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Largest Public-Housing System in the U.S. (NYC) Is Crumbling
Wall Street Journal ^ | March 18, 2018 | Mara Gay and Laura Kusisto

Posted on 03/18/2018 8:00:00 AM PDT by reaganaut1

New York City’s public housing is literally falling apart.

The sprawling network of 176,000 apartment units across the five boroughs needs an estimated $25 billion of repairs, up from $6 billion in 2005. Yet annual federal funding for the nation’s largest public-housing program hasn’t kept pace.

Residents of decaying brick towers battle leaking roofs and moldy walls, broken elevators and aging infrastructure. This winter, the housing authority’s ancient boilers gave out, leaving more than 320,000 people without heat or hot water.

“When you constantly cut a budget for housing…this kind of crisis is going to emerge,” said Shaun Donovan, a former secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and a former New York City housing commissioner. “It’s dire.”

Advocates said conditions now pose danger to residents, especially to children and seniors.

“We’re hitting a crisis point,” said Afua Atta-Mensah, executive director of Community Voices Heard, a New York City nonprofit that organizes public-housing residents. She said the group has been buying carbon monoxide monitors for people who have been using their ovens as a heat source, a practice that fire officials have warned is dangerous.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has blamed public-housing problems on decadeslong funding declines from Washington. The New York City Housing Authority is overseen by HUD.

Housing authorities in other major cities, such as San Francisco, Chicago and Atlanta, now manage a vanishingly small share of their units. In some cases, cities have continued to own the land or buildings and they are run largely by private real-estate companies, while in other cases the original buildings are demolished completely. Tenants typically are given Section 8 rental-subsidy vouchers.

Critics say New York was too slow to adopt this model.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: nyc; publichousing
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What fraction of NYC public housing tenants pay rent, and how much do they pay? Private landlords who are not shafted by rent control will do a better job of maintaining their properties.
1 posted on 03/18/2018 8:00:00 AM PDT by reaganaut1
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I would bet that the residents are a greater threat to the residents than the structure (which was no doubt destroyed by the residents) is


2 posted on 03/18/2018 8:02:58 AM PDT by dsrtsage (For Leftists, World History starts every day at breakfast)
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To: reaganaut1
Can't 90% of the tenants get a job and pay their own way in life? It's time for the "Pruitt Igoe Remodel"...


3 posted on 03/18/2018 8:05:11 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: reaganaut1
Can't 90% of the tenants get a job and pay their own way in life? It's time for the "Pruitt Igoe Remodel"...


4 posted on 03/18/2018 8:05:49 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: reaganaut1

Only a politician...

“Mayor Bill de Blasio has blamed public-housing problems on decadeslong funding declines from Washington. The New York City Housing Authority is overseen by HUD.”

... Would take a local problem and then blame it on the White House. It’s like me being late with a deadline, and when the project falls apart I skip over everyone else and go straight for the Client’s wife for the screw-up.


5 posted on 03/18/2018 8:08:22 AM PDT by Celerity
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To: reaganaut1

A 10 percent surcharge on the dope moved out of these “apartments” might help...


6 posted on 03/18/2018 8:09:23 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Baseball players, gangsters and musicians are remembered. But journalists are forgotten.)
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To: reaganaut1

“” “” The sprawling network of 176,000 apartment units across the five boroughs needs an estimated $25 billion of repairs,”” “”


7 posted on 03/18/2018 8:13:09 AM PDT by NorseViking
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To: reaganaut1

“” “” The sprawling network of 176,000 apartment units across the five boroughs needs an estimated $25 billion of repairs,”” “”

Gold plated?


8 posted on 03/18/2018 8:13:35 AM PDT by NorseViking
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To: reaganaut1

“Stay in your hole and vote Democrat and I’ll throw you a morsel of government cheese every once in awhile.” - Democrat politicians


9 posted on 03/18/2018 8:15:42 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: NorseViking

““” “” The sprawling network of 176,000 apartment units across the five boroughs needs an estimated $25 billion of repairs,”” “”

Gold plated?”

Should be 1 billion tops if you back out the big city graft and corruption “tax”.


10 posted on 03/18/2018 8:18:21 AM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: reaganaut1

NYC is unusual, in that many of the tenants in these apartments are respectable people with jobs. The high price of market-rate housing prevents them from leaving. A lot of them pay big rent surcharges because their income is high.


11 posted on 03/18/2018 8:19:30 AM PDT by proxy_user
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To: reaganaut1

“Tenants typically are given Section 8 rental-subsidy vouchers. “


Which leads to nice towns becoming Ferguson,MO.

.


12 posted on 03/18/2018 8:20:09 AM PDT by Mears
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To: reaganaut1
The sprawling network of 176,000 apartment units across the five boroughs needs an estimated $25 billion of repairs...

That would be about $142K per unit.

13 posted on 03/18/2018 8:20:16 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Hillary: Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass GO. Do not collect 2 billion dollars.)
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To: Bonemaker

Isn’t that $140,000+ per apartment?


14 posted on 03/18/2018 8:21:49 AM PDT by jjotto ("Ya could look it up!")
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To: Celerity

All that’s missing is the headline, “Trump to City, ‘Drop Dead’”


15 posted on 03/18/2018 8:26:08 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: jjotto

“Isn’t that $140,000+ per apartment?”

Thanks for doing the math. I said tops but NYC “tenants” can do a lot of damage!


16 posted on 03/18/2018 8:29:43 AM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: jjotto

Anything the guberment does cost ten times as much with only 10% of the quality a private contractor/owner would do.

I guess the answer is to give the rebuild contract to the people that built the walk bridge in Florida. Problem would solve itself.


17 posted on 03/18/2018 8:29:46 AM PDT by oldasrocks (rump)
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To: reaganaut1

Just like Cabrini-Green in Chicago...


18 posted on 03/18/2018 8:29:59 AM PDT by W. (.44 Magnum. No further questions needed.)
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To: jjotto

“” “” Isn’t that $140,000+ per apartment?”” “”

And that being some drywall, pipes, a few tiles and a toilet bowl replaced.

I want this contract.

And they say East Europe is corrupt.

In China a public official anticipating a plan like that would get a fair trial and a bullet.
In Russia one would have to flee to London to avoid prison.


19 posted on 03/18/2018 8:33:06 AM PDT by NorseViking
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

I do hope people realize that when they destroyed those housing projects that the people still had to live somewhere...hence Section 8, the Number 1 destroyer of good neighborhoods in the country.


20 posted on 03/18/2018 8:38:00 AM PDT by BobL (I shop at Walmart and eat at McDonald's...I just don't tell anyone)
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