In their vital reporting on federal funding implications for the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), City Limits turned to New York City and State budget negotiations to get a sense of how advocates are looking to mitigate harm to the nation’s largest public housing authority. They included City Council testimony from Anna Luft, Director of NYLAG’s Public Housing Justice Project, in their coverage:
With New York City and state lawmakers in the throes of finalizing new budgets, residents and advocates alike are pushing for billions of dollars in additional funding that would address public housing needs without privatization efforts. With a new administration in Washington intent on slashing federal resources for housing programs like Section 9, the stakes are even higher…
In her testimony at the recent Council budget hearing, Anna Luft, a project director of the public housing justice project at the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG), emphasized that the well-being of NYCHA is tethered to the rest of New York.
She pressed the City Council to increase NYCHA capital funding to $1.5 billion annually, up from $779 million in the previous year’s budget, according to Luft, and to “ensure an equitable distribution of funds” between Section 9 and PACT developments.
“With the Trump administration’s policies and priorities, and its slashing federal spending, it is unlikely that the federal government is going to fund public housing meaningfully,” Luft testified.
“We also strongly urge the City Council to ensure specifically that NYCHA Section 9 developments are funded and not rely on privatization through PACT to save the future of public housing in New York City.”
Read the rest of the article, published March 14, 2025, in City Limits.
