Schumer calls for $1.2B to fix blight

Senator wants federal funds to fix deteriorated public housing in NYC

Sen. Charles Schumer on Sunday demanded that the Trump administration earmark at least $1.2 billion in the federal budget for New York City’s blighted public housing — the nation’s largest.

The New York Democrat spoke at the Alfred E. Smith Houses on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Tenants say conditions in the city’s more than 300 public housing complexes where 400,000 New Yorkers live are a health hazard — from mold and lead to holes in walls, rodents and lack of heat.

The senator said it’s impossible to improve conditions without new federal funds.

The push for more money for New York comes on the heels of last month’s agreement between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the City of New York and the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), giving the federal government the authority to oversee desperately needed improvements at NYCHA properties.

“We have seen the spiraling results of decades of federal disinvestment in public housing at NYCHA, specifically,” Schumer said.

While the settlement is a positive step forward, “you cannot address the structural and systemic problems here without the federal government providing its fair share to fix the pipes, the boilers, address lead and more.”

In addition to federal money, New York City is required to spend $2.2 billion over the next decade on repairs. A former federal prosecutor will monitor the work and issue reports.

Schumer was joined Sunday by tenants and U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez, a Democrat.

The deal with New York City resolved a lawsuit in which federal authorities filed on behalf of the system’s tenants but stops short of a solution suggested by a judge last fall: to take the system out of the city’s hands and place it under federal control.

Michael Appleton / The New York Times Pian Tam inside her apartment in the Alfred E. Smith Houses in New York City 2013. Leaks, mold, broken stoves and many other unaddressed problems are among the ills that Senate Minority Leader Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. hopes to treat with an infusion of federal money.

Julie Walker / Associated Press Schumerspeaks at a news conference at the Alfred E. Smith houses on Sunday to demand that the Trump administration earmark at least $1.2 billion in the federal budget for New York City’s blighted public housing — the nation’s largest.

Drew Angerer / Getty Images The Alfred E. Smith Houses are among the city’s more than 300 public housing complexes, where 400,000 New Yorkers live.