NYCHA - Budget Testimony 20140603

NYC Housing Authority


Press Release


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 3, 2014
Contact: media@nycha.nyc.gov, (212) 306-3322

Security initiatives, repair progress, fiscal challenges are focus of NYCHA budget testimony

Chair & CEO Shola Olatoye testifies before City Council Public Housing and Finance committees

New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) Chair and CEO Shola Olatoye announced today the Authority is making significant progress addressing its fiscal challenges to better serve its more than half a million residents throughout the City of New York. New security initiatives, including accelerated plans for camera installations and security operation centers, layered building access to secure entrances, and more community partnerships with police and anti-violence groups, are among ways the Authority is working to meet residents’ needs.

In light of this week’s tragic events in Boulevard Houses, one of the Authority’s 334 developments, Chair Olatoye emphasized efforts to more swiftly provide vital safety and security upgrades. NYCHA is working closely with the Mayor de Blasio, who has significantly accelerated the approval process for these improvements. The Chair described successful implementation by the end of 2013 of a plan to install all pre-2012 City Council-funded CCTV cameras and security systems in developments around the City. Now NYCHA has accelerated its investment of $27 million to install more security infrastructure that includes cameras and related tech back-up, along with newly hardened doors and entry systems, in some 49 developments by the end of this year. Chair Olatoye further spoke of collaborative efforts to upgrade the physical security of its properties and improve residents’ personal safety.

“We work with all our stakeholders – especially NYCHA residents, the NYPD, the District Attorney’s Office, community-based organizations, the City Council, and other City and State agencies – to address safety and security issues through a collaborative approach,” Chair Olatoye said. “In this vein, we formed NYCHA’s Safety and Security Task Force in 2009 in collaboration with a core group of stakeholders to strengthen relationships in the community. The Task Force, which last met in April, guides our layered access approach to building security and works to engage residents in crime prevention.” Together with the NYPD, NYCHA is working on a plan to focus on high crime areas with heightened police presence.

Repairs

In addition to outlining capital investments in security, the testimony discussed NYCHA’s diligent efforts to reduce a repair backlog which has been lowered to about 80,000 outstanding work orders from a high of 423,000 from January 2013. Along with this more than 80 percent reduction in work orders, NYCHA exceeded its goal of responding to maintenance requests within seven days, the Chair testified, bringing that number from 150 to an average of four days. NYCHA also reduced response times to requests for skilled trade work to 39 days. This is still far from its 15-day target, Chair Olatoye said, stressing the importance of the Mayor’s recent funding allocation to further address this challenge.

In thanking Mayor Bill de Blasio for his commitment to public housing, the NYCHA Chair highlighted the Mayor’s forgiveness of NYCHA’s payments to the NYPD, which will total more than $100 million over two years. These funds will be redirected toward repair and maintenance and to help reduce NYCHA’s budget deficit. In addition, Chair Olatoye said, NYCHA will use these resources to support its newly created independent assessment unit, which began work this week reviewing the physical state thousands of individual apartments.

Fiscal Challenges

Chair Olatoye’s Executive Budget testimony presented an updated picture of the Authority’s $3.1 billion budget and reviewed NYCHA’s actual first quarter spending against the NYCHA-Board adopted budget presented to the Council in March. She described NYCHA’s re-forecasted year-end figures, which result in an estimated deficit between $77 million to $87 million, and described the Authority’s pro-active measures to lessen this gap. Among these are green initiatives at NYCHA. NYCHA is working aggressively with HUD, she said, to increase NYCHA’s federal subsidy through an energy rate reduction provision.

Speaking before the Council, the Chair also expressed concerns over decreased federal funding for NYCHA operating and capital expenses. She thanked the Council for its past support to mitigate the impact of sequestration by providing funds for senior and other community centers. Under its current financial constraints, however, NYCHA will not able to continue to fund the remaining community centers it operates within its portfolio. Chair Olatoye asked for at least $17 million to fund these efforts while NYCHA looks for a long term solution that will keep these valued programs in the neighborhoods they serve.