In an apparent victory for Mayor Eric Adams, a preliminary tally of votes by tenants at a Brooklyn public housing development approved a new strategy called the NYC Housing Preservation Trust that the mayor has trumpeted as the financial solution to the fiscally bereft city Housing Authority.
NYCHA, which claims to need $78 billion to adequately upgrade its huge portfolio of 161,400 apartments, will likely now be able to test whether the newly formed trust will be able to raise billions of dollars toward repairs by floating bonds, as the mayor has touted.
The vote took place at the Nostrand Houses in Sheepshead Bay, the first development singled out to gauge public housing tenants’ support for this new approach. The trust requires tenant approval, and 786 of the 1,500-plus tenants eligible to vote at Nostrand weighed in as of Thursday, the final day of voting.
All told, 453 voted for the trust while 163 approved of turning over their development to private management under a program known as Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD). Even less, 161, supported staying in traditional public housing under what’s known as Section 9.
The results released Friday include paper, on-line and mail-in ballots received as of Thursday. Outstanding ballots that were postmarked by Thursday but have not yet been received by NYCHA will be added to the count next week, but given the turnout and the overwhelming support for the trust, those ballots are unlikely to change the final result.
The trust was originally dreamed up by the former chair of the authority, Gregory Russ, to apply to more than 100,000 apartments, but was scaled down to a 25,000-unit pilot program, which was approved by Gov. Kathy Hochul last year.
As a public authority, NYCHA is prohibited from floating bonds. The trust was set up as a non-profit affiliate of NYCHA with nine board members, six appointed by Adams, that will have the ability to enter the bond market to raise billions of dollars.
Last August, Mayor Adams went all in for this latest gambit to fix what ails New York’s public housing, launching an aggressive cheerleading campaign to generate tenant participation at Nostrand, an aging development with a large number of major repair needs.
Adams’ efforts paid off, with 50% of eligible voters turning out. That’s far more than the typical attendance of public meetings at NYCHA developments which usually attract a much smaller percentage of tenants.
After a 100-day effort by NYCHA and tenant groups to provide information to Nostrand tenants about their options, the vote began last month and ended Thursday at 9 p.m.
“Over the last month, residents of NYCHA Nostrand Houses have made history by taking a historic vote to shape the future of their own homes,” Adams said in a statement Friday. “Congratulations! We look forward to certifying the vote and providing the quality of life these residents, and all New Yorkers, deserve.”
Lisa Bova-Hiatt, NYCHA’s chief executive officer, said. “It’s a proud day for NYCHA having concluded the first-ever resident vote. We are so hopeful that the choice Nostrand residents have made will afford us the opportunity to extensively renovate the campus and address significant infrastructural needs.”
The authority estimates that it will take more than $600 million to fully renovate Nostrand’s 1,148 apartments, which comes to more than $528,000 per unit, according to an audit the authority released in July called the physical needs assessment (PNA).
But an analysis by THE CITY raised questions about whether the PNA estimates are, in general, higher than what is actually needed at specific developments.
When NYCHA first sought Albany’s approval for the trust, they claimed it would raise $3.4 billion to fix up to 25,000 units. According to a report by the city Independent Budget Office, that comes to $136,000 per unit, far lower than the $588,000 per unit cost estimate NYCHA says is needed at Nostrand.
NYCHA management noted that the vote at Nostrand Houses is only the beginning. On Monday Mayor Adams and NYCHA announced a second development has been chosen as the next test case for the trust — the much smaller Bronx River Addition housing 166 residents. There, NYCHA estimates full renovation will cost $66 million.