Testimony before the New York City Housing Authority
July 16, 2003

PHA Plan - Draft
Annual Plan for Fiscal Year 2004

Delivered by:
Sara C. Kay, Director of the Office of Policy Management
(As Prepared for Delivery)

Good evening. I am Sara Kay, Director of the New York City Comptroller's Office of Policy Management. On behalf of Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., I would like to thank Chairperson Tino Hernandez and the Resident Advisory Board (RAB) for this opportunity to publicly comment on the New York City Housing Authority's (NYCHA) PHA-Draft Annual Plan for Fiscal Year 2004 (the Draft Plan).

At the outset, the Comptroller would like to acknowledge the efforts of the RAB in developing the Draft Plan. The value of the RAB's significant commitment of time and careful consideration of the challenges facing NYCHA in this difficult fiscal environment cannot be underestimated.

One of the primary purposes of the Draft Plan is to provide residents, elected officials and the public with an overview of how NYCHA proposes to meet the needs of its current and future residents and what policy and operational changes it plans to make over the coming year. We understand that significant portions of the Draft Plan follow a template required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). However, NYCHA's strict reliance on the federal template fails to provide an accessible picture of NYCHA's plans and procedures. The lack of supporting information and detail concerning the programmatic changes and current operations described in the Draft Plan limit the ability of the average NYCHA resident to contribute to the development of NYCHA's major initiatives and objectives for the coming year.

Although NYCHA does provide a four page executive summary in an effort to offer a clearer guide to the HUD template, we believe there remains room for improvement. For example, in Section C, entitled "Strategy for Addressing Needs", NYCHA uses the "check boxes" provided by HUD to indicate which strategies it plans to implement to meet New York City's housing needs. This means, for instance, that other than checking a box to indicate that it intends to "reduce time to renovate public housing units" NYCHA provides no detail as to how it plans to accomplish this important goal. A more informative document would provide an overview of how NYCHA expects to achieve the objective or implement the policies indicated by the check boxes. The Comptroller's Office encourages NYCHA to review its procedures for developing the Draft Plan and to include basic programmatic information that would allow its residents, the public and elected officials to more fully evaluate the major initiatives and policy changes NYCHA has scheduled for the coming year.

In addition to the need to expand the basic information included in the Draft Plan, NYCHA's response to the RAB's comments on the Draft Plan should be much more detailed. For example, the RAB's recommendations regarding the assessment of contracts, contractor pre-qualification standards and work accountability for capital projects are extremely important. However, NYCHA's response to these recommendations was limited to cursory statements that its practices were being explored and evaluated. The RAB certainly deserves a more substantive initial response or, where appropriate, a commitment from NYCHA that a complete response will be forthcoming within a reasonable time frame.

I would now like to briefly address NYCHA's fiscal situation. As a result of budget decisions made by local, state and federal governments, NYCHA is predicting that its budget will have to be reduced by nearly 10%, or a total of $222 million. There clearly are no easy choices when it comes to making $222 million in budget cuts to the critical services provided by NYCHA to its residents. When determining which programs and services must be curtailed to meet NYCHA's projected budget, it is critical to ensure that the budget cuts will not impair the quality-of-life and safety of NYCHA residents. NYCHA's proposal to significantly scale back its closed circuit television security system, which it reports helped reduce crime rates in NYCHA's fifteen most dangerous developments by 18%, warrants a close evaluation as to its implications for the safety of the residents of NYCHA housing given its proven success in reducing crime.

Finally, the Comptroller's Office has three comments on specific elements of the Draft PHA Plan:

First, section 18D of the Draft Plan describes NYCHA's plans to redevelop Fabria Houses. Although Fabria Houses is a NYCHA housing development, it is not a public housing development and receives no annual contributions from HUD for its operations. Under NYCHA's redevelopment plan, Fabria Houses will be converted into a mixed-use development and a minimum of 39 units will be leased for up to 20 years under a time-limited arrangement to applicants on NYCHA's Section 8 waiting list. Since this development is not public housing, Section 8 residents must renew their leases every year and could be subject to eviction without "good cause" at the end of each annual lease term. NYCHA should ensure that Section 8 tenants in Fabria Houses are afforded the same "good cause" protections regarding eviction as the tenants of NYCHA public housing. Section 8 tenants that exercise their rights to ensure the proper operation and maintenance of Fabria Houses should not have to fear that their efforts might result in their eviction without "good cause."

Second, NYCHA's new proposed Construction Management/Build Program (CM/Build) proposes to use construction management companies instead of hiring contractors directly in order to improve work quality. One of the requirements is that the contractors participate in a state approved apprenticeship program to promote opportunities for resident entry into skilled construction trades. This initiative is certainly a step in the right direction. The Draft Plan should commit NYCHA to providing the RAB with regular updates regarding the number of residents that gain access to skilled construction trades through this program, the number of residents hired by contractors, NYCHA's efforts to enhance enforcement of prevailing wage laws, and improvements to the quality and cost effectiveness of NYCHA's capitol projects as a result of the CM/Build Program.

Finally, resident participation in the management of NYCHA and the development of the Draft Plan could be improved by providing greater access to borough management meetings as requested by the RAB. NYCHA should develop a process that would allow reasonable access by the District Council of President Chairs to attend these meetings.

On behalf of Comptroller Thompson, thank you for this opportunity to comment on the Draft Plan.