The residents of the Nostrand Houses in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn have voted in favor of a new funding model to address $600 million in needed repairs. Over 800 residents participated in the historic vote, with 56% choosing the “Preservation Trust” model. This new model will turn over public housing apartments to a publicly controlled entity and switch the source of federal funding from a traditional public housing program to Section 8 vouchers tied to the apartments.
The vote, which ended earlier this month, was the first-ever vote on the new funding model, and has major implications for the future of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). The new model, supported by Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul, is seen as a way to unlock millions of dollars to address long-aging infrastructure and utilities in public housing developments.
The Trust’s board includes a member of the Nostrand Houses Tenant Association, who said that the implementation of the new funding model will allow NYCHA to carry out much-needed repairs and improvements to the buildings, such as installing new cabinets, stoves, and refrigerators, repairing plumbing, and keeping the boilers working.
NYCHA has said that it needs around $600 million to complete necessary repairs and improvements across Nostrand’s approximately 1,100 apartments, and more than $78 billion to fix all of the city’s public housing. For decades, public housing residents have been living with deteriorating and hazardous conditions due to disinvestment, mismanagement, and scandal.
Residents of the Nostrand Houses have described various problems they hope to have addressed, from inconsistent heat and unsafe outdoor space to chipping paint in their apartments and hallways. The new funding model is seen as a crucial step in providing affordable and safe housing for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.
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