Senate O.K.’s NYCHA $$ plan

By Albert Amateau

The state Senate on Monday passed a bill introduced by state Senator Dan Squadron making the New York City Housing Authority eligible for millions of dollars in federal funds for certain public housing projects that had previously not been allowed to receive federal funding.

Among the 21 projects directly affected by the state legislation are the Chelsea Houses Addition, 430 W. 26th St.; the project at 344 E. 28th St. at First Ave. across from Bellevue Hospital; and the Rutgers Houses, between Rutgers and Pike Sts., on the Lower East Side.

However, the bill, made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (part of the federal stimulus package), will indirectly benefit all tenants in NYCHA developments.

“Every single NYCHA resident will benefit by filling the funding gap left by the state and city,” said Squadron. “It will help fix broken elevators, avoid heat outages and address the basic maintenance problems that that public housing tenants contend with every day.”

Click Here to continue reading the feature article in The Villager