After weeks of persistent heating outages at public housing developments during a bone-chilling stretch of winter, Mayor de Blasio is finally committing $13 million toward improving the city’s response to the crisis.
The funding will go toward hiring 57 repair staff to respond to outages, renting 3 mobile boilers to restore lost heat more quickly, and sealing 9,600 windows at NYCHA senior housing, officials said.
By next winter, the city also committed to replacing 8 troubled boiler plants, installing 7 gas-fired boilers and buying 5 mobile boilers for emergencies.
“This new investment will help us continue to respond to outages immediately, replace boilers in hardest hit buildings and keep tenants warm,” said de Blasio.
NYCHA records show that on Thursday alone, two developments in The Bronx lost heat, while three developments in The Bronx and Manhattan lost heat and hot water.
Additionally, the Smith Houses in Lower Manhattan were still without heat after a development-wide outage on Wednesday, and one nearby building at the La Guardia Houses was still lacking heat and hot water since an outage on Monday, online records show.