Image credit: New York City Council.
On May 16, 2024, the City Council passed Int. 110-A, which requires the creation of a report about the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together Program (PACT). The PACT program allows the New York City Housing Authority to change its traditional Section 9 public housing funding to project-based Section 8 funding. The change allows NYCHA to access debt to finance renovation and repairs projects and requires NYCHA to transfer the daily management of buildings to private management companies. The tenants retain the rights they would have in the public housing program but deal with the private company as their landlord, while NYCHA provides oversight. The report aims to promote transparency regarding the impact of the program. The bill was sponsored by Council Member Alexa Aviles.
The report will include information regarding the dates each development was selected and converted for the program, the names of the property management companies, subcontractors that have been hired by those management companies, the extent of NYCHA’s oversight, information about the resident outreach process prior to and during the conversion including what languages the outreach was in, and information about resident rights upon the conversion. The report will also contain data regarding the total cost of repairs for each conversion, information about the time and cost it took to complete repairs, environmental hazards addressed, and the average turnaround time it takes for property management to conduct work. The report must also include data regarding evictions, including the number of eviction proceedings initiated and how many evictions were actually done.
The report will be generated on an annual basis and is first due by November 1, 2024. For more information about the PACT program, click here.
Council Member Aviles stated, “As former Chair of the Committee on Public Housing, I am glad to finally bring to light some fundamental details around the now seven-year old program called the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together, or PACT program. Intro. 110-A will help us understand whether the program is delivering on its dual goals to both improve NYCHA’s bottom line as well as improve living conditions for our public housing residents. While the administration continues to pour funding into this privatization program, we ought to understand its effectiveness. I’m grateful Speaker Adams and Chair Banks see the importance of this measure and have lent their support to its passage today. I couldn’t be more proud to have advanced this legislation, and hope its enactment brings greater transparency to a very opaque authority.”
By: Veronica Rose (Veronica is the Editor of CityLand and a New York Law School graduate, Class of 2018.)