Residents of local public housing complexes say they already have to wait years for the city to fix holes in their walls and ceilings. After upcoming federal budget cuts, they might have to wait even longer.
The budget of the New York City Housing Authority—which runs 2,604 public housing buildings in the city, including a number on the Upper West Side and West Harlem—will be cut by $28 million for fiscal year 2011, as part of the budget deal struck on April 14.
According to NYCHA spokesperson Zodet Negron, NYCHA’s operating budget—money used to manage and maintain public housing—is down from the $948.5 million allocated in 2010 to $920.5 million in 2011. NYCHA’s capital budget—funds used for repairs to major systems and infrastructure—faces a reduction of $44 million, or a 13.6 percent drop from fiscal year 2010.
That means a total of $72 million in cuts to a public housing system that already struggles to address maintenance requests.
“The Authority respects and understands our residents’ frustration over the current backlog of repair and maintenance work,” Negron said in an email. “While the needs are great in most of NYCHA’s developments, the reality is that buildings that are 40 to 70 years old are aging structures that require a great deal of repair, for which the Authority receives inadequate funding.”
City Council member Gale Brewer, who represents the Upper West Side, said she hears complaints from her constituents about ceiling repairs, mold, and water damage, among other basic maintenance problems.
“If you live in public housing now, you can wait almost three years to get your ceiling repaired,” Brewer said. “There’s no money. We need a lot more money for NYCHA, specifically for maintenance and repairs.”
Deborah Griffith, who lives at the Grant Houses at Amsterdam Avenue and 125th Street, said maintenance is a huge concern even under the current budget constraints.
“I’ve lived here for 25 years. My walls need to be fixed up and painted already,” she said. “I can’t remember the last time someone came to fix it up.”
Twenty-five blocks away at the Frederick Douglass Houses on Columbus Avenue around 104th Street, John Hayward, who used to live there with his mother, agreed with Griffith.
“When I lived here just a few years ago, it took a long time to get things fixed, even if it was simple—you know, like a broken shower pole,” Hayward said. “Things haven’t changed, ’cause I still see her struggling with the same problems. I don’t know how it’s supposed to get better with less money.”
Negron did say that NYCHA’s five-year Plan to Preserve Public Housing, which is under development, should alleviate some of the effects of funding shortages—a plan it has cited when faced with maintenance complaints in the past. The plan includes additional city funding, as well as urging legislative action in Washington to create new funding options for public housing.
Meanwhile, NYCHA is doing its best to address residents’ maintenance requests within its tight budget, Negron said.
Brewer said NYCHA works hard to maintain buildings and keep up with repairs, but that there’s only so much the agency can do when its funds are restricted at the federal level.
“NYCHA has maintained many buildings and complexes for almost a century, but these buildings get hurt in Washington,” she said. “Congress has to try to come up with more money.”
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