New York has entered its second year after Hurricane Sandy without benefiting from the construction expansion that billions of relief funding had predicted. New York City implemented the Rapid Repairs program that tasked teams of general contractors and sub contractors with restoring heat and lighting to households hit by Hurricane Sandy.
Many survivors are grateful to the New York City government for sending general contractors,and inspectors into the ravaged areas to help homeowners who faced cold nights without lights, heat and hot water.
Rapid Repairs
Home Owners
Rapid Repairs was a first-of-its-kind pilot program to provide free, government assistance to thousands of homeowners left without heat, power and hot water after Hurricane Sandy. No other city has ever responded to a natural disaster by offering emergency repairs to allow homeowners to shelter in their own homes. Rapid Repairs restored essential, emergency services and served as a critical first step in helping residents rebuild their homes more quickly.Between November 2012 and March 2013, Rapid Repairs restored heat, power and hot water in more than 11,700 homes representing over 20,000 residential units affected by Hurricane Sandy. At the peak of the program more than 2,000 workers were completing over 200 homes each day.
If the violation or deficiency was issued to the electrician or plumber, it is their responsibility to fix the deficiency. If the violation or deficiency was issued to the homeowner, it is the homeowner's responsibility to resolve it. If you have questions about your violation or deficiency, contact the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) by calling 311.
Rapid Repairs provided free, emergency heat, hot water, and electricity so that homeowners could shelter in place while making more permanent repairs to their homes. When Rapid Repairs completed work on your home, an independent quality inspector verified that the installed equipment was working properly. All maintenance and repairs are now the responsibility of the homeowner.
Information for Owners of Multi-family Dwellings
NYC Build it Back has a Multi-family Program designed to assist owners of properties with five or more apartments within all five boroughs affected by Hurricane Sandy. Rental properties, condominiums, and cooperative buildings are all potentially eligible. Financial assistance will be provided as a forgivable loan to cover unmet need for rehabilitation of buildings that sustained damage as a result of Sandy. In addition, the City intends to strengthen the housing infrastructure by identifying opportunities to increase resiliency against future events.The Program’s objectives include:
- Assist properties affected by Sandy by funding the unmet need for the rehabilitation of eligible multi-family buildings. Work funded may include repairing damage to common spaces, mechanical systems, and individual apartments. “Unmet need” is the difference between the total cost of the repairs, less any amount paid to the property owner from any other sources, including insurance.
- Help multi-family buildings affected by Sandy by improving the resilience of their properties while restoring their buildings.
- Prioritize assistance to NYC's most vulnerable populations, including residents with low to moderate income, and properties which suffered the most severe damage.
City representatives will guide owners through the process including determining the building’s eligibility, developing a scope of work to be funded under the program and overseeing construction.
Renters
The City is offering a temporary rental subsidy and housing referral assistance to low-income renters who were New York City residents during Hurricane Sandy and remain displaced from their homes as a result of the storm. The type of assistance offered depends on household income.The chart below contains the maximum household income according to household size, to be considered for either the rental subsidy or the housing referral program. The maximums are determined by percentages of Area Median Income (AMI), a common measure used by federal housing programs to determine eligibility for government assistance.
|
Household Size |
Maximum Household Income for Rental Subsidy |
Maximum Household Income for Housing Referral |
|
1 |
$30,100 |
$48,100 |
|
2 |
$34,400 |
$55,000 |
|
3 |
$38,700 |
$61,850 |
|
4 |
$42,950 |
$68,700 |
|
5 |
$46,400 |
$74,200 |
|
6 |
$49,850 |
$79,700 |
|
7 |
$53,300 |
$85,200 |
|
8 |
$56,700 |
$90,700 |
Rental Subsidy (TDAP)
The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) created the Temporary Disaster Assistance Program (TDAP) to serve very low-income renter households (up to 50% AMI) who are displaced from their New York City homes as a result of Hurricane Sandy. TDAP rental subsidy is limited to two years, and must be used within New York City. Households are required to pay 30% of their income toward rent.Initial income eligibility is determined through the central Build it Back 311 intake process. Income and other eligibility factors are further reviewed and confirmed through the TDAP program at HPD
Housing Referral
HPD is offering assistance with apartment referrals to low-income renter households (up to 80% AMI) who are displaced from their New York City homes as a result of Hurricane Sandy. Eligible households identified through the Build It Back 311 intake process may work with a housing placement coordinator who will provide referrals to owners and managers of available affordable apartments.If renters accept an apartment referral, HPD will send their name and contact information to the owner/manager, who will call the renter to schedule an interview. From that point on, the renter is responsible for all communication and coordination with owner/manager through move-in. A total of three referrals will be provided.
HPD does not provide assistance with fees, deposits, or moving expenses. TDAP participants may also request assistance with housing referrals.
Information for renters with household incomes greater than 80% AMI Urban Edge: The City has worked with the independent real estate website, Urban Edge, to provide short term listings for displaced Sandy renters. You may also search their database of long term options, which includes landlords who have expressed a desire to work with displaced Sandy renters. More information is available at www.urbanedgeny.com/sandy.
Information for renters of all incomes
Relocation Assistance: If you live in a property damaged by Sandy and if your building owner is a participant in the Build it Back Program which requires you to move during construction funded by the program, you will be contacted regarding your right to relocation benefits during your landlord’s intake process for the Build it Back program. Benefits include advisory services (including the offer of a comparable unit), payments equal to any increase of rent you must pay for a comparable unit during the construction process (up to 42 months), and moving expenses.Completions
Since it sprang into action following Superstorm Sandy on Nov. 20, the city's Rapid Repairs program has now worked on 20,000 individual residences in roughly 12,000 properties, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced in Broad Channel, Queens, on Friday. To datem the $500 million program has helped get 54,000 New Yorkers back into their homes and apartments. By end of March 2013, the city expects its docket of needed repairs to be empty, though the program will remain in place to assist any other property owners who still need work done.NYC Rapid Repairs Program
Reactions to Rapid Repairs
A Tale of Two Cities
Rapid Repairs Backlog
Rapid Repairs BacklogRockaway Beach
Occupy Brooklyn TV
The New York City Housing Authority
The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is committed to increasing opportunities for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers by providing safe, affordable housing and facilitating access to social and community services. More than 400,000 New Yorkers reside in NYCHA’s 334 public housing developments around the five boroughs, and another 235,000 receive subsidized rental assistance in private homes through the NYCHA-administered Section 8 Leased Housing Program.To fulfill its vital mission and even better serve residents while facing dramatic reductions in traditional government funding, NYCHA is developing new financing options and building innovative partnerships across the public, private, and non-profit sectors. These strategies are helping NYCHA to address many key challenges, from preserving aging housing stock through timely maintenance and modernization of developments, to increasing resident access to a multitude of community, educational and recreational programs, as well as job readiness and training initiatives.
NYCHA Eliminates Nearly 268,000 Repair Work Orders from Its Backlog
NYCHA announced that as of November 1, 2013, it has reduced the number of open work orders from a peak of about 423,000 to approximately 155,000. The current reduction of about 20,000 work orders continues a year of steady progress that has resulted in almost 268,000 fewer open work orders. NYCHA has now reduced the backlog by approximately 80 percent, and is well on the way toward achieving the target of eliminating the backlog by the end of 2013.NYCHA Chairman Rhea and the Future NYC Housing
NYCHA History Before Hurricane Sandy
The New York City Housing Authority 'repeatedly disobeyed and disregarded clear and unequivocal court orders to fix or restore' the hot water in Cheryl Brown's East River Houses apartment.NYCHA left a single mother of three without hot water for more than two years — and now shamelessly plans to appeal the nearly $20,000 fine a Manhattan judge ordered it pay her.
The jurist lashed out at New York City Housing Authority bureaucrats, including Chairman John Rhea, for making Cheryl Brown and her children suffer without hot water while repeatedly ignoring orders to fix it.
When confronted Wednesday night at his luxurious Harlem apartment building, Rhea refused to address the decrepit conditions Cheryl Brown lived in for two years.
In a blistering ruling, Manhattan Housing Court Judge Phyllis Saxe found NYCHA in contempt of court and fined it $19,205 for making Brown and her children struggle without hot water in their East Harlem apartment.
“NYCHA repeatedly disobeyed and disregarded clear and unequivocal court orders to fix or restore the hot water in Ms. Brown’s apartment,” Saxe wrote.
She singled out East River Houses building manager Clara Pabon, who admitted she “buried” the transfer to another apartment because Brown was behind in her rent and said she determined the water was hot enough.
NYCHA Repairs Review
NYCHA residents frequently complain about the length of time it can take for even a simple repair to be attended to. Last month, the New York State Assembly even held a hearing on the subject. Tenants talk of maintenance appointments being scheduled for years in the future, and one St. Nicholas Houses resident told NYCinFocus that centralizing NYCHA’s maintenance service was “the worst thing they ever did”.
This new centralized service is known as the Customer Contact Center, and it began operating in 2005. According to NYCHA, it deals with over ten thousand inquiries each day, and over two million every year. What happens when a resident picks up the phone and calls the Customer Contact Center to ask for someone to repair their broken refrigerator?
While each week seems to bring new reports of unsafe or unhealthy conditions in public housing projects, the New York City Housing Authority is sitting on $955 million in unspent funds since 2009. And according to the New York Daily News, it’s now seeking to borrow another $500 million.
The agency has been awarded more than $1.2 billion since 2009 to help maintain living conditions for the 400,000 residents living in its 178,000 apartments across 334 developments. The funds are also meant to help subsidize the city’s 232,000 Section 8 renters. But the agency has spent less than $250 million of the money over the period.
“Why NYCHA is sitting on a pile of money while residents suffer and buildings deteriorate is incomprehensible,” Comptroller John Liu told the News. The paper quoted many public housing tenants complaining of slow responses to complaints and poor living conditions. The money could be used to fix those problems, they said.
But NYCHA board member Margarita Lopez countered that “there are unforeseen factors that have to be put in the equation.” She added: “NYCHA got the money from the federal government … the federal government has different regulations and different demands.” [NYDN]
A NYCHA Housing Story
As it continues its investigations into the finances of the New York City Housing Authority, the New York Daily News found a letter addressed to Mayor Michael Bloomberg last year warning him of the “delay, confusion and complaints” in the agency’s management. But the letter went ignored. Meanwhile, NYCHA was found this week to have been sitting on nearly $1 billion in funds, and has come under fire for failing to install surveillance cameras just as a suspect in a housing project stairwell shooting remains on the loose.
The letter came from the Metro Industrial Areas Foundation, a non-profit organization, whose main complaint centered around the agency’s alleged inability to collect another $600 million in revenue. The foundation claims that NYCHA simply failed to apply for this second serving of additional money.
“NYCHA seems to lack the capacity to put credible applications together for these desperately needed finds,” the letter reads.
As reported this week, NYCHA is sitting on a total of $955 million in funds, which are unspent, and is now looking to borrow an additional $500 million. Since 2009, NYCHA has received over $1.2 billion to maintain living conditions for its 400,000 residents, however, the agency has spent less than $250 million of it.
The letter sent to the mayor, which city officials did not respond to requests for comment on, also blasted NYCHA for inefficiencies in scheduling repairs. The Daily News also mentioned that NYCHA has delayed a $42 million purchase for security camera installation in high-crime buildings. Another Daily News article reported NYCHA Chairman John Rhea praised the use of Harlem security cameras to bust drug dealers even as his agency has backed off on the promise to install more throughout the city
NYCHA and HRA Problems
Following near-daily reports of problems in New York City Housing Authority buildings, two studies on the $3 billion-a-year agency revealed severe dysfunction and has finally compelled it to make sweeping changes, the New York Daily News reported. The studies, one conducted internally and one by an outside consultant, found that NYCHA has a backlog of more than 338,000 maintenance orders, some of which won’t be addressed for two years.
As a result, the NYCHA board will be dismantled; two mayoral appointees would be removed along with their $187,000 annual salaries and their full-time drivers. Instead the board will include five members, only one, Commissioner John Rhea will be paid and two will be residents of housing projects. The New York Post noted that none of the other largest public housing agencies in the country have so many salaried members.
NYCHA also promised to commit all of the funds it’s sitting on to specific projects in the next 18 months, cut response repair time, upgrade security at the most dangerous developments, and seek federal funds to reduce energy consumption. As previously reported, Mayor Michael Bloomberg ignored warning signs of the agency’s vast inefficiencies.
NYCHA Elevator Mechanics
The embattled New York City Housing Authority has signed an agreement to update regularly the City Council on how it uses taxpayer funds, the New York Daily News reported.
After recent controversies over NYCHA’s management, including six-figure salaries for board members, failure to repair crumbling buildings and the revelation that the agency is sitting on nearly $1 billion of federal cash, City Council speaker Christine Quinn took the agency to task at a meeting in August, the News said, urging NYCHA Chairman John Rhea to keep the Council in the loop.
Yesterday, the agency signed on to provide a quarterly report listing every project it is working on, and stating whether it is on schedule, and whether or not it is over budget, the News said.
NYCHA Residents in Red Hook
U.S. Housing and Urban Development officials have opened an investigation into a $10 million report generated by the New York City Housing Authority, the New York Daily News reported. The NYCHA report was authored by the Boston Consulting Group, a business strategy advisor that previously employed embattled NYCHA chairman John Rhea.
The report, which is not available to the public, has generated concern at HUD over “the procurement procedures NYCHA followed in contracting with BCG,” Adam Glantz, a spokesman for HUD, told the News.
HUD officials have also demanded to see portions of the report and invoices for the work Boston Consulting did. The agency declined to comment on the state of the investigation, however.
Rhea has been praised for securing federal stimulus money for NYCHA in sums upward of $65 million a year, but has also been criticized for allegedly sparking an exodus of well-qualified officials. These officials left in the wake of troubles, such as last year’s botched payment of rent subsidies by NYCHA, which was blamed on computer glitches. [NYDN]
NYCHA Residents in Queensbridge
New York City Housing Authority Chairman John Rhea told state lawmakers that “every penny” of funds raised from the agency’s controversial plan to allow market-rate development on public housing land “will be used for capital improvements,” the Lo-Down reported.
Rhea was speaking to members of the New York State Assembly, including Linda Rosenthal, Keith Wright and Brian Kavanagh.
As previously reported, the agency aims to raise over $50 million annually by leasing public housing land to luxury developers, in an effort to raise funds for much-needed repairs.
During the meeting, Rhea sketched a timeline of the process, saying that requests for proposals will be released by the end of April and further details on the plan will go up on NYCHA’s website later this week.
“NYCHA is at risk,” Rhea said.
However, Assembly members criticized NYCHA for being uncommunicative about its plans. Not only has NYCHA failed to demonstrate sufficient “tenant engagement” for this plan, they said, but lawmakers and residents have also not received details on the proposal.
For his part, Rhea said that he has held public meetings at five of the eight affected developments — five of which are located on the Lower East Side. But Rosenthal, who represents Manhattan’s Upper West Side, said “collecting sign-in sheets does not mean there has been engagement.”
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