NYCHA chairman Greg Russ hinted the embattled agency may expand its plans to partially privatize the city’s crumbling public housing stock as it desperately seeks new funds to pay for its repair bill.
The new push comes as Russ estimates the Housing Authority’s repair bill is now at least $40 billion over the next five years, up from the $32 billion estimated in 2017.
City Hall’s ballyhooed rescue plan, NYCHA 2.0, will only generate $24 billion for repairs — and will need a decade to hit those projections.
NYCHA also previously estimated its 10-year repair bill would be $38 billion, but officials did not immediately have figures available for how large that 10-year bill has grown.
“We have some ideas, I wouldn’t represent to you that we’re ready to put anything on the table at this point,” he told reporters after addressing a breakfast klatch put on by the business news journal, Crain’s New York. He said he hoped the plan would find enough money that could “bring a building back to a decent and livable standard.”
Russ attributed the run-up in costs to the requirements imposed by regulators under City Hall’s deal with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which included a partial federal takeover of the agency.
When pressed, he acknowledged NYCHA is examining converting new developments from public ownership to new public-private partnerships.
Russ said the plan will be revealed “early this year,” but provided no additional specifics.
“We have to figure out a couple of things,” he conceded.
Currently, City Hall plans to convert 62,000 units, leaving NYCHA’s remaining 110,000 units under public ownership and management.
It hopes to pay for about $13 billion in repairs through the conversions.
Under the partnerships, NYCHA maintains ownership of the land, but private companies or nonprofits acquire a stake in the buildings and take over management. Unlike straight public housing, the partnerships can take out loans to pay for upgrades.
In addition, supporters say they improve management — and, in some cases, the apartments can qualify for additional federal subsidies, which could help NYCHA’s finances. And, the program sets rents at the rates that NYCHA tenants already pay — 30 percent of their income, which protects them from massive hikes.
However, some tenants fiercely opposed the conversions, fearing the new managers will find reasons to boot them from their apartments.
Tenants have also pushed back against another key component of de Blasio’s NYCHA 2.0 plan, which hoped to generate $2 billion by leasing some NYCHA land currently used for parks or parking lots to private developers.
The Citizens Budget Commission declared in September that portion of the program had stalled.