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NYC Public Housing Resident Alliance November, 2006 |
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SECTION 3/ RESIDENT TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Board Members, NYC Public Housing Resident Alliance:
For information contact:
NYC PUBLIC HOUSING RESIDENT ALLIANCE P.O. Box 438, Hell Gate Station, New York, NY 11029
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The NYC PUBLIC HOUSING RESIDENT ALLIANCE is a citywide, nonprofit organization of concerned public housing residents seeking to improve our homes and communities. Its purposes are to inform and connect residents, so that they can have a strong and effective voice, and to secure greater accountability, in local, state, and federal policy decisions that affect public housing in NYC. The Plan states that NYCHA will keep ceiling rents in place, with no change in ceiling rent levels over the next year. NYCHA is using the ceiling rents as the "flat rent option." Required under the 1998 Housing Act, flat rents for each development are based on market rents in the immediate neighborhood. NYCHA is also seeking comment about a possible increase in ceiling rents next year. Major factors to consider:
The Resident Alliance has urged NYCHA for 3 years to keep ceiling rents in place, because HUD regulations call for their end by 2003. We commend NYCHA for keeping its promise to preserve ceiling rents. But, the Alliance opposes any increase in ceiling rent levels unless: 1) NYCHA provides a thorough accounting to residents of its actual housing maintenance and operating costs, and 2) NYCHA shows residents how increased rents will restore and improve declining building services. Under the 1998 Housing Act, public housing residents must "volunteer" 8 hours a month to community service, or face eviction. Exempt residents include the elderly and disabled, full-time workers and students, and those in work-related programs. NYCHA estimates about 70,000 residents would be subject to the requirement. If a resident does not comply, the whole family could be evicted. After meetings with the Resident Alliance and NYC resident leaders, Congressman Charles Rangel succeeded in passing an amendment to the 2002 HUD Budget, blocking implementation of the requirement until October 2002 (except for HOPE VI developments). Because it is uncertain whether Congress will halt implementation for another year, the NYCHA Plan does not describe how it would carry out the Community Service Requirement. The Resident Alliance continues to oppose the Community Service Requirement as forced labor, arbitrarily imposed on public housing residents. We urge residents and their advocates to use the hearings to send a message to Washington to repeal the requirement or, at least, block it for another year. We urge NYCHA-- if it is required to implement the requirement-- to release its implementation plan and to hold public hearings on the plan. Otherwise the plan will go into effect without the required public review and comment. The NYCHA 2003 plan does not contain a plan for resident participation over the coming year. It describes increases in the size of the Resident Advisory Board (RAB), but not the way RAB members are now selected. NYCHA has received a first-time HUD allocation of $ 3.8 million for the next 2 years, to be used by the Council of Presidents (COP), to fund resident participation activities. The Annual Plan does not describe how those funds will be used. The hearing on the Annual Plan is a unique opportunity for all residents to be heard, especially on issues of resident participation. Resident participation needs to be stronger, with more open information, more accountability, and more open participation. For instance, COP minutes are not regularly provided to resident leaders - even to duly elected TA presidents who are active in their District Councils. The Annual Plan must include a plan for resident participation. The Resident Alliance urges resident leaders and their advocates to press NYCHA and the COP to document a plan describing resident participation over the coming year, and to hold open hearings at a later date for review and comment by residents. Section 3/ Resident Training and Employment Opportunities Section 3 of the 1968 Housing Act requires that all HUD funds be used to maximize job training and placement for community residents. This is the first Annual Plan in which NYCHA addresses Section 3 issues on resident employment. However, an analysis of NYCHA data on resident employment opportunities leads to a disappointing conclusion: NYCHA Job Training and Preparation Program are geared primarily to seasonal and part-time work. This year NYCHA plans to hire 4, 000 residents for seasonal or part-time work, but an average of only 400 residents a year will be placed in other employment. 9 out of 10 NYCHA-facilitated jobs are not permanent, skilled jobs. We believe NYCHA can do better than that. NYCHA contracts about $500 million in construction work annually ñ 1 out of every 12 construction dollars spent in NYC each year. Despite Section 3 requirements, these HUD funds are not being used to maximize training and job opportunities in construction-related activities. We understand that many residents hired under NYCHA construction contracts are short-term, temporary hires, at wages below the prevailing levels required by federal law, rather than jobs leading to a long-term career in the skilled trades. The Resident Alliance urges NYCHA to use its construction contracts to increase resident opportunities to train for and obtain skilled jobs in the trade unions. Trade unions ñ those represented in the T.R.A.D.E.S. Coalition ñ are now willing to extend apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship opportunities to public housing residents, in return for more participation in NYCHA contracts. NYCHA should continue to explore that opportunity with the Coalition. The NYCHA plan continues to limit admissions of poor families from the waiting list to 40% of the annual vacancies. But 77% of the waiting list families are at poverty level ("extremely low-income" according to HUD's definition). The Community Service Society estimates that, as normal turnover gives preference to working families, over a 10-year period 15,000-20,000 public housing units will close their doors to poor waiting families. Public housing is not just affordable housing - it is intended as low-income housing. The Resident Alliance urges that NYCHA restore its commitment to housing low-income people and raise the admissions for poor, waiting-list families to at least 50% of admissions. The 1998 Housing Act requires authorities to "deconcentrate" in order to promote a balanced income mix across all developments. NYCHA again puts forward a "one-way" deconcentration strategy, opening its 36 lowest-income developments to working families. Although there are higher income developments, there is no proposal to encourage lower income residents to move to these developments. The Resident Alliance again urges NYCHA to adopt a "two-way deconcentration" strategy in this year's plan, to enable lower-income resident households to move to move to higher income developments. The NYCHA plan in very general. It is not specific on new or revised ways to address safety and security, or how developments will be targeted this year. The One-Year Plan by the Police Department's Housing Bureau (found in the NYCHA Plan's "supporting documents") is largely crime statistics. Major questions remain to be answered:
The Resident Alliance urges NYCHA to prepare and submit a detailed plan for safety and security. The 2003 NYCHA Plan does not include the planned redevelopment of Fabria Houses in the Lower East Side. Nor was it mentioned in last year's NYCHA Plan. NYCHA has already begun the Fabria redevelopment process and is actively seeking potential developers. What does the NYCHA Plan mean if it does not include specific plans for redevelopment? The Fabria redevelopment raises important questions - for residents at Fabria Houses and citywide. It is a form of privatization, which transfers NYCHA-owned units to private ownership. Fabria will have the same number of subsidized units before and after redevelopment - and current residents are assured the right to return - but the new Section 8 lease arrangements need to be further questioned. They will be time-limited and will expire in 20 years if the owner decides to opt of the program, and since the Section 8 vouchers are renewed annually, and residents lose their "good cause for eviction rights" under Section 8, these residents could be evicted at the owner's pleasure at the end of their annual lease. The NYCHA Plan must describe the redevelopment arrangements and answer these questions. The Resident Alliance demands that NYCHA provide a description of all planned redevelopment efforts in its Annual Plan. The Absence of the Fabria Houses' redevelopment in the Plan raises questions about whether the NYCHA Annual Plan provides complete information for public review and comment. The Alliance opposes the privatization of NYCHA - owned units because it removes them from the permanent stock of affordable public housing. There may be good reason for Fabria Houses' redevelopment, but NYCHA must spell out its specific approach to redevelopment, and what the consequences are for residents and for public housing. |
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