Saving NYCHA: Chelsea is hopeful
Imagine spending the majority of your life living in a home that keeps getting worse: unreliable heat and water, mold, infestations and broken elevators. Then think about the relief you would feel to finally hear change is coming: the repairs you need, the stability and safety you have always wanted — all while your rent and rights stay the same.
Those improved living conditions are — despite the rhetoric and fear-mongering from others — the goal of the Chelsea Working Group, which is led by NYCHA tenants shaping a plan for fixing NYCHA’s Fulton, Chelsea, Chelsea Addition and Elliott-Chelsea Houses.
At long last, nearly 4,500 NYCHA residents have a future that is a lot brighter.
We have lived in NYCHA all our lives. As Tenant Association leaders, we know from experience that the Housing Authority has failed to deliver results, and there is a major trust gap between staff and residents that we must bridge.
But the Chelsea Working Group’s new plan isn’t coming from NYCHA. The agency tried to push a plan last year, and the community, residents and local elected officials pushed back to take demolition of our homes off the table. A clear consensus emerged: people said this needs to be a collaborative process. We need to ensure this is being done the right way and for the right reasons: for the residents.
The four complexes here face $366 million in urgently needed repairs over the next five years. It’s a staggering figure that reflects just 1% of NYCHA’s maintenance needs — which grow by $1 billion each year — over its entire portfolio of developments.
Typically, NYCHA receives limited capital funding from the federal, state, and city governments. The longer we blindly hope for direct investment in what is always “next year’s budget,” the longer residents will suffer. We need to activate funding solutions that are on the table now.
One such solution, which is what the Working Group is proposing in Chelsea, is PACT: NYCHA’s public-private partnership program. PACT will enable these Houses to secure adequate long-term funding for ongoing repairs and modernization; it will also allow for new construction on vacant land, bringing in millions of dollars upfront.
PACT stands for Permanent Affordability Commitment Together. It’s NYC’s version of RAD (Rental Assistance Demonstration), a federal housing program that allows public housing properties to convert to long-term Section 8 rental assistance contracts. What’s being called RAD-PACT in New York is part of NYCHA’s current Blueprint for Change, aimed at ending the long-standing, massive deficit.
And these repairs will not lead to displacement. PACT strictly requires rents to stay at no more than 30% of resident income. We have also outlined a number of improvements to strengthen residents’ rights and guarantee us a real and ongoing voice in the repair and development processes. These will not be empty promises, but contractually obligated repairs and protections.
In short, this proposal will take our homes out of the endless queue for major repairs — like a new heating system — and bring major capital improvements.
The surrounding neighborhood in Chelsea has seen huge changes in recent years, but none of that growth has helped us out. It is about time the value of our neighborhood actually results in positive change for us.
On paper this plan seems like an obvious decision: make the repairs, keep the rights, and finally go on living in a home we deserve. So why is it so complicated?
Opposition groups that have no association with this community — but which are ostensibly advocates for NYCHA residents — have been fighting this plan before it was even proposed, spreading lies and disinformation about PACT. Even though they know nothing about what it means to live in public housing, they’re advancing arguments against a resident-driven proposal which is the result of exhaustive stakeholder engagement and economic analysis.
Why would we, as residents, support this plan if it was going to raise our rents, force us out or ruin our lives? We would not, and we have been at the table saying no to anything that would. That is how we arrived at the Chelsea Working Group plan that will finally bring in the safe, stable and permanently affordable housing NYCHA residents have been seeking for decades.
We understand people are worried and scared. Change means trusting the unknown. But our lives cannot go on like they are, and for once, we have been at the table since the beginning to shape this plan, which is why we can confidently say this is the right path forward.
Those opposing the plan may be the loudest voices, but they haven’t been part of the discussion, so they should stop claiming to speak for us.
We are the real voices fighting for improved living conditions for NYCHA’s 4,500 Fulton, Chelsea, Chelsea Addition and Elliott-Chelsea Houses residents.