NYCHA to get $432 Million in Federal Funds

The first anniversary of Local 237’s huge May Day rally — when 10,000 protestors from New York, Boston, Philadelphia and other cities filled the streets near City Hall — was a cause for celebration as Mayor Bloomberg announced, on April 26, that as a benefit of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the New York City Housing Authority will receive $423 million in federal stimulus funding.

The funding “represents the culmination of all our hard work to improve the quality of life for NYCHA employees and residents,” said President Gregory Floyd, adding, “An investment in our public housing is an investment in the hard working people of this city.”

The stimulus money will help fund dozens of desperately needed upgrades and repairs to the city’s public housing system, including 70 “shovel- ready” projects throughout the NYCHA system. It also increases its 5-year capital plan to over $2 billion. Projects range from repairing rooftops to renovating thousands of rooms in some developments and will create over 3,200 jobs. Of special importance to Local 237, $70 million has been earmarked to repair or upgrade 242 elevators in 22 developments.

Last August, only three months after the rally, protests over malfunctioning NYCHA elevators intensified when Jacob Neuman, a five-year-old boy, fell to his death in an open elevator shaft at a Brooklyn apartment complex.

“Replacing the old and dilapidated elevators will allow our engineers to better serve the residents of NYCHA and make their lives safer and easier,” notes Floyd. Local 237 represents 8,000 HA workers, including elevator mechanics.

Floyd has been one of the strongest critics of funding cuts that have led to the work of a reduced number of elevator mechanics being spread too thin, resulting in only 20 percent of elevators in public housing receiving a satisfactory rating.

Another $87 million, the largest amount, will be allocated to renovating 1,610 apartments at the Whitman Ingersoll Houses in Brooklyn, as reported in the Chief Leader.

In addition to the rally, Local 237 played an important role in alerting lawmakers and the public about the dire state of much public housing with radio ads during last year’s All- Star game at Yankee Stadium, calling for federal aid to help repair public housing infrastructure, an effort that reached over 2 million listeners.

Also, Floyd participated in several public forums to discuss solutions for the NYCHA crisis. Finally, in the fall, Local 237 drafted a letter and created a video detailing the desperate need for repairs in public housing, sending them to every city, state and federal elected official in the region.

While Floyd praises the success of these efforts in helping to secure money for capital projects, he also urges the need to continue advocating for workers and residents of public housing by calling for increased federal operational funding. In the past 10 years, NYHCA’s federal funding has been cut by millions, leading to the loss of 4,000 workers.

“For too long, our public housing system has been shortchanged. We not only need to fix the buildings, we need to repair the broken attitude that those in public housing do not deserve the quality services they need,” Floyd said.