NYCHA Funding Shortfall Could Mean Dark Days for Projects
City Hall News reports that the New York City Housing Authority is looking at a $200 million budget shortfall this year, which some officials say is likely to result in worsening conditions at public housing. You see the conditions they’re living in and the problems they’re going through, says Council Member Rosie Mendez (D-Manhattan), who…
City Hall News reports that the New York City Housing Authority is looking at a $200 million budget shortfall this year, which some officials say is likely to result in worsening conditions at public housing. You see the conditions they’re living in and the problems they’re going through, says Council Member Rosie Mendez (D-Manhattan), who chairs the Council’s Public Housing Committee, and you’re sort of helpless in trying to rectify the situation. Last year NYCHA had a $168 million budget deficit. As federal funding for the projects has dried up, so too have city and state dollars. In recent years NYCHA has laid off thousands of employees and cut hundreds of millions of dollars from its operating budget. Some public housing advocates say that the city uses the projects as a “cash cow,” collecting millions every year for things like police services. Although there have been rumors that some of the city’s public housing stock would be sold off to private developers, Nicholas Dagen Bloom, an assistant professor at the New York Institute of Technology and author of “Public Housing That Worked: New York in the Twentieth Century,” says that’s probably not going to happen. It’s not likely the program will be privatized, he says, but there will be structural changes in the way it operates to reflect current conditions, which is higher costs. The are currently more than 400,000 residents of public housing in the city, and rent averages $320 a month for tenants who earn, on average, $20,000 a year.
The City’s Own Looming Housing Crisis [City Hall]
HUD Official Speaks the Unspeakable: Selling The Projects [Brownstoner]
Politicians Can’t Back Sell-The-Projects Idea [Brownstoner]
Photo by bondidwhat.
12:19 – Your right that I know nothing about living in the projects – but I do know that the vast majority of those living in the projects have limited educations and that their children come to school unprepared and with little support to zero support at home.
“First of all, public housing does not only house those you feel are living large on the cheap. It houses a huge population of the elderly on fixed incomes, the disabled, and those with serious medical and physical conditions that prevent them from working or earning enough to get out. They cannot simply “go South”.”
Proof, please?
12:19 –
(1) How do you know that the above posters are white?
(2) Benson already stated that he used to live in the projects
Try thinking before you post, if that’s possible.
Stuff White People Like
#62 – Knowing What’s Best for Poor People
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/02/10/62-knowing-whats-best-for-poor-people/
None of you know anything about being poor and living in the projects. Neither do I. STOP TALKING LIKE YOU DO.
Montrose, my first job paid 20K and I easily managed to pay my bills, even though my rent was higher than $320 ($500, in fact). I cooked at home, brought my lunch to work, used public transit, didn’t waste $ on expensive things that I didn’t need, etc. In short, I lived within my means and did just fine. It was this sort of self-discipline that enabled me to bank some money and buy a small studio co-op, which I eventually traded up for a one-bedroom once I got married. And neither my wife nor I got a dime from our families. So it’s very possible to succeed at that level as long as one has the ability to sacrifice and look ahead.
And you say there are no jobs? Tell that to the thousands of immigrants who have moved to NYC and gotten one or more jobs within a few months of their arrival.
11:58 – the issue with the “projects”/underclass is not one of race – it is one of education/culture.
We live in a knowledge based economy/world and if you do not have an education you are destined for failure – black/white/brown or red.
And if you live in a community where education appears to be shunned or certainly not emphasised – you will likely never receive an education to escape that near certain failure…
rinse, repeat
How about this – you have 2yrs in Public Housing – in that period of time you must 1. Learn to read, write and speak a clear and understandable form of non-slang English and 2. Your kids must attend school regularly – if you don’t do 1 and 2 you lose your apartment.
Then ongoing – if your kids fail to maintain adequate school attendance, are a big disipline problem or fall more than 1 yr behind grade level – you lose your apartment.
I predict within 12yrs (a full schooling cycle) the projects will be wonderful
i live in the pjs and drive a benz
thanks white people
9:49 here – I dont think it is easy to live on 20k a year – but I also know that it is impossible to maintain housing with $320 rents so while I am all in favor of Govt helping out those less fortunate – it isnt really help if you have people living in Govt operated slums. And I also want to point out that while many people in the projects are as you described – based on the cars in the parking lots and other displays of wealth that are fairly common, there is clearly some in the projects who could afford more than $320 rent