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Q&A
Council Member Chris Banks questions NYCHA representatives on budget changes and federal funding
2:53:43
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3 min
Council Member Chris Banks engages in a Q&A session with NYCHA representatives, primarily CFO Annika Lescott-Martinez, about the executive budget changes, funding requests, and potential federal budget cuts. The discussion covers city contributions, capital funding, and strategies to address possible future funding reductions.
- NYCHA reports $2.3 billion in total funding from the city, including $1.6 billion in capital and $617 million in expenses
- The City of Yes plan and its allocation is discussed as a top priority for new funding requests
- NYCHA addresses concerns about potential federal budget cuts, stating that 2025 funding is stable but 2026 funding is uncertain
Chris Banks
2:53:43
Thank you.
2:53:44
To talk about the executive budget changes, the executive plan includes very minimal changes in the city contributions fiscal twenty twenty six budget.
2:53:56
What have your conversations been with OMB and the administration about city funding for fiscal year twenty twenty six?
2:54:57
What new needs are you requesting from the city to be included in the adopted plan?
2:55:16
And that's the $1,000,000,000?
2:55:18
So, all the
2:55:20
Part of it, right.
2:55:22
A portion of that 1,000,000,000, I believe the majority of it is dedicated to RAD PACS, am I correct?
2:55:38
Okay.
2:55:39
Moving on to the federal capital and operating funding.
2:55:43
The Comptroller's Office has projected that if their proposed federal budget were passed that HPD and NYCHA would stand to lose close to $2,000,000,000.
2:55:56
How are you modifying or shifting around your current budget to insulate critical needs for any potential cuts?
Lisa Bova-Hiatt
2:54:06
Thank you for that question.
2:54:07
I'm gonna turn it over to our CFO.
Annika Lescott-Martinez
2:54:10
Thank you for the question Chair Banks.
2:54:13
We have the resources that we need to carry out our mission and we're focused on implementing the funding necessary for our agency.
2:54:20
We are in constant communication with OMB and City Hall about our needs.
2:54:25
In this plan across the city FY '20 '6 executive plan, we have 1,600,000,000 in capital, $617,000,000 in expense and additionally the city's been generous enough to forgive 105,000,000 of payments for a grand total of $2,300,000,000.
2:54:44
As Lisa mentioned in her opening remarks, that is virtually unheard of across the country.
2:54:49
There's no other public housing authority that receives the funding that we do from the city.
2:54:53
So to your question, we remain in constant communication.
2:54:56
Okay.
2:55:04
So we are working through various specific proposals.
2:55:10
Most frequently we're working on the City Of Yes plan to work on allocating that funding.
2:55:15
So that's our top priority.
2:55:29
So, there is $754,000,000 in PAC funding in the HPD budget and that does support our PACS conversions.
2:56:05
That's a great question.
2:56:06
So as Lisa mentioned, we really are in a holding pattern.
2:56:10
The president's budget is not an enacted legislation and in 2025 our funding is actually quite stable.
2:56:17
So yesterday we received word of our federal capital grant for example.
2:56:21
It is $731,000,000 It is a slight $700,000 increase from what we received last year.
2:56:30
So for 2025 we're doing quite well and we feel confident that we can hit our budget targets.
2:56:35
2026 is certainly looming on the horizon and as we mentioned we will pay close attention to what's happening in Washington.
2:56:43
We will advocate for our residents and with our residents to get the funding we need.
2:56:47
And of course we will hope that you all will support us in that.
Daniela Sabogal
2:55:19
It's part of it.