Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony. RPA is a non-profit civic organization that conducts research, planning, and advocacy to improve economic opportunity, mobility, environmental sustainability, and the quality of life for those who live and work in the New York metropolitan region.

We would like to applaud the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) for its recent ​“Blueprint for Change” and the New York Assembly for introducing 11149 establishing the Housing Preservation Trust. This is a needed and necessary step toward returning our Public Housing back to a state of good repair.

In particular we are pleased to see the dedication to keeping public housing public, leveraging the use of federal funding streams such as Section 18 and Tenant Protection Vouchers, and more flexible approaches to capital work such as design-build. This trust would be a vast improvement on the current ability of the city and NYCHA to address capital needs in a timely and effective manner, while still retaining the things that make public housing one of the best housing assets to the City and the people who live here: public ownership, tenant protection, and affordable rents - especially to those without incomes high enough for other affordable housing options.

In terms of the composition of the Board of Directors for the Preservation Trust, we note that all appointees are ultimately accountable to the Mayor, either through direct appointment or through appointment by an official (the NYCHA Chair) appointed by the Mayor. While a majority of the Board should be appointed by the Mayor, and the trust itself, like NYCHA, ultimately accountable to the Mayor, in the interest of both transparency and inclusiveness some adjustments should be made to its composition.

First, at least one other citywide elected official should have a direct appointment to the board of the Preservation Trust.

Second, at least one member on the board should be selected by and accountable to NYCHA residents themselves. The Citywide Council of Presidents structure provides a means to democratically selecting this representative already, although it would not necessarily need to be the way NYCHA residents could select a representative on the board.

We would also like to reinforce support for several suggestions made by Community Service Society and NYC Legal Aid in their testimony. These include:

• Clarification of the body charged with oversight of the Preservation Trust.
• A requirement that Board Meetings be open and allow for public input.
• An additional bill providing for funding independent technical assistance to residents affected by Preservation Trust conversion plans.
• Clarification that all resident rights and protections will be carried over, including succession rights and participation in resident councils and CCoP, and that these rights and protections will be available to future as well as current residents, and the PACT/RAD standards be adopted in regards to residency rights of return.
• Give a preference to non-profit, mission-oriented organizations for any outside contracting of management. In addition, residents should have a direct say in any new management company brought in.
• Building conditions and violations should be recorded in the public DOB and HPD databases, and be subjects to the same inspection and violation process as privately-owned housing.

Lastly, we would like to emphasize that time is of the essence in terms of effecting this legislation. With conditions in NYCHA already at the breaking point and deteriorating daily, it is necessary to create and empower this entity as soon as possible. Both the Assembly Housing Committee, as well as the NY State Legislature as a whole, should make this the highest priority.

RPA appreciates the time offered by the New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Housing. Thank you for your time and consideration.