The Center for New York City Law cordially invites you to a City Law Breakfast

presenting

Shola Olatoye

Chair & CEO, New York City Housing Authority

✱✱✱ (read more…)

The Center for New York City Law cordially invites you to a City Law Breakfast

presenting

Shola Olatoye

Chair & CEO, New York City Housing Authority

✱✱✱ (read more…)

NYCHA Chair and CEO Shola Olatoye. Image credit: NYCHA

Boerum Hill, Upper East Side developments to be developed under NextGeneration Neighborhoods program.  On September 10, 2015, the New York City Housing Authority announced that it will launch its NextGeneration Neighborhoods program at its Wyckoff Gardens and Holmes Towers sites, which are located in the Boerum Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn and the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, respectively.  NextGen Neighborhoods, a NextGen NYCHA program, aims to build new residential units—50% affordable and 50% market-rate—on underutilized NYCHA property.

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Borinquen Court’s Main Entrance. Image credit: West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing, Inc.

West Side Federation will build new units adjacent to an existing, low-income residential building and add additional community and commercial space.  On August 13, 2015, the City Council approved West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure application to build a development around the pre-existing Borinquen Court building, which is a low-income residential building geared towards senior citizens and physically-disabled individuals.  The development would be located in Council District 8—represented by Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito—on property bounded by Third Avenue, Alexander Avenue, 138th Street, and 139th Street in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx.  The additions would yield a three-winged structure with Borinquen Court at the center, a 122-unit building attached to its west end, and a 56-unit building attached to its east end.

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NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer. Image credit: Office of the New York City Comptroller

Audit shows Housing Department has inadequate controls in place to monitor and keep track of vacant units. On June 24, 2015, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer released an audit report that examined how the New York City Housing Authority manages vacant apartments in developments throughout the city. The report discussed the process by which an apartment becomes vacant in NYCHA’s system and when certain units are taken off of the rent roll. NYCHA classifies apartments as either being on the rent roll (on roll) or off of the rent roll (off roll). On roll units are those that are either occupied by a tenant or in the process of being turned over to a new tenant. Off roll units are those that are not available for residential use for an extended period of time due to major repair or renovation.

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David Farber, New York City Housing Authority General Counsel and Executive Vice-President for Legal Affairs. Image credit: NYCHA

David Farber was appointed New York City Housing Authority Executive Vice-President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel in August 2014.  When speaking with David, his clear love for New York City is readily apparent and supplemented by a driving desire to leave the city better than he found it.  Turning 50 this year, David has spent the majority of his professional career in service to his city with great satisfaction.

Born in Manhattan and raised in Yorktown, Westchester County, David’s parents imparted both a love of New York and a tradition of civic responsibility to David.  After retirement, David’s father worked as a math teacher in a Bronx high school for five years, while his mother was a social worker.  David spent a childhood in music, playing the violin through his twenties but setting it aside in later years, and made trips to the Bronx when he could to see the Yankees play.  “As soon as I could drive, my best friend and I would drive down to Yankee games, but worry about where we were going to park the car.”

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