BILL NUMBER: S7798

SPONSOR: KLEIN
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the public housing law and the New
York city charter, in relation to directing the New York City Housing
Authority to establish a 311 hotline for the submission and receipt of
complaints

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

The purpose of this bill is to direct the New York City Housing Authori-
ty ("NYCHA") and the New York City Department of Information technology
to establish a 311 hotline to receive public housing complaints.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Adds a new section 402-d to the public housing law to direct
the New York City Housing Authority ("NYCHA") to establish, in coordi-
nation with the department of information technology of the city of New
York, a 311 hotline to receive public housing complaints.

              

Section 2: Adds a new section 1076 to the New York City Charter direct-
ing the department of information technology of the city of New York to
coordinate with NYCHA to establish a housing authority 311 hotline.

Section 3: Provides the effective date, and immediately authorizes and
directs NYCHA and the department of information technology of the city
of New York to promulgate any rules and regulations necessary to imple-
ment the provisions of this act.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

311 is a special telephone number that provides New York City residents
access to non-emergency municipal services. The number is toll-free from
any phone in the city. Currently, a NYCHA resident who contacts 311
about any conditions will instead be referred to a separate NYCHA
hotline. This legislation will now allow a resident to report a mainte-
nance issue or file a complaint directly through the 311 system similar
to how non-NYCHA residents can file complaints through 311. Through this
process, violations will then be public and the intent of this is to
ensure there is proper follow-up by proper channels.

Everyone in New York City knows about the 311 service. This legislation
is a common sense approach to make it easier for NYCHA residents to
notify the housing authority of maintenance and safety issues. By
enhancing the accessibility of NYCHA's call center this legislation will
improve response time to tenant concerns and will also create a level of
outside oversight over complaints, which is the same to how other 311
complaints are handled.

The 311 system has grown significantly since its inception in 2003,
serving as the means of contact for hundreds of city services, but not
for NYCHA housing complaints. There is no justifiable reason that NYCHA
residents should be left out in the cold - it is time to expand the 311
service to meet their needs as well.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Bill
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the 180th day after it shall become law,
provided however that effective immediately the New York City Housing
Authority and the department of information technology and telecommuni-
cations of the city of New York are authorized and directed to promul-
gate any rules and regulations necessary to implement the provisions of
this act on its effective date on or before such date.