Authorizes the New York city council to oversee the activities of the New York city housing authority

2 Co-sponsors

• Jesse Hamilton
• Bill Perkins

BILL NUMBER:S5365A

Title of bill

An act to amend the public housing law and the New York city charter, in relation to authorizing the New York city council to oversee the activities of the New York city housing authority

Purpose or general idea of bill

This legislation grants the New York City Council greater oversight over the activities of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) by giving the council the ability to mandate that NYCHA produce reports and provide information to the Council.

Summary of specific provisions

Section one amends the public housing law by adding a new section 402-c that gives the NYC Council the power to mandate that NYCHA produce reports about any of its operations by passing a local law. Such a local law shall determined the information to be included in the report, whether it is a recurring report or not, and to whom it will be issued. The commissioner of the Division of Housing and Community Renewal shall be given copies of any such reports, and the reports shall be treated as public documents.

Section two amends section twenty nine of the NYC Charter by granting the NYC Council the same oversight powers over NYCHA that it currently has over any agency of the NYC government.

Section three sets an effective date of thirty days after this act shall have become law.

Justification

NYCHA is the largest housing authority in the United States, and its over 179,000 units are home to more than 400,000 New Yorkers, which represents almost 5% of the population of New York City as a whole. Unfortunately, the local elected legislators representing these residents have little oversight powers over NYCHA. While NYCHA as an entity is chartered under State law, the Mayor of NYC has complete control over its board, appointing all seven members and choosing the chair at his or her discretion. For all intents and purposes NYCHA functions as an agency of NYC, but the ability of the Council to oversee the operations of NYCHA are strictly limited because it was established as an authority by the State. This legislation is meant to grant the NYC Council and its members greater oversight powers over NYCHA.

This bill would grant the NYC Council the same power to review the operations of NYCHA on a continuous basis that it has over city agencies. The legislation would also give the NYC council the power to mandate the creation of reports by NYCHA through the passage of a local law. Currently the NYC Council can't mandate that NYCHA produce any reports on its operations. Giving the local elected legislators of NYCHA's residents greater powers to oversee the Authorities operations

will increase the voice of residents and hopefully make NYCHA's operations more transparent.

Prior legislative history

This is a new bill.

Fiscal implications

No fiscal implications for the State.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law.