New York City Housing Authority

In late 2006, the Bloomberg administration announced an initiative to build new housing on the underutilized land (parking lots and such) of select city public housing projects. Vacant, publicly owned land is now in short supply, the city reasoned. So officials began to look to the NYCHA housing projects as a city-owned resource where space was aplenty, given the "tower in the park" construction that typified the apartment complexes, with large expanses of open space and sometimes parking lots.

Now, seeking to implement the plan in Hell's Kitchen, the city is clashing with the community and elected officials, who claim the city reneged on a promise to build middle- and moderate-income housing.  read more »

Nearly one in 10 New Yorkers are “bankless,” the New York State Department of Banking estimates, and the numbers get worse as you move further down the income ladder. About one in four residents of public housing do not use banks, according to a report released by the City Council today.

The problem is not about people stuffing cash under mattresses.

“When your primary financial institution is a check casher, you have basically no ability to get a credit card, much less a mortgage--creating a permanent financial underclass,” said City Councilman Eric Gioia, who recently attracted a bank to Queensbridge Houses, the largest public housing development in the country.

Nearly three out of four public housing developments are closer to a check-cashing store than a bank, meaning more than half of New York City Housing Authority residents use expensive check-cashing services, whether or not they have a bank account.  read more »

Public housing residents are either unhappy or uninformed. The New York City Housing Authority is raising its fees, but many aren't even aware.

The NYCHA posted the four-page announcement in each lobby, but residents claim the papers were either torn down or unnoticeable. The information was also published in the NYCHA monthly newspaper, which is published in English and Spanish, but Erik Crawford, a resident representative and vice-chair for the Bronx South Council of Presidents, said the authority never notified the Resident Advisory Board.

In other short-term housing news, officials in 24 of New York's 63 counties don't know that people on probation and those who have completed parole are allowed to vote. The study, from NYU and Demos, recommends that the state implement a Rights Notification and Registration Act.

And, for those without a home, their library service and Internet connection remain safe. The New York Public Library wrote a letter to the editor of City Limits that totally messes with the plot of Maniac Magee. Jeffrey Lionel Magee could have just gotten a guest pass!

- Riva Froymovich