Res 1645-2021

By Council Members Menchaca, Ampry-Samuel, Yeger, Gennaro and Louis Whereas, The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is a public housing authority with 302 developments, 2252 residential buildings and 169,820 units, making it the largest public housing provider in the United States (U.S.); and Whereas, Currently, 162,721 families and 356,506 residents call the New York City Housing Authority their home; and Whereas, For the past decade, there have been numerous articles that have reported on the frequent service interruptions to heat and hot water, and to gas services at NYCHA developments; and Whereas, On January 2019, federal and city officials agreed to the appointment of a federal monitor to help address the history of maintenance issues that have created health and safety hazards at NYCHA; and Whereas, The federal monitor has been charged with approving action plans that require NYCHA to meet certain benchmarks to promptly resolve outages; and Whereas, However, according to media reports, tenants are still struggling with damages that occurred from Superstorm Sandy back in 2012, as well as, reoccurring utility outages throughout the NYCHA portfolio; and Whereas, NYCHA needs to be held accountable when it fails to make repairs; and Whereas, A.1866, sponsored by Assembly Member Khaleel Anderson in the New York State Assembly and companion bill S.1603, sponsored by State Senator Michael Gianaris in the New York State Senate, would require NYCHA to give a prorated rent reduction to tenants who suffer interruptions to their utility services; and Whereas, NYCHA has a legal and moral obligation to keep the utility systems functioning properly, the passage of A.1866/S.1603 would hold NYCHA accountable when it fails to deliver on its commitments; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls on the New York State legislature to pass and the Governor to sign A.1866/S.1603, in relation to enacting the NYCHA Utility Accountability Act. JLC LS 17133 05/06/2021