By Suzanne Ma
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The city's public Housing Authority will get a boost of more than $400 million this year, promising eight Manhattan housing complexes a major face-lift and helping tens of thousands of tenants feel a little more at home, officials said Monday.
Repairs are expected to begin soon at 21 city-and state-financed housing developments across the city, creating hundreds of construction jobs and helping to upgrade things like façades and roofs, heating systems, and broken doors and elevators.
The money for the renovations will come from a combination of funds including federal stimulus monies and state dollars.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson and other local officials announced the landmark legislation on Monday at the Rutgers Houses, a public housing complex on the Lower East Side.
"I am proud to stand here today to celebrate the passage of this important law, which will help bring millions of dollars in much needed federal funds to my constituents here at Rutgers Houses and throughout our city’s public housing complexes," Silver said on Monday.
The new law will impact 20,000 units across the city and allow NYCHA to cut its structural operating deficit by up to $75 million, Silver said.
But just hours after the announcement, NYCHA Chairman John Rhea said the agency still faces a more than $100 million deficit in the current fiscal year, according to the Gotham Gazette.
“While we have made huge strides in addressing our long-term infrastructure needs and moving the authority towards financial health, ultimately reducing our Section 8 and public housing operating forecasted deficit from $137 million to $103 million, we still have work to do,” Rhea said.
The following eight Manhattan buildings will benefit from funding:
- Chelsea Houses on West 26 Street
- 344 East 28 St. in Kips Bay
- Amsterdam Addition on West 61 Street
- Frederick E. Samuel Houses on West 143 Street
- Stephen Wise Towers on the Upper West Side
- Drew-Hamilton Houses on West 142nd Street
- Manhattanville Houses on West 126th Street
- Rutgers Houses, on Pike Street on the Lower East Side.
The money will come from $108 million in federal stimulus funds, $210 million from bond sales, $42 million from the state, and an annual $65 to $75 million from a federal subsidy program.
The bonds, issued over the next three years, will be backed by credit support from Citi Community Capital, according to the New York City Housing Authority.
NYCHA’s 21 housing complexes across the five boroughs were built after World War II without any federal funding. When their subsidies were eliminated in 1995, NYCHA maintained the buildings by using funds it received for its 313 other developments across the city.