Report: A Green New Deal for NYCHA Communities

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is in grave physical, financial and political disrepair. The agency faces a repair backlog of $31.8 billion according to its most recent capital plan, which was based on an extensive Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) study. This backlog is the result of decades of disinvestment, driven by a combination of antigovernment ideology and resentment towards low-income communities of color.

NYCHA, which comprises 8% of apartments in New York City and houses a population over 400,000, is the largest stock of affordable housing in the five boroughs. With one third of New Yorkers paying approximately 50% of their income in rent, NYCHA’s stock of permanently affordable housing is crucial to keeping the city habitable for a wide range of people. Revitalizing NYCHA will benefit residents and bring new wealth, green skills, opportunity, and greater climate safety to their communities.

But what specifically should be done? How can we make needed repairs while also transforming the city’s public housing into comfortable and healthy green housing?

Enter: the Green New Deal. The basic principles of the Green New Deal are aggressive, short-term reductions in carbon emissions; high-quality jobs for those who need them; and sustainable investments to provide economic and environmental benefits to racialized and workingclass communities.

All these principles are embodied in the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders. This report focuses on New York, where a Green New Deal for NYCHA promises transformative change. (Our companion report, “A Green New Deal for American Public Housing Communities,” addresses the public housing nationally.) New York public housing’s tremendous capital backlog is a testament to the continuing injustices inflicted upon NYCHA communities by all levels of government. This backlog needs to be addressed as swiftly and thoroughly as possible