The city will pay over $2 billion toward repair work and upkeep at its NYCHA buildings across the city, over the next 10 years, the Wall Street Journal has learned. A source familiar with the negotiations informed the Journal that the city will officially make its announcement about the agreement later today.
As previously reported, the city will spend $1 billion over the next four years to address the health and safety concerns at NYCHA buildings. After that, the city has committed to spending $200 million to further address repairs and much-needed investment in the NYCHA housing stock.
“By further acknowledging and providing solutions to a decades-old pattern of mismanagement, divestment and neglect, I am confident this settlement will be a turning point for our public housing system,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio, in a statement. “By enshrining in City government my administration’s absolute commitment to never turning a blind eye to those in need, this agreement takes a dramatic step to fulfilling our obligation to more than 400,000 New Yorkers who call NYCHA home.”
A court-appointed federal monitor will oversee the work taking place at the NYCHA buildings over the next decade, according to the Journal. This agreement, which is officially called a consent decree, follows the agency’s failure to comply with lead paint inspections, and heat outages that left 80 percent of NYCHA residents without heat or hot water at some point last winter.
Amid the scandals, NYCHA chair Shola Olatoye resigned in April, and governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency on the embattled housing agency. While the consent decree is a major step forward, NYCHA still needs $25 billion in overall repairs, which is up from $6 billion in 2005.
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