City Faces January 31 Deadline To Deliver NYCHA Repair Plan
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- New York City now has until the end of January to fix its public housing nightmare before the feds take over.
Residents have been complaining about unhealthy living conditions that have long been ignored, including leaks, mold, and broken heating systems.
More Of CBS2's Coverage On NYC's Public Housing Nightmare
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development extended NYCHA's deadline until January 31 to come up with a repair plan.
In a statement sent to CBS2, Mayor Bill de Blasio said, "We released a detailed plan to renovate tens of thousands of apartments, and we are putting new management fixes in place to hold NYCHA more accountable to its residents."
On Wednesday, the city made two announcements: one on how work hours could be extended to make repairs at better hours for residents, and the other on where more of the money for those repairs will come from.
Last month it was announced the city would convert 62,000 public housing apartments to Section 8. That would allow developers to lease the buildings, addressing billions of dollars in needed capitol.
The mayor said in addition to that NYCHA will launch three new programs, calling it NYCHA 2.0.
Build to preserve: This will allow new development on NYCHA land, and then the use of that money for repairs.
Transfer to preserve: Acquiring money by selling air rights.
Fix to preserve: Rapidly addressing heating, mold, lead and pests. For example, installing door sweeps and adding 20 new exterminators.