Public Forum Regarding the Rightsizing of City’s Public Housing

Martin Malavé Dilan

July 14, 2014

Borough President Eric Adams is hosting a forum on the “rightsizing” policy of New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development on Wednesday July 16th at 6:00 p.m. at Borough Hall.

Tenants will have the opportunity to hear from HPD Commissioner Vicki Been and local stakeholders on the departments ongoing efforts to address the overcrowding of NYCHA units, and the under-occupation of others.

According to HPD, nearly 40 percent (71,219 ) of NYCHA units are either too small, or too large. While the waiting list grows to assign the more than 15,000 families living in over-crowded units, approximately 44,663 tenants continue to live in under-occupied units with one or more spare rooms, and 11,403 in units with two or more vacant rooms.

As part of Plan NYCHA, a continuing effort to preserve and improve public housing in the city and address the increased occupancy discrepancies, NYCHA has revamped its rightsizing transfer program over the last several years.

However, the transfer program which entails multiple notifications has been plagued by poor communication and logistics.