To improve public housing, New York City is going to demolish it
Demolition of public housing has become something of a national trend, except in New York, where the New York City Housing Authority is holding onto its inventory of obsolete buildings even as repair bills and tenant complaints mount.
But that may be changing.
NYCHA will announce on Wednesday that it is moving forward with a $1.5 billion plan to tear down Manhattan’s Fulton Houses and Elliott-Chelsea Houses and replace them with new high-rise apartments for the residents who live there after it became clear that the replacing the dilapidated buildings would cost about the same as rehabilitating them.
At Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea, more than 2,000 social housing units would be replaced. The new apartments will have dishwashers, washing machines and dryers and access to roof terraces. The plan also envisages the construction of new retail and commercial space and 3,500 mixed-income apartments, of which approximately 1,000 are reserved for lower-income earners and the rest rent at market rates.
It would be only the third demolition in the agency’s nearly 90-year history, and the first time new mixed-income buildings would be built on NYCHA land. City officials said they hope to replicate the plan elsewhere as public housing conditions worsen.
“You’ve never heard of brand new public housing,” said Miguel Acevedo, president of the Fulton Houses’ tenant association, who has lived in the project since the 1960s and supports the plan. “It just doesn’t exist. To create this for the next generation is truly incredible.”
Many developers have viewed the open spaces on NYCHA campuses, which are scattered throughout the boroughs, as prime sites for new development, even as similar efforts have met with opposition.
The idea that demolition is viable reflects the seriousness of conditions in the developments, with residents regularly dealing with leaks, mould, broken elevators and heating problems. NYCHA estimates it needs to make about $40 billion worth of repairs system-wide.
Construction in Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea will be handled by two private developers, Essence Development and real estate giant Related Companies. chosen by tenant leaders and NYCHA in December 2021. The project is part of NYCHA’s contentious effort to place more developments under private management, allowing the agency to tap into a dedicated source of federal funds and borrow money for upgrades.
The developers and NYCHA said they were confident moving forward at Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea after residents who responded to a weeks-long survey indicated they prefer the demolition and rebuild option over rehabilitation. About 30 percent of eligible residents, or about 950 people, responded to the survey, and about 60 percent of them opted for demolition.
“No one knows better than the residents what they and their neighbors need, and they were smart to recognize the potential benefits of completely rebuilding their campus,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.
NYCHA hopes to deploy a similar strategy — including talking to residents and helping them decide on the future of their home — in other developments in the city.
“If you do this across the city, we can provide significantly more affordable housing,” said Jonathan Gouveia, NYCHA’s executive vice president for real estate development.
But previous attempts at rebuilding have not been so well received. City officials walked away from an effort in 2019 to demolish and replace two Fulton buildings with mixed incomes after residents and activists protested the plan.
But Jamar Adams, Essence’s general manager, who said he spent part of his childhood in public housing, said it was important to make sure the new buildings were finished before the old ones were replaced, so residents knew they were had a place to move to. . He said despite the opposition in 2019, trying to better communicate with residents about the plan and how it addressed their issues has changed many people’s minds.
“Residents went from justified skepticism about demolition to embracing a transformation plan that will build homes they deserve,” he said.
The project is particularly attractive to developers and the city because Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea are located in one of Manhattan’s most popular real estate markets, close to Hudson Yards and the High Line.
Some residents don’t trust the plan and are still skeptical of NYCHA’s approach to repairs. Vera Naseva has lived in the Elliott-Chelsea development for four years and opposes its redevelopment. “They just want to take us out,” she said.
The project must go through a lengthy land use review process, which will begin next year, and must ultimately be approved by the city council. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development must also give its approval, though NYCHA officials said they were optimistic.
Developers said they would build most of the new NYCHA buildings first so the majority of residents could move in before their old homes were demolished. Construction should be completed in six years.