Politico NY: At Budget Hearing, Lawmakers Call for More State Funds for NYCHA

By SALLY GOLDENBERG 01/24/2018 06:12 PM EST

One by one, state legislators representing New York City demanded the Cuomo administration give more money to the cash-strapped housing authority that services the five boroughs.

And each time they pressed, state housing commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas said financing the New York City Housing Authority is the responsibility of the federal government, which has been slashing its commitment for decades.

The exchanges continued over the course of several hours during the state Legislature's budget hearing on Gov. Andrew Cuomo's housing programs.

"This failure to fund capital at NYCHA is a perennial issue now, and it's very hard to understand why the administration is choosing not to put any meaningful new money [into] NYCHA," state Sen. Brian Kavanagh of Manhattan said.

"Why is it that we're starting the executive budget with zero funding for this desperate need?" he asked at another point.

Like others who requested more money, Kavanagh is an ally of Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose administration has been pummeled by bad press over mounting problems at the housing authority.

Just this week, the city announced general manager Michael Kelly is leaving amid an investigation into lapsed lead paint inspections, broken boilers during frigid temperatures and a bedroom ceiling that collapsed on two Brooklyn tenants.

"I think the state has made a very big commitment to NYCHA," Visnauskas replied. She was referring to several allocations that totaled $300 million between 2015 and 2017, though much of that money has not been spent.

Out of $100 million earmarked in 2015, the state has spent — or is about to spend — nearly $89 million, she said.

The other two-thirds is in limbo as the Cuomo administration reviews the city's detailed request for how to spend it. The de Blasio administration waited more than seven months to formally request specific uses for the funds, and the state has been reviewing the submission for the past two months.

On Tuesday, de Blasio acknowledged his team took too long to fill out the paperwork.

"So now I have admitted we should have done a better job," he said. "I'd love you guys to go ask them when they're going to approve the money and get it to NYCHA for the boilers and the elevators."

Visnauskas told the legislators she anticipates the money will be spent "in the very near term."

"A $300 million commitment from the governor … is the biggest state commitment you've seen to NYCHA in a decade, or maybe two decades," she said.

"We're reallocating it partly because it's taken many years to get the money out the door," Kavanagh replied.

Other lawmakers, including Steven Cymbrowitz, Félix Ortiz and Latrice Walker, also asked for more aid.

Cuomo's $168.2 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year did not include any additional cash for the housing authority. He is not required to fund NYCHA, which stopped receiving aid from Albany in 1998.

The authority runs 326 buildings that house more than 400,000 people. In 2011, an internal assessment concluded it would cost $16.5 billion to adequately repair all its infrastructure problems — crumbling roofs, malfunctioning boilers, leaking pipes.

An updated version of that assessment is expected to peg the need at $25 billion.

During the hearing it was also revealed that the housing authority is considering partnering with private groups to provide services to senior citizens.

"I think it's appalling that NYCHA is not here to address us," state Sen. Diane Savino of Staten Island said. During a closed-door meeting with Chairwoman Shola Olatoye last week, Savino added, "she told me they would like to get out of the business of senior housing."

Savino said she agreed. "They should be overseen by an agency or nonprofits that can provide support services and social work," she told POLITICO.

Brian Honan, director of city and state legislative affairs at NYCHA, said the housing authority believes joining forces with a private provider would better serve elderly tenants.

Under such an arrangement, the authority would retain ownership of its buildings and rents would be unchanged, he said.