Now that the Trump administration has taken more control over NYCHA, Sen. Chuck Schumer wants the White House to cough up more money to fund the beleaguered agency.
Schumer said on Sunday that he is demanding an additional $1.2 billion in the administration’s upcoming budget for large public housing systems across the country.
“NYCHA, we all know, is in need of help now,” Schumer said during a stop at the Alfred E. Smith Houses on the Lower East Side. “This is a now or never moment. We are here to say to HUD: put your money where your mouth is.”
Schumer said it is only fair for the feds to direct some extra money at NYCHA since New York City has committed to doing the same.
Last month, the city agreed to pump at least $2.2 billion into NYCHA over the next 10 years and to bring in a federal monitor for the system.
Schumer said that he had spoken with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson about the extra funding and was told it “seems reasonable.” He expects Carson to make a decision on the budget item in the next week or two.
“If he really wants this, he can get it done,” Schumer said.
“We have to stand together and tell the federal government, not that we’re asking, we’re not begging, we’re demanding,” said Aixa Torres, president of the Alfred E. Smith Houses tenant association. “We have a right to live with dignity, and the money must be invested in our infrastructure.”
HUD regional administrator Lynne Patton is spending a month living with four families in NYCHA properties. Advocates are hoping that Patton sends a strong message to the president about NYCHA’s dire situation.
“It is great that she sees by herself the effect of the disinvestment that has taken place,” said Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan). Now, she said, she hopes the message Patton brings to the White House is, “Show me the money, Mr. President.”
HUD announced Friday that former prosecutor Bart Schwartz will be named the federal monitor for NYCHA. Schwartz served as the head of the criminal division of the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York under then-U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani.
In the meantime, more than 400,000 NYCHA tenants are living with problems ranging from mold to a lack of heat and hot water and lead paint in their apartments.
