The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is a public development corporation which provides public housing in New York City, and is the largest public housing authority in North America. In 1934, it was created as the first agency of its kind in the United States, it aims to provide decent, affordable housing for low and moderate-income New Yorkers throughout the five boroughs of New York City. NYCHA also administers a citywide Section 8 Leased Housing Program in rental apartments. NYCHA developments include single and double family houses, apartment units, singular floors, and shared small building units, and commonly have large income disparities with their respective surrounding neighborhood or community. These developments, particularly those including large-scale apartment buildings, are often referred to in popular culture as "projects."
The New York City Housing Authority's goal is to increase opportunities for low and moderate-income New Yorkers by providing affordable housing and facilitating access to public service and community services. More than 360,000 New Yorkers reside in NYCHA's 335 public housing developments across the city's five boroughs. Another 235,000 receive subsidized rental assistance in private homes through the NYCHA-administered Section 8 Leased Housing Program.
History
NYCHA was created in 1934 to help alleviate the housing crisis caused by the Great Depression during Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia's administration and was the first agency in the United States to provide publicly funded housing. The agency used the developments to practice slum-clearance and establish model affordable housing for the city. In 1935, NYCHA completed its first development, the First Houses, located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The parcel of land the houses were located on were purchased from Vincent Astor and the city used eminent domain to secure the remaining property. However, the construction of the First Houses used existing apartment buildings to renovate which proved too costly.
NYCHA's first two "new from the ground up" developments were Harlem River in 1937 and Williamsburg in 1938. Both are noted for their art-deco style of architecture, which are unique in public housing. These developments were segregated based on race with Harlem River being black-only and Williamsburg white-only.
The Authority boomed in partnership with Robert Moses after World War II as a part of Moses' plan to clear old tenements and remake New York as a modern city. Moses indicated later in life that he was disappointed at how the public housing system fell into decline and disrepair. The majority of NYCHA developments were built between 1945 and 1965. Unlike most cities, New York depended heavily on city and state funds to build its housing after the Federal Housing Act of 1937 expired and a new bill wasn't agreed upon until the Federal Housing Act of 1949, rather than just the federal government. Most of the postwar developments had over 1,000 apartment units each, and most were built in the modernist, tower-in-the-park style popular at the time. In the 1950s and 1960s, many New Yorkers, including supporters, became more critical of the agency and in response NYCHA introduced a new look that included variations of height, faster elevators, and larger apartments. In 1958, Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. began to shift construction away from megaprojects to smaller sites which retained the street grid and had under 1,000 units.
In 1964, NYCHA ended a policy that held apartments for white tenants in an attempt to integrate the developments. Tenants organized a rent strike in opposition to the policy and the State Commission of Human Rights questioned if the policy was in accordance to the state's laws on discrimination.
In 1995, the New York City Housing Authority Police Department and the New York City Transit Police were merged into the New York City Police Department by NYC Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and continues today as the New York City Police Department Housing Bureau.
Governance and operations
NYCHA is a public-benefit corporation, controlled by the Mayor of New York City, and organized under the State's Public Housing Law.Public Housing Law § 401; "The New York City Housing Authority is hereby constituted and declared to be a body corporate and politic with all the powers, rights and duties set forth in article five of the former state housing law." Municipal Housing Authorities Law (L. 1934, ch. 4), comprising §§ 60–78 of the former State Housing Law (L. 1926, ch. 823, as re-enacted by L. 1927, ch. 35), now the Public Housing Law (L. 1939, ch. 808). The NYCHA ("NYCHA Board") consists of seven members, of which the chairman is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the Mayor of New York City, while the others are appointed for three-year terms by the mayor.Public Housing Law § 402(3) The board includes three members who are residents of public housing, and a board chair who also serves as NYCHA's chief executive officer.
On September 15, 2022, Mayor Eric Adams announced a new two person leadership structure for NYCHA with a split between the NYCHA Chair and CEO roles, with the CEO managing the day-to-day operations and the Chair overseeing the NYCHA Board.
The Authority is the largest public housing authority (PHA) in North America. In spite of many problems, it is still considered by experts to be the most successful big-city public housing authority in the country. Whereas most large public housing authorities in the United States (Chicago, St. Louis, Baltimore, etc.) have demolished their high-rise projects and in most cases replaced them with lower density housing, New York's continue to be fully occupied. Most of its market-rate housing is also in high-rise buildings.
NYCHA also administers a citywide Section 8 Leased Housing Program in rental apartments. However, new applications for Section 8 have not been accepted since December 10, 2009.
New York also maintains a long waiting list for its apartments. Because of demand, the Housing Authority in recent years, has selected more "working families" from applicants to diversify the income structure of occupants of its housing, as had been typical of residents who first occupied the facilities. NYCHA's Conventional Public Housing Program has 175,636 apartments (as of 2018) in 325 developments throughout the city.
NYCHA has approximately 13,000 employees serving about 173,946 families and approximately 392,259 authorized residents. Based on the 2010 census, NYCHA's Public Housing represents 8.2% of the city's rental apartments and is home to 4.9% of the city's population. NYCHA residents and Section 8 voucher holders combined occupy 12.4% of the city's rental apartments.
List of chairpersons No.ChairpersonTermMayorPrevious Position1.Langdon PostFebruary 17, 1934 – December 1, 1937Fiorello H. La GuardiaU.S. Assistant Federal Relief Administrator2.Alfred RheinsteinDecember 17, 1937 – October 9, 1939Fiorello H. La GuardiaChairman & CEO, Rheinstein Construction Company3.Gerard SwopeDecember 11, 1939 – January 26, 1942Fiorello H. La GuardiaPresident, General Electric Company4.Edmond Borgia ButlerMay 2, 1942 – July 1, 1947Fiorello H. La GuardiaProfessor, Fordham University Law School5.Thomas Francis FarrellJuly 1, 1947 – September 15, 1950William O'DwyerChief of Field Operations, The Manhattan Project6.Philip J. CruiseSeptember 15, 1950 – April 3, 1958Vincent R. Impellitteri (acting mayor)Assistant Chairman, New York City Housing Authority7.William ReidApril 1958 – December 31, 1965Robert F. Wagner Jr.Chairman, Hudson and Manhattan Railroad8.Missing NameJanuary 1966 –9.Gerald J. Carey1966John V. LindsayGeneral manager, New York City Housing Authority10.Walter Edward Washington1966 – 1967John V. LindsayExec. Dir. National Capital Housing Authority, DC11.Albert WalshOctober 31, 1967 – January 7, 1970John V. LindsayDeputy Commissioner, NYS Division Housing & Urban Renewal12.Simeon GolarJanuary 16, 1970 – May 31, 1973John V. LindsayChairman, NYC Commission on Human Rights13.Joseph J. Christian1973 – December 31, 1985John V. Lindsay, Abraham D. Beame, Edward I. KochCommissioner of Development, NYC Housing and Development Administration14.Emanuel P. PopolizioJanuary 4, 1986 – November 1990Edward I. KochChairman, NYC Conciliation and Appeals Board15.Laura D. BlackburneNovember 1990 – February 22, 1992David N. DinkinsPresident & CEO, Institute for Mediation and Conflict Resolution, NYC16.Sally B. Hernandez-PineroFebruary 22, 1992 – January 1994David N. DinkinsNYC Deputy Mayor for Finance and Economic Development17.Ruben FrancoJanuary 31, 1994 – January 7, 1999Rudy GiulianiPres. and General Counsel, Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund18.John G. MartinezApril 19, 1999 – April 1, 2001Rudy GiulianiFirst Vice-president, Paine Webber Inc.19.Tino HernandezApril 1, 2001 – December 12, 2008Rudy Giuliani, Michael R. BloombergCommissioner, New York City Department of Juvenile Justice20.Ricardo Elias MoralesDecember 15, 2008 – May 13, 2009Michael R. BloombergNYCHA General Counsel & Chief Ethics Officer21.John B. RheaJune 1, 2009 – December 30, 2013Michael R. BloombergManaging Director & Co-Head of Global Consumer/Retail Group, Barclays Capital22.Shola OlatoyeFebruary 8, 2014 – April 30, 2018Bill de BlasioVice Pres. & NY Market Leader, Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.*Derrick Cephas (Acting Chair*)May 4, 2018 – May 31, 2018E-mail to NYCHA Employees from General Manager - May 4, 2018Bill de BlasioVice Chair of NYCHA Board of Directors*Stanley Brezenoff (Interim Chair & CEO*)June 1, 2018 – February 15, 2019Bill de BlasioInterim CEO, NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation*Kathryn Garcia (Interim Chair & CEO*)February 5, 2019 – July, 2019Bill de BlasioCommissioner, NYC Department of Sanitation (continuing as)23.Gregory RussAppointed June 18, 2019, effective August 12, 2019 – September 19, 2022Bill de Blasio, Eric AdamsExecutive director & CEO, Minneapolis Public Housing Authority*Lisa Bova-Hiatt (Interim CEO*)September 19, 2022 – July 6, 2023Eric AdamsNYCHA Executive Vice President of Legal Affairs and General Counsel24.Lisa Bova-Hiatt (CEO) Jamie Rubin (Board Chair)July 6, 2023 – Eric Adams, Zohran MamdaniNYCHA Interim CEO (Lisa Bova-Hiatt), Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Aligned Climate Capital (Jamie Rubin)
Capital needs In 2004, NYCHA contracted with the Architectural/Engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade and Douglas to perform a needs assessment survey of all 2500+ properties owned by the agency (excluding FHA Homes, which were inspected by in-house NYCHA personnel in about 2007). In 2005, a report was released detailing the conditions of every aspect and building component of each individual property, based on a scale of 1 to 5 (in this case, 1 being the highest or best rating, and 5 being the lowest, or poorest rating). This report identified $6.9 billion in needs required to bring the Authority's structures into a state of good repair. In 2011/12, a second needs assessment survey was done by PBQ&D, which identified $16.5 billion in needs. This represented an average of $93,000 per unit. It is anticipated that an upcoming needs assessment contract will reveal capital needs in excess of $25 billion.Citizen's Budget Commission, December, 2017 The needs assessment survey is divided into five broad categories, which are: Architectural, Mechanical, Electrical, Site, and Apartments. Given the large number of apartment units within NYCHA, the report's findings on apartments are based upon an inspection of 5% of NYCHA's total inventory.
In mid-2007, NYCHA faced a $225 million budget shortfall.