Public Employee Press

Spitzer approves $47 million for fiscally troubled New York City Housing Authority

Gov. Eliot Spitzer signed a bill Aug. 15 that infuses a shelter allowance of $47 million into the strapped New York City Housing Authority. The new provision pays NYCHA the same rent rate for welfare recipients as private landlords receive and helps alleviate the agency’s $225 million budget gap.

The shelter allowance, which will reach its full benefit in three years, can potentially save 500 NYCHA jobs marked for elimination Oct. 1.

“We are glad the governor did not abandon the 408,000 residents of public housing. We worked to help save affordable housing with Mayor Bloomberg, the Housing Authority, and the bill’s sponsors — Assembly member Vito Lopez and Senator Andrew Lanza,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

Eleven DC 37 locals represent 25,000 NYCHA employees and 15,000 DC 37 members and retirees live in public housing.

The state Legislature passed the funding bill as labor and community pressure mounted against NYCHA’s proposed layoffs and service cutbacks. DC 37, Teamsters Local 237 and community advocates rallied at City Hall June 12. Roberts discussed the issue with Spitzer, and joined with politicians and the advocacy group Community Voices Heard at City Hall Aug. 10. On July 25 she spoke at Harlem’s Wagner and Drew Hamilton Houses, where a tour exposed how tenants live with ongoing violations and violence.

The eye-opening walk-through revealed that since state and federal funds were all but eliminated a decade ago, NYCHA tenants have faced declining security and unsafe buildings, walkways and playgrounds. Some residents do without operable toilets, elevators or kitchen stoves, and NYCHA projects are plagued with peeling paint, gaping holes in walls, failed electricity, deadly black mold, and endless leaks. Conditions in public housing projects nationwide have gone downhill under President Bush, residents said.

Public housing is the last bastion of ­affordable housing left in New York City. NYCHA may use the shelter allowance revenue to address maintenance issues and operating costs and keep services like ­community centers open, said DC 37 Political Director Wanda Williams.

“The governor came through with the additional money,” said Roberts. “We hope the federal government will also respond to the public housing crisis with increased funding.”

“We’ll keep the pressure on,” said Local 957 President Walthene Primus, whose members work and live in NCYHA complexes. “By signing this bill, the governor, although he inherited this problem, made a step in the right direction for the Housing Authority and the city.”

— DSW