NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The New York City Public Housing Authority is in serious need of funding and a new report is looking at how it can be done.
As WCBS 880’s Steve Burns reports, NYCHA has been struggling to meet goals imposed by a federal monitor regarding mold issues, lead paint, repairing elevators and heat and hot water systems.
Now, Moses Gates, of the Regional Plan Association, says that within a matter of years, “We’re going to find buildings that are structurally unsound and illegally uninhabitable.”
Once the urgent work is done, however, Gates says NYCHA can't find itself in this position ever again.
“We came up with a 10 recommendations that we think would help,” he said.
The most important recommendation, he says, is expanding NYCHA’s development rights, which would let neighboring landlords build higher for a fee.
“Right now, you're only allowed to transfer development rights on the same block and a lot of times, a public housing development, takes up the entire block which leaves it nowhere to transfer development rights,” Gates explains.
Still, fixing NYCHA is also a societal responsibility. Gates says: “a lot of segments of New York City's civic society need to step up.”
He says that includes high-end real estate developers paying more in property taxes.