key levers the mayor can use to preserve and expand the city’s existing stock of affordable housing to meet the city’s most urgent needs.  These include the income targeting of new housing, city budgetary decisions, zoning, advocacy for stronger federal and state housing policies – and important policy changes for the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA).

“The next mayor will inherit an incredible public housing resource which once served as the model across the nation,” said David R. Jones, President and CEO of the Community Service Society. “But unless changes are made, public housing for low-income New Yorkers will continue to be put at risk. Those changes should focus on accountability to public housing tenants and strengthening NYCHA’s ability to act as a steward of its property and affordable housing mission.  And not on weakening it or allowing its underfunding to continue.”

The report, “Good Place to Work, Hard Place to Live, The Housing Challenge for New York’s Next Mayor,” was released at an April 20 mayoral forum focused on NYCHA and sponsored by CSS and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 237. The five leading Democratic candidates for mayor participated in the forum and expressed support for a key recommendation of the report -- ending the practice of the city taking nearly $100 million in operating funds from NYCHA for primarily police services it provides free to private landlords.

NEEDS OUTPACE SUPPLY

In 1970 New York City had 64 units of subsidized housing for each 1,000 low-income people. By 1990, that number had risen to 122, thanks primarily to the construction of about 100,000 new U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Mitchell-Lama rental units. But by 2010, the number had fallen back to 114, despite Mayor Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace.

In other words, the total effort that government makes toward affordability per low-income resident peaked around 1990, and has now fallen by seven percent. At the same time, the total assisted stock has also shifted in income targeting. The result is that subsidized housing is now targeted to somewhat higher income households than before.

Even the city’s public housing is now threatened by underfunding. NYCHA owns and manages the city’s 179,000 public housing apartments housing a half million New Yorkers. More than half of the city’s poor households are either public housing residents, hold Section 8 vouchers from the Authority, or are among the 140,000 families on NYCHA’s waiting list. Hit by funding cuts from the federal, state and local levels of government, NYCHA has an operating shortfall of $60 million a year, and a $6 billion backlog of major capital improvements.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The report argues that the decline in the government’s affordability effort is one reason for rising rent burdens for low-income households. This situation will continue to worsen as the city’s low-wage workforce continues to grow. In 2011, 61 percent of the city’s low-income renter households paid at least half of their income in rent compared to 46 percent in 1999.

In addition to eliminating NYCHA’s unnecessary payments of nearly $100 million a year to the city treasury, the report urges the next mayor to be a national advocate for a better federal response to the housing shortage that exists in New York and many other cities across the country. It also calls for the city to:

• Invest its technical capacity and its own financial resources in maximizing the use of the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit and other affordable housing subsidies;
• Take steps to promote permanent affordability in tax credit developments;
• Ensure that any NYCHA land that is redeveloped supports the Authority’s mission to provide affordable housing to low-income New Yorkers;
• Release long-withheld HUD tenant participation funds so that tenant groups can obtain independent technical assistance during the process;
• Increase the Housing Preservation and Development’s (HPD) role in inspecting NYCHA units and ensuring accountability to tenants.

Public housing is a primary component of the city’s affordable housing infrastructure that helps keep New York a city with a mix of people with a broad range of incomes, rather than a place for just the rich and the very poor.  The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) manages the city’s public housing, 179,000 apartments in 340 developments housing a half-million New Yorkers.  It provides affordable housing to families who otherwise could not afford to pay market rents and live in the city.     

But NYCHA is in serious financial trouble. It has been starved for funds.  The federal government has been slowly getting out of the business of funding affordable housing.  The city and the state have turned their backs on NYCHA, even for operating support of public housing they financed.  NYCHA is operating with a shortfall of $60 million a year and a $7 billion backlog in major capital improvements.  Its residents must endure accelerating deterioration and long waits for needed repairs.

The city has to take some responsibility for seeing that public housing is improved and preserved.  This is not the time to expect more from Washington.  There are two major initiatives that the city should pursue.

First, NYCHA is required to pay the city nearly $100 million annually out of its federal operating funds, most of it for special police services that NYPD provides free of charge to private landlords.  This is a legacy of the Giuliani administration.  Mayor Bloomberg could end this simply by fiat.  That, alone, would cover the operating deficit. 

Secondly, the backlog of major improvements needed to stem deterioration could be significantly reduced with capital commitments from the city.  One source of funding is the excess revenues generated by luxury housing developed in Battery Park City (BPC).  Owned and operated by the Battery Park City Authority, a public corporation created by the state in the 1970s, Battery Park City was originally conceived as a mixed income development.  But affordable housing was dropped from the BPC plan.  Instead, a deal was made to use surplus revenues generated from Battery Park City’s luxury housing to finance the building and rehabilitation of affordable housing in other city neighborhoods.

But for years, these funds were siphoned off into general funds on the pretext that they were needed to balance budgets.  In 2009, Governor Paterson said he needed the $270 million from Battery Park City revenue – a drop in the bucket - to help close a $15 billion deficit. It is time that BPC revenues were committed as intended. They could be an ideal source of funding for NYCHA.   
   
New York City will elect a new mayor this year.  The candidates must be asked if they have a plan for public housing.  The city’s public housing stock is too important for public officials to ignore.

The next mayor must end the $100 million annual payments by NYCHA to the city.  This alone would go a long way to solving NYCHA’s immediate financial problems.  The city provides capital investments for sports stadiums, museums, and the performing arts.  It should increase its funding for public housing.  The next mayor must use surplus revenue from Battery Park City to construct and rehabilitate public housing and other affordable housing.

The Community Service Society is sponsoring a mayoral candidate forum on Saturday, April 20th, that will focus entirely on NYCHA and the future of public housing in New York City.  It will be moderated by Michael Powell of The New York Times.  It is free to the public, but space is limited so we ask that you to register online or call 212-614-5365.