Res. No. 1003

Resolution calling upon the Mayor of the City of New York to form a Strategic Public Housing Equitable Development Task Force to study economic development in relation to areas in and surrounding public housing and that will work on implementing its findings and/or recommendations.

By Council Members James, Fidler, Gerson, Mark-Viverito and Gonzalez

Whereas, The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is the largest public housing agency (PHA) in the country; and

                     Whereas, NYCHA has 344 developments containing 2,691 buildings spread throughout the City; and

                     Whereas, NYCHA provides affordable housing for approximately 414,000 tenants residing in approximately 180,000 apartments; and

                     Whereas, According to NYCHA, 16% of their residents receive some variety of public assistance; and

                     Whereas, According to federal law individuals and families must meet certain income requirements in order to become public housing residents; and

Whereas, Income eligibility for a family of four is currently $56,700; and

                     Whereas, As early as 1993, in an article titled, Public Housing and the Concentration of Poverty, published in the Social Science Quarterly (Volume 74, Number 1), it was found that public housing developments are predominantly located in poor neighborhoods; and

                     Whereas, In the same article, it was found that the presence of public housing developments increases the concentration of poverty and public housing therefore contributes to more extreme conditions of poverty, and further segregation of poor communities, which in large cities consist of predominantly Black and Latino populations; and

                     Whereas, When the City’s neighborhoods gentrify, it often benefits those with who can afford to live there, not poor people who often have to move out; and

                     Whereas, Some NYCHA apartments have been undergoing “modernization” projects as part of NYCHA’s Capital Program; and

                     Whereas, Whitman/Ingersoll Houses in Brooklyn are part of one such “modernization” project in which some of the residents have been required to move out in order to allow for the repairs to be made; and 

                     Whereas, There is a need to make sure that gentrification and the economic development opportunities that may come with it, as well as any modernization project initiated by NYCHA, benefit the residents of public housing within gentrifying neighborhoods; and 

                     Whereas, It would be beneficial for public housing residents to have a stronger infrastructure such as access to laundromats and supermarkets, useable public grounds, and such amenities and economic development opportunities in their neighborhoods; and

                     Whereas, Developing economies in areas in and around public housing, will improve opportunities for residents on public assistance and other poor and working-class New Yorkers who are residents of public housing to make ends meet and move up the economic ladder; and

Whereas, A task force should be convened and a study should be conducted to determine the best ways to create economic development opportunities around NYCHA developments, now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the Mayor of the City of New York to form a Strategic Public Housing Equitable Development Task Force to study economic development in relation to areas in and surrounding public housing and that will work on implementing its findings and/or recommendations.                      

KS/BJG

LS #1868

08.17.07