Res 0195-2014

By Council Members Levin, Cabrera, Chin, Gibson and Koo Whereas, The New York City Housing Authority ("NYCHA") is a public housing authority with 334 developments, 2,596 buildings, and 178,914 public housing units, making it the largest public housing provider in North America; and Whereas, The majority of NYCHA's housing stock is over fifty years old; and Whereas, In 2006, a physical needs assessment conducted by NYCHA indicated that NYCHA must invest $25 billion in capital funds over 15 years to keep its housing in a state of good repair, which includes making needed repairs and upgrades to brickwork, roofs, elevators, building systems and apartment interiors; and Whereas, The bulk of NYCHA's capital funds come from federal grants and these grants have declined substantially in recent years, falling from $420 million annually in 2001 to $256 million annually in 2013; and Whereas, Since 2001, NYCHA has experienced a cumulative federal grant funding loss of approximately $1 billion; and Whereas, According to an August 2008 report by former Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer entitled "Land Rich, Pocket Poor ("the Report")," there are 30.5 million square feet of unused development rights in NYCHA developments throughout Manhattan alone; and Whereas, In order to generate revenue and address its funding gap, in 2013, NYCHA identified land on the grounds of eight housing developments in Manhattan which could be leased for development; and Whereas, NYCHA should conduct a thorough survey to determine exactly how much leasable property it owns throughout the city; and Whereas, The data should be identified by block and lot, lot area, lot frontage, lot depth, potential gross floor area, square footage, buildable square footage and existing zoning and floor area ratio potential; and Whereas, Additionally, NYCHA should estimate the number of buildings, floors and units that can be built on each site and what number and percentage of those units might be used for residential purposes including affordable housing; and Whereas, NYCHA should also estimate the market value of each lot they identify; and Whereas, These survey results should be posted on NYCHA's website and made searchable in an open data format by borough, block, development, community district, council, senate, assembly and congressional districts; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the New York City Housing Authority to conduct a survey of its entire portfolio to determine how much leasable property is owned throughout the city. GP Res 1868/2013 LS 274/2014 5/2/2014 1