New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) public housing residents at Nostrand Houses in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, will be the first to vote on whether to join Mayor Eric Adams’s Public Housing Preservation Trust. Voting will conclude this week, and Bronx River Addition will be voting next.
“Their decision, and the decisions of other NYCHA residents to come, will shape the future of public housing in New York City for decades to come,” said Adams in his most recent op-ed about the subject. “NYCHA residents are now making their voices heard and making their own choices. That is how good government should work—and this is just the beginning. Next up is the Bronx River Addition, which has dealt with several severe infrastructure issues in recent years that caused tenants to be relocated in one of its two buildings. And in the coming weeks and months, other NYCHA campuses will vote as well.”
NYCHA is the largest public housing stock in the country under federal Section 9 of 1937 US Housing Act. It was meant to be safe and low-income housing for families and seniors, but its crumbling infrastructure has suffered decades of deliberate disinvestment from the federal government and other entities. The city’s public housing now overwhelmingly serves low-income Black and brown New Yorkers.
The Public Housing Preservation Trust is a public entity established by Adams and NYCHA in May 2023. It was signed off on by Governor Kathy Hochul last year. The trust aims to bring billions of dollars in federal funding for renovations to chronically underfunded NYCHA buildings while “maintaining residents’ rights” and “affordability.”
“This is a historic day for NYCHA, as we embark on the voting process at the very first development, giving the residents of Nostrand Houses a true voice in the future of their home,” said NYCHA CEO Lisa Bova-Hiatt in a statement. “This milestone is a testament to the many partners who understand the vast and compelling needs of NYCHA and the New Yorkers who live in public housing. We are thrilled to join residents on this journey and to present them with modernization options, including the newly established Public Housing Preservation Trust, for improving conditions and contributing to an enhanced quality of life.”
This voting process is for any NYCHA resident over 18 years old and offers an opportunity to pick one of three options. They can join the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together/Rental Assistance Demonstration (PACT/RAD) program, which converts Section 9 to Section 8 housing;join the trust, which does the same thing as PACT but as a public entity; or remain as a Section 9 development.
Section 8 housing is a similar subsidized housing program to Section 9 with some key differences. It was created under the Housing and Community Development Act of 1978 and provides vouchers for rental assistance to eligible low-income families so they can find homes in the private market. The family has to pay a portion of their income toward rent while NYCHA pays the rest. Discrimination by homeowners and building owners against voucher holders has been a major drawback of the program.
Some NYCHA resident leaders and advocacy groups are categorically opposed to joining the trust because they believe it’s designed to push people out of public housing. Save Section 9, a tenant-led organization, claims that the mayor’s Housing Preservation Trust will implement “project-based Section 8 leases” that do not guarantee a rent cap or protect against the possibility of future demolitions and displacement.
NYCHA Frederick Douglass Houses Tenant President Carmen Quiñones said flat out that no one wants to leave Section 9 and called “privatization” of public housing a “slap in the face” to residents. She doesn’t expect many tenants to vote to move away from it, and feels that it’s a betrayal when other tenant presidents deny the “will of the people.”
“Public housing is Section 9. There’s perks that we get, being Section 9. When you move to Section 8, there [are] no perks,” said Quiñones. “You could lose your apartment, you could get evicted. That Section 8 voucher is no good. They’re literally taking your rights away.”
Quiñones emphasized the importance of maintaining the rights that tenants currently have under Section 9’s 964 regulations, which state that NYCHA residents must be involved in shaping public housing.
There are 2,191 residents in 1,148 apartments in 16 buildings at Nostrand Houses, according to the city. Their Tenant Association President Barbara McFadden, who said her brother has a connection to Adams from his days as a police officer, was ecstatic about the vote. She said they knocked on doors day in and out to get out the vote.
“Nostrand is the first to do the voting process. This is historical. This is history in the making,” said McFadden at the press conference. “I want to tell you, I’m happy…Nostrand is the first…Do you know what that means to be the first? Let’s clap for it. Do you know how many NYCHA developments we have? Nostrand is the first. Let’s clap it up everybody.”
The city and NYCHA leaders did their best to reach out to the local community before the voting period began, with notices this past July, outreach meetings, and opportunities to submit questions. An independent, third-party election administrator is overseeing the voting process, said the city.
The 30-day voting period began on November 8. After this vote concludes on December 7, the Bronx River Addition senior housing, with 146 residents, will start.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member who writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.