2023 New York Laws › PBG - Public Housing › Article 13 - Municipal Housing Authorities, Created › Title 1 - New York City Housing Authority › 402 - Special Provisions With Respect to the New York City Housing Authority.

§  402.  Special  provisions with respect to the New York City Housing
  Authority.  1.  It  is  hereby  found  and  declared,  as  a  result  of
  investigation  and  study,  that enactment of the provisions hereinafter
  set forth is necessary for reorganization of the authority to enable  it
  to  (a)  institute  improved management procedures; (b) bring about more
  efficient methods of maintenance and supervision of projects; (c) foster
  prompt and sound solution of problems relating to occupancy of projects;
  (d) undertake administration of personnel in consonance  with  the  size
  and scope of the authority's functions. It is further found and declared
  that  private  enterprise  should  be  encouraged to the greatest extent
  possible to enter the field  of  housing  in  which  the  authority  now
  operates so that the authority may be able to concentrate its activities
  at the earliest possible moment on providing housing exclusively for the
  lower income families.
2.  Notwithstanding  any  provisions to the contrary contained in this
  chapter, or any general, special or local law, the  provisions  of  this
  section  shall  govern the number, appointment, removal and compensation
  of the members of the New York City Housing Authority.
3. The authority shall consist  of  seven  members  appointed  by  the
  mayor,  one  of  whom  shall  be  designated  by  the  mayor as chairman
  removable at his or her pleasure. The term  of  office  of  each  member
  other  than  the  chairman shall be three years, provided, however, that
  the initial appointments of the six  members  other  than  the  chairman
  shall  be  as  follows:  two  shall be appointed for one-year terms, two
  shall be appointed for two-year terms, and two shall  be  appointed  for
  three-year  terms. The mayor shall file with the commissioner of housing
  a certificate of appointment of the chairman and  of  each  member.  Any
  member  other  than the chairman may be removed by the mayor upon filing
  in the office of the commissioner of  citywide  administrative  services
  and  serving upon the member the reasons therefor. Such document setting
  forth the reasons shall be made available to the general  public,  which
  shall  include  but  not be limited to publishing the reasons on the New
  York city housing authority's website. Three of such members shall be  a
  tenant  of  record  or  an authorized member of the tenant household, in
  good standing, residing in one of the federal projects owned or operated
  by the authority, provided, however, that for the  initial  appointments
  of  the  three  such  members,  one shall be among the members initially
  appointed for one-year terms, one shall be among the  members  initially
  appointed  for  two-year  terms,  and  one  shall  be  among the members
  initially appointed for three-year terms. A vacancy in the office  of  a
  member other than the chairman occurring otherwise than by expiration of
  term shall be filled for the unexpired term. Further, any vacancy in the
  office  of a tenant member shall only be filled by the appointment of an
  eligible tenant member, and such appointment shall be made within ninety
  days of such vacancy.
4. The chairman shall give his or her whole time to his or her  duties
  and  shall not engage in any other occupation, profession or employment.
  The chairman shall receive a salary the amount of which shall  be  fixed
  by local law. The other members of the authority shall receive a stipend
  in  the amount of two hundred fifty dollars for every four hours of work
  performed for the authority, not to exceed  one  thousand  five  hundred
  dollars per month.
5.  Notwithstanding  any  provisions to the contrary contained in this
  chapter, or any general, special or local law, the New York city housing
  authority shall have the power in its discretion to provide and maintain
  a housing police department and a uniformed housing police  force.  Such
  department and force shall have the power and it shall be their duty, in
  and  about  housing  facilities,  to  preserve the public peace, prevent

  crime,  detect  and  arrest  offenders,   suppress   riots,   mobs   and
  insurrections,   disperse   unlawful   or   dangerous   assemblages  and
  assemblages which obstruct free passage; protect the rights  of  persons
  and property; guard the public health; remove all nuisances; enforce and
  prevent  violation of all laws and ordinances; and for these purposes to
  arrest all persons guilty of violating any law or  ordinance  and  shall
  provide   for   the  performance,  without  unnecessary  delay,  of  all
  recording, fingerprinting, photographing and  other  preliminary  police
  duties.  Appointments  to  such  housing  police  force shall be made in
  accordance with applicable provisions of the civil service law and  only
  persons  who have never been convicted of a felony, and who are citizens
  of the United States shall be appointed housing patrol officers  on  the
  housing  police  force.  Each  member  of  such  force shall be a police
  officer as defined  by  paragraph  (e)  of  subdivision  thirty-four  of
  section  1.20  of  the  criminal procedure law and, while on duty, shall
  possess all the powers of a police officer of a city in the execution of
  criminal process; and criminal process issued by any court or magistrate
  of a city may be directed to and executed by a member of such force.
The authority may appoint a chief and a deputy chief  of  the  housing
  police  department  who,  in  the  discretion  of  the authority, may be
  selected from the ranks of the housing police force, and  assign  powers
  and  duties  to  them and fix their compensation. The chief shall be the
  head of such department. During the absence or disability of the  chief,
  the deputy chief shall possess all the powers and perform all the duties
  of  the  chief.  The  housing  police  force  shall consist of captains,
  lieutenants, sergeants and patrolmen. The  authority  shall  maintain  a
  division  for  detective  purposes to be known as the detective division
  and may, from time to time, detail to service in said division  as  many
  members  of  the  force  as  it  may deem necessary, and may at any time
  within three years of appointment revoke  any  such  detail  or  a  part
  thereof.  If  the  authority,  in  its discretion, dissolves the housing
  authority police department and the housing authority police force,  the
  division  for  detective purposes shall also be dissolved. Any member of
  the force while so detailed may be granted an increase in  salary  above
  the  grade  established  for  his rank in the uniformed force, but shall
  retain his rank in the force and shall be  eligible  for  promotion  the
  same  as if serving in the uniformed force, and the time during which he
  serves in such division shall count for all purposes as if served in his
  rank or grade in the uniformed force.
5-a. Receipt of line of duty pay. a. A member of  the  New  York  city
  housing authority police force in the rank of police officer, other than
  an officer who is detailed or designated as a detective or who holds the
  position of sergeant or any position of higher rank in such force, shall
  be  entitled  pursuant  to this section to the full amount of his or her
  regular salary for the period of any incapacity due to illness or injury
  incurred in the performance and discharge of duty as a  police  officer,
  as determined by the authority.
b. A member of the New York city housing authority police force who is
  detailed  or  designated  as  a  detective  or who holds the position of
  sergeant or any position of higher rank in such force shall be  entitled
  pursuant to this section to the full amount of his or her regular salary
  for  the  period  of any incapacity due to illness or injury incurred in
  the performance and discharge of duty as  a  member  of  the  force,  as
  determined  by  the  authority,  only  in  the  event  that a collective
  bargaining agreement granting such entitlement pursuant to this  section
  has  been  entered  into  by  the  authority  and the certified employee
  organization representing such member. The first entitlement of any such
  member of the New York city housing authority police force to  the  full

  amount  of  regular salary under this section shall commence on the date
  of execution of the collective bargaining agreement providing  for  such
  entitlement with respect to such member.
c.  Nothing  in  this section shall be construed to affect the rights,
  powers and duties of the authority pursuant to any  other  provision  of
  law,  including,  but  not  limited to, the right to discipline a police
  officer by termination, reduction of salary, or  any  other  appropriate
  measure;  the  power to terminate an appointee who has not completed his
  or her probationary term;  and  the  power  to  apply  for  ordinary  or
  accident disability retirement for a police officer.
d.  Nothing  in  this section shall be construed to require payment of
  salary to a member of the New York city housing authority  police  force
  who  has been terminated, retired, suspended or otherwise separated from
  service by reason of death, retirement or any other cause.
e. A decision as to eligibility for benefits pursuant to this  section
  shall  not  be  binding on the medical board or the board of trustees of
  any pension fund in the determination of  eligibility  for  an  accident
  disability or accidental death benefit.
f.  As  used  in  this  section  the  term "incapacity" shall mean the
  inability to perform full, limited, or restricted duty.
6. In addition to all other powers granted by this  chapter,  the  New
  York  city  housing  authority shall have the power to act as and be and
  become a "developer", as that term is defined  in  subdivision  nine  of
  section  four  hundred  fifty-two  of  the  education law, of a combined
  occupancy structure, as defined in  subdivision  five  of  section  four
  hundred  fifty-two  of such law, which consists of a project, as defined
  in this chapter, as well as of school accommodations or other facilities
  of the board of education of the city of New York, and to be and  become
  an  "owner", as that term is defined in subdivision fifteen-a of section
  four hundred fifty-two of the education law, of the non-school  portion,
  consisting  of  a  project  as defined in this chapter, of such combined
  occupancy structure; and to do all things  necessary  or  convenient  to
  carry  out  such  powers,  including  (a)  construction of such combined
  occupancy structure as a developer pursuant to the  provisions  of  this
  chapter and article ten of the education law, and conveyance or lease of
  the  school  portion  thereof,  and (b) as an owner, making and entering
  into contracts for acquisition, lease, sublease or other agreements  for
  or  with  respect  to the non-school portion, consisting of a project as
  defined in this chapter, pursuant to the provisions of  article  ten  of
  the  education  law, and acquiring the same by transfer or conveyance to
  it of the fee title, or of possession  under  such  lease,  sublease  or
  other agreement.
6-a.  a.  The New York city housing authority shall include with every
  lease or renewal lease offered to a prospective  or  current  tenant,  a
  separate,  clear  and  conspicuous  notice,  in  at  least sixteen-point
  boldface type, concerning the tenant's ability to add  additional  legal
  occupants to the lease agreement.
b.  Upon receipt of a tenant's request for a form to add an additional
  legal occupant to his or  her  lease  agreement,  the  authority  shall,
  within  seven  days, provide the tenant with clear information regarding
  how to apply in person or online, along  with  a  notice  informing  the
  tenant  of  the  right  to grieve the denial of any occupancy permission
  request. Any form required by the authority to  request  such  occupancy
  permission  shall be made available for review and submission in person,
  on  the  authority's  website,  and  through  the   authority's   mobile
  application.
c.  Upon  receipt  of  a  tenant's  request to add an additional legal
  occupant to his or her lease agreement, the authority shall provide  the

  tenant,  in  writing,  with  confirmation of receipt of the application,
  information regarding how the tenant may inquire as  to  the  status  of
  such  request, and the expected date of the authority's response to such
  request.
7.  The  authority shall have the power, which shall be in addition to
  its other powers under this chapter,  to  adopt  rules  and  regulations
  relating  to the parking, stopping or standing of a motor vehicle within
  the interior paths, roads, or grounds of its public housing projects.  A
  violation  of  such  rules  and  regulations shall constitute a "traffic
  infraction" as  defined  in  the  vehicle  and  traffic  law,  and  such
  violation  shall  be  heard  and  tried by the parking violations bureau
  established and created under and pursuant to title A of  chapter  forty
  of  the administrative code of the city of New York, as added by chapter
  one thousand seventy-five of the laws of  nineteen  hundred  sixty-nine.
  Such  rules  and  regulations  shall  not  be  effective  until filed as
  required by section fifty-four of this chapter and, in  addition,  until
  filed  with  the clerk of the municipality in which the principal office
  of the authority is located. The authority shall post appropriate  signs
  in  specific  locations within a project as to the rules and regulations
  governing the parking, stopping or standing of motor  vehicles  at  such
  locations.
8.  All  provisions  of  this  chapter applicable to the New York City
  Housing Authority and not  inconsistent  with  the  provisions  of  this
  section shall continue to apply to such authority.
9.  The  chairman  shall ensure that at every meeting of the authority
  the public shall be allotted a period of  time,  not  less  than  thirty
  minutes, to speak on any topic on the agenda.
10.  Notwithstanding  any other provision of law to the contrary, upon
  the vacancy of a dwelling unit in any project operated by the authority,
  such vacant dwelling unit on a lower floor shall first be made available
  for occupancy to a current New York city  housing  authority  household,
  containing  an  authorized member of the household with a disability, as
  defined by subdivision twenty-one of section two hundred  ninety-two  of
  the  executive  law,  that  affects  mobility  and  based  on either the
  tenant's preference to move  to  a  first-or-second-floor  unit  and  to
  remain  within  their project or to transfer elsewhere, and based on the
  tenant's position on  the  authority's  transfer  waiting  list;  or  to
  provide  reasonable  accommodation  to  a  current New York city housing
  authority household, containing an authorized member  of  the  household
  with  a  disability, as defined by subdivision twenty-one of section two
  hundred ninety-two of  the  executive  law,  that  affects  mobility  to
  transfer  to  a  lower  floor  within  their project or to a lower floor
  elsewhere, if the request is supported  by  medical  documentation,  and
  based on the tenant's position on the authority's transfer waiting list.
  The  New  York  city  housing  authority  may  give higher preference to
  individuals requiring an emergency transfer  because  their  units  have
  become uninhabitable.
11.  Except  where  such exclusion is required pursuant to any federal
  law or rule or regulation, no person shall  be  denied  occupancy  in  a
  dwelling  in  any  project  or  be  subjected  to eviction from any such
  dwelling on the sole ground that such person is a formerly  incarcerated
  individual.