NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The New York City Housing Authority may face a federal takeover if the de Blasio administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development can’t reach an agreement on how to run the often troubled agency by the end of January.
With NYCHA facing an estimated $20 billion in repair bills, Mayor Bill de Blasio appears to be at somewhat optimistic that he and HUD Secretary Ben Carson will be able to agree on a plan to fix the housing authority by next Thursday's court-imposed deadline.
However, the mayor said that he is also preparing for the worst.
“If the federal government doesn't, in some way, come to a cooperative arrangement with us, there's a real legal question here about federal responsibility,” said de Blasio. “If they don't agree with us then what are they going to do to fix the situation? So far, we've gotten no offer of additional federal resources.”
During a WNYC broadcast, the mayor remained optimistic about reaching an agreement in the coming days, but added, that the court has indicated it would be open to giving more time if some progress is being made.
Manhattan Federal Judge William Pauley rejected an original agreement last year. After they failed to have another proposal by Dec. 14, the deadline was extended to Jan. 31, 2019.
The negotiations have been difficult in the last month as many HUD employees were furloughed due to the partial government shutdown.
Still, Mayor de Blasio told WNYC: “My goal is to get all this done by next week.”