John,

It’s no secret: The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) has been plagued with problems for decades now. Disinvestment and blatant mismanagement at NYCHA have led to a variety of abominable issues for residents, including unreliable heat, lead paint, and rat and roach infestations.

These conditions in NYCHA residences are inhumane and deplorable. We must continue to fight for safe, affordable housing for New York’s most vulnerable populations.

Last summer, NYCHA was the subject a federal complaint that resulted in a settlement in which New York City agreed to invest $1 billion in NYCHA over the next four years, with $200 million per year after that. The settlement also included an agreement for court-appointed oversight of NYCHA.

It’s been one year since the settlement, and conditions in many NYCHA buildings have barely improved. During Winter 2018, four out of five NYCHA residents faced heat and hot-water outages. NYCHA claims there were 1,000 less outages than Winter 2017 and the average length of an outage was half the time it was previously.

But the decrease in outages is not nearly enough. There should be no heat outages, no hot-water outages, and no lead paint in the buildings. NYCHA is home to more than 400,000 New Yorkers, with about 200,000 of those residents living below the Federal Poverty Line. Some of our most vulnerable citizens live here, and they have been further disadvantaged by NYCHA conditions over and over.

Housing is a human right. It is a disgrace that the city, the state, and the federal government disinvested in and ignored the rights of NYCHA tenants. As Congressman for NY-16, I will fight every day for better funding to upgrade public housing and build new developments.

Chip in $5, $15, or $25 right now to help me make it to Congress and show America and New York City that every single person deserves safe, affordable housing. We can only create a new America — an America with amazing public housing — together.

Looking toward the future,

Jamaal

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