Feds Grant $3B to NYC Public Housing

Public housing developments still recovering from Sandy are getting a $3 billion dollar shot in the arm, thanks to a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency – the largest grant in FEMA's history.

Speaking at the Red Hook East development in Brooklyn on Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer praised FEMA for responding to the needs of 80,000 tenants.

“This grant couldn’t come at a better time,” said de Blasio, who cited the ongoing threat posed to the city by extreme weather and climate change.

Half of the money is expected to go toward repairs at 33 public housing developments affected by the 2012 storm – and the other half will be used to make the buildings safer in the future.

“With these funds, we’ll be able to fix everything from play areas to roof tops here at Red Hook houses and at our other severely damaged developments in Coney Island, the Rockaways and the Lower East side,” said NYCHA Chair Shola Olatoye.

That money will start flowing to NYCHA as soon as the city finalizes a letter of agreement with FEMA, which Olatoye said, “is imminent.”

Schumer said the lump-sum allocation will allow the city to make infrastructure upgrades across these 33 developments.

“The old boilers, people didn’t get heat. The old electrical systems, there were blackouts and brownouts, “ said Schumer, adding, “with these new systems, there will be none of these.”

Construction is expected to begin later this summer.

But city officials cautioned that the housing authority still faces an $18 billion shortfall in capital funds to complete repairs at all 330 developments across the five boroughs.

During his testimony before state lawmakers last month, the mayor challenged the governor to include $300 million in his budget for NYCHA, which he said the city would match.

The state is only expected to provide a third of that amount, and while the city is still expected to match it, the mayor stressed that there is still more work to do across the system to make up for decades of declining investment from the state and federal government.

“This federal grant will play a key role,” said de Blasio,”in at least making sure at least we can do the resiliency efforts we believe in.”