From January to March this year, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) will be making the most of the $18 million provided by grants from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). With the capital, NYCHA plans to improve eleven of its housing developments in NYC.
“NYCHA continues to make improvements to its building structures and systems by spending its money wisely, and in the best interests of residents,” Chairman John Rhea of NYCHA said in a press release. “These major upgrades are needed regularly to ensure the preservation of our aging building stock, with 70 percent of our buildings more than 40 years old.”
The improvements to NYCHA that John Rhea is speaking of include brickwork, re-pointing, roof replacements, kitchen upgrades, installations of security cameras and intercom systems, bathroom renovations, basketball court renovations, and lighting fixture and spray shower upgrades.
Scheduled to be completed by March 2013, the repairs and upgrades will take place at Red Hook West, East New York City Line, Whitman Houses, Ingersoll Houses, Murphy Houses, Jackson Houses, Isaacs Houses, Glenwood Houses, Taft Rehab, and South Jamaica Houses.
The upgrades and repairs to NYCHA developments will affect about 22,000 residents, and will be an aggressive move to preserve what John Rhea calls “aging building stock.” In the past three years alone, NYCHA has invested more than $1.5 billion in capital investments to this end, with about $423 million coming from federal Stimulus funding. The ongoing effort keeps buildings structurally sound, economically friendly, and in a good state of repair for the more than 600,000 residents.