New buildings and new hope for residents of public housing

It is equal parts depressing and hopeful: The New York City Housing Authority will bring the wrecking balls to two Manhattan developments, a sober admission that maintaining and repairing aging infrastructure — especially infrastructure that’s been shabbily kept up, as so much of NYCHA’s stock has been — can cost more than demolishing it and building anew.

For the 4,000-plus residents of Chelsea-Elliot Houses and Fulton Houses, structures completed in 1947 and 1965 respectively, the future suddenly looks brighter. All the 2,000 or so units will be replaced with new apartments that’ll include dishwashers, washers and dryers and access to outdoor space, all considered unthinkable amenities in NYCHA. And rather than being largely isolated from the city around them, the revitalized public housing will now be knit into a community with thousands of other newly built affordable and market-rate apartments, as well as commercial space.

The most important question is why just two developments among 277 in NYCHA’s portfolio are taking this important plunge, when surely many more might if they honestly assessed costs and benefits. The partial answer is that under a smart federal program — its federal name is RAD, its local one PACT, Permanent Affordability Commitment Together — these two are now under private management, and their residents voted for the option.

Across the rest of the city-within-a-city’s 2,100-plus buildings, there is $40 billion in unmet needs: broken elevators, busted pipes, rickety boilers and much more. The authority’s underlying finances are crumbling; the Citizens Budget Commission points out that in 2022 alone, NYCHA’s operating budget fell $789 million short of its $2.9 billion in expenses. Average monthly operating costs per unit are now $1,481, double the average rent-stabilized unit cost.

Starting from scratch costs more today, but it saves billions tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Many more developments must try smarter management models that harness private know-how and cash, embracing not only PACT but the recently authorized Housing Preservation Trust. NYCHA has a future, but only if it knows when to stop throwing good money after bad.