The New York City Housing Authority will face a $200 million budget shortfall that could result in 3,000 service job layoffs or 70,000 apartments going without “even basic repairs,” according to a blog post by John Rhea, NYCHA’s chairman, reported by City Limits.
Despite some federal financial assistance during the recession and the sale of some assets, NYCHA is in dire straits because Congress has allocated less than $4 billion to national public housing authorities, despite the $5 billion City Limits said the agencies need to fully operate.
The budget shortfall has become a growing problem for NYCHA, as public housing complexes in the East Village and Lower East Side, in particular, have more than 100,000 backlogged repair orders, according to previous reports, and undermanned safety inspectors are allegedly taking shortcuts to meet quotas. As of February, the agency oversees 178,882 apartments in the five boroughs.
The agency has warned of possible layoffs for some time, but until the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development determines how much it can allocate in funding — which it should announce in December — NYCHA will take no action. [City Limits]