Boulevard Houses in East NY, Brooklyn. Image Credit: NYCHA
Installation of safety lighting part of citywide plan to reduce violence at targeted NYCHA developments. On July 13, 2016, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the New York City Housing Authority announced the completed installation of 504 new lights to improve public safety at Boulevard Houses in East New York Brooklyn. The installation is part of the Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety (MAP) which was initiated in 2014. (more…)
NYCHA Chair & CEO Shola Olatoye standing with NYLS Professor & the Center for New York City Law Director Ross Sandler (left) and NYLS President and Dean Anthony Crowell (right). Image credit: CityLand
On Friday March 18, 2016, the Center for New York City Law at New York Law School hosted the 132nd CityLaw Breakfast. The event speaker was New York City Housing Authority Chair & CEO Shola Olatoye.
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.
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.
City Planning Chairman Carl Weisbrod & HPD Commissioner Vicki Been are sworn in before the Council’s oversight hearing. Image credit: William Alatriste, NYC Council
HPD, City Planning, NYCHA among those who answered questions on the results and direction of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan. On November 17, 2014, the City Council Committee on Housing and Buildings, joined by the Committee on Land Use and Committee on Community Development, held an oversight hearing on Housing New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s affordable housing plan. The Council heard testimony over the course of seven hours from Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Vicki Been, City Planning Commission Chairman Carl Weisbrod, along with representatives from the New York City Housing Authority, the Housing Development Corporation, labor unions, tenant advocacy groups, and other stakeholders.
In a Reader
