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.
NYCHA provides housing for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers at its 328 developments across the City. NYCHA has been chronically underfunded and is currently facing a $17 billion deficit. NextGen NYCHA is a component of Mayor de Blasio’s affordable housing plan that responds to NYCHA’s capital needs with a 10-year strategic plan to generate revenue and reinvest it back into NYCHA.
There are four key components to the NextGen Neighborhoods program: comprehensive community input and resident engagement, reinvestment of newly-generated funds into repairing and improving existing NYCHA developments, increased availability of affordable housing units, and the creation of a local, resident hiring program that provides jobs and training for such jobs associated with the new housing units.
Wyckoff Gardens, located at 572 Warren Street and 185 Nevins Street in the Boerum Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, is made up of three residential buildings with 529 units that house over 1,000 people. The residential development—built in 1966—occupies less than 15% of the surrounding NYCHA-owned land, and will require $45 million to meet its repair needs in the next five years. NYCHA proposes to remove two underutilized parking lots, and replace them with mixed-income residential buildings with 550–650 housing units.
Holmes Towers, located at 403 East 93rd Street in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, is made up of two residential buildings that house 930 residents in 540 units. The residential development—built in 1969—occupies less than 20% of the surrounding NYCHA-owned land, and will require $47 million to meet its repair needs in the next five years. NYCHA proposes to replace and move the existing playground located on the premises, and build a mixed-income residential building with 350–400 housing units in its place.
Shola Olatoye, NYCHA Chair and CEO, provided the following statement regarding the launch of NextGen Neighborhoods: “As we start this comprehensive, inclusive process and engagement moves forward, we cannot forget our purpose and why we are doing this—we must save NYCHA today and for tomorrow; we can no longer kick the can further down the road to address our finances, resident concerns and pressing infrastructure needs.”
NYCHA will be reaching out to and meeting with Wyckoff Gardens and Holmes Towers residents before soliciting proposals from developers. NYCHA will also host a forum in the next few weeks to provide residents with details on the NextGen Neighborhoods program and the specific plans for Wyckoff Gardens and Holmes Towers.
By: Jessica Soultanian-Braunstein (Jessica is the CityLaw Fellow and a New York Law School graduate, Class of 2015)
Before any playgrounds are taken away (not the same for parking lots), so new buildings can be built, NYCHA should contract with Habitat for Humanity’s Brush With Kindness program and get them and their volunteers to work alongside NYCHA residents to do sweat equity and repair the buildings. You need licensed contractors to do elevators, electrical, plumbing, roofs, and exterior facing, but tenants and Habitat volunteers working alongside them can install new windows, walls and floors, install new kitchens and bathroom fixtures and cabinets, and paint — all for the cost of materials only, not labor. See if the Residents’ Councils would go along with that. In addition, for on-going minor repairs not requiring licensed technicians, NYCHA residents should be paid stipends to do those under careful training and supervision. And Habitat’s Brush With Kindness program can always help, too. Try it before taking away play areas!!!! Forget the corrupt unions that have ruined NYCHA.