Transcript: Mayor Adams Holds Rally for Start of In-Person Voting at NYCHA's Nostrand Houses

November 28, 2023

Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer: Good afternoon, everyone. That's right. It just got hot. My name is Maria Torres-Springer. I'm the deputy mayor for Housing, Economic Development and Workforce, and I am so thrilled to be here with all of you this afternoon.

A little bit cold, but a historic day, because this is a historic vote that will decide the future of Nostrand Houses. It is truly a new dawn for public housing in New York City, and the first light is shining right here in Sheepshead Bay.

That's right, that's right. So, let's be honest. For decades, public housing has been under undersupported and underfunded by the federal government that built them, in the first place. Residents were promised a safe and healthy home where they could raise their families, but too many elected officials let them down without adequate funding, the trash wasn't collected, the sinks weren't fixed, the vermin weren't dealt with, and that has all added up over the decades to tens of billions of dollars in deferred maintenance.

But we know that NYCHA residents deserve better than this from all levels of government. And today, finally, they can get better than this.

This administration, under the leadership of Mayor Eric Adams, has worked with our state and federal partners to come up with new ways of capping into new funding streams to reinvigorate our public housing and maintain it for decades to come. Today you have the opportunity to choose which solution works best for you and your neighbors and all of the future residents of Nostrand Houses.

Just to quickly lay out what those three options are, the first is called PACT, which stands for Permanent Affordability Commitment Together. This program brings comprehensive renovations, enhanced property management and expanded onsite social services to the development while converting the development from Section 9 to more stable project-based Section 8.

As part of this process, you and your neighbors will meet with and choose a private and/or not-for-profit partner who will renovate all the more than 1,100 apartments. So far across the NYCHA portfolio, 138 developments representing close to 40,000 of apartments have been or are going to be renovated and maintained through PACT.

Now, the second option is the new Public Housing Preservation Trust. The Trust would make the same change from Section 9 to Section 8 as PACT, unlocking the same new sources of funding, except that the Trust is a 100 percent public entity. Mayor Eric Adams led the effort to establish the Trust and after years of advocacy, the governor authorized its creation earlier this year.

Your development will get the same comprehensive renovations through this program, but instead of bringing on an outside partner, NYCHA will continue to own control and manage the property. And what's really fantastic, and we were here just on August 1st, but Nostrand Houses are the very first development to have the opportunity to vote and the opportunity to join the Trust.

And, of course, there is a third option, and that is the choice to remain as a Section 9 development overseen by NYCHA. But the most important part of all of these plans, no matter which one you choose, is that your rights as a resident are always the main priority. This is your home and you will always have the final say over what happens to it.

This administration is committed to empowering you, your voice and your vote, and this election will ensure that you keep that power for decades to come. And so we'll hear from our mayor in just a few minutes, but I wanted to introduce two speakers before that. First, the CEO of NYCHA, who's really leading the charge on the largest investment in New York City public housing for decades, CEO Lisa Bova-Hiatt.

Lisa Bova-Hiatt, CEO, NYCHA: Thank you, everyone, for joining us here today on this very brisk day at Nostrand Houses for this amazing Get Out the Vote event. Thank you guys so much. I know it's cold, but we feel hot now that the mayor's here.

I especially want to thank Mayor Adams and Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer for joining us. You and your administration are steadfast supporters of NYCHA and the work that we're doing, and for that, we are truly, truly grateful.

To Association President Barbara McFadden, thank you for hosting us and for your vision as a Trust Board member. Our partnership with you and the entire NYCHA community is vital to our mission to improve public housing in New York City.

We've said it before and we'll say it again, this is a truly momentous and historic occasion for NYCHA. As you've heard, the needs at NYCHA are astounding. More than $78 billion in major capital needs across our portfolio. A challenge this immense requires multiple creative solutions and compels us to act now.

And NYCHA is home to hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. It's a vast and vital resource of deeply affordable housing, and it's been an important and integral part of our city for nearly a century. It requires all of our energy, focus and efforts to forge a new direction forward, to bring the critical investments that will provide residents with the quality of life they deserve.

That is why today is such a pivotal moment. Today, we are saying to the residents of Nostrand Houses, you will decide the future of your homes. Through December 7th, you'll be able to vote on whether you want to bring comprehensive renovations to your home through the Trust or PACT or whether you want to remain in the Section 9 program.

Voting is super convenient. You can do it online or mail, and starting now, you can vote in person. Not only can the Trust and PACT revitalize and preserve our developments so that they can serve New Yorkers for another century, but residents also get to keep their rights and protections, including permanently affordable rents.

With the Trust and PACT capable of breathing new life into residents' homes, this is indeed a shining moment in NYCHA's history, a promise kept to the current and coming generations of NYCHA families. We are talking about billions of dollars for new bathrooms and kitchens, building facades and systems, heating and elevators and more.

I'd like to thank my amazing colleagues, the NYCHA residents, advocates, elected officials and all of the other stakeholders we've collaborated with to make history. It's an exciting day to watch the voting process in action, an experience that follows a hundred days of engagement here at Nostrand where residents got information and had their questions answered.

We've had thousands of individual conversations with residents through door knocking, phone calls, meetings and events. We've even opened a dedicated office here at Nostrand to assist and inform residents about this important opportunity.

I look forward to continuing to work with all of you as we engage residents at Nostrand Houses on this exciting new journey and as we move forward together. Thank you so much.

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you, Lisa. Thank you so much, Lisa, for your leadership and thanks to your incredible team. I also want to shout out, because we are here today, the advocacy and leadership of so many across the administration, but former Chief Housing Officer Jessica Katz was also very instrumental in ensuring that the Trust legislation is passed.

Now I have the honor. I need to read my notes. So, there's someone who, every time I see her, there's so much passion and energy and commitment to NYCHA, to the million boards she sits on, but really to her neighbors. And so it is my honor to introduce the president of the Nostrand Houses Resident Association, Barbara McFadden.

Barbara McFadden, President, Nostrand Houses Resident Association: Thank you. Thank you. I can do a little better than that. Look, come on now. Yes. This is history in the making. First and foremost, I want to say good afternoon to our honorable Mayor Eric Adams, Deputy Mayor Maria Torres, our CEO, Lisa Bova-Hiatt. Let's clap it up for them.

My name is Barbara McFadden, the resident leader of Nostrand Housing, district chair for Brooklyn South, and first vice chair for CCOP, and a member of the Trust Board, was appointed by the leadership of Mayor Adams. Let's clap it up. All right, It’s Brooklyn.

I want to thank my new NYCHA staff for the outstanding support they've been doing during this intensive 1,00 engagement days here at Nostrand Housing. I want to thank Ms. Ukah Busgith, Mr. Leroy, [Mr. Jimmy Santano], Ms. Jacqueline Hipps, Ms. Eva Trimble, Ms. Courtney Yu, Ms. Vlada, my Preservation, Trust. She's right here. President, Ms. Vlada, that's the President of the Trust [inaudible].
I want to thank Makiba Price, [Mr. Posey Rodriguez], Ms. Mandu, Mr. Daniel Mejia, Ms. Sharon. It's a lot of people, when you bring forth change, you got to thank the forefathers that help you along the way. Let's clap it up. You have to thank them.

Without you, it wouldn't be me. Let's thank our manager, Ms. Toby Brown, Mr. Curtis Williams, Brian Honan, Andrew Kaplan, Ms. Julia [inaudible], Mr. Alex. And then now, I want to thank PSA 1, my Brooklyn South team. They're here with Brooklyn South at NYCHA at [inaudible], Karen Brandel, my community leader, Darren Davis, Ms. Sandra Hayes. I want to thank Local 79.

I'm not finished yet. I want to thank Mr. Tony Herbert, Assemblywoman Weinstein, Senator Scarcella, Borough President Reynoso, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, and first and foremost, I want to thank CAMBA, I want to thank Kings Bay Y, and I want to thank [inaudible] organization. Let's clap it up for them.

Nostrand is the first to do the voting process. This is historical. This is history in the making. We did a hundred days of engagement and outreach. We held workshops at Sheepshead Bay, we held workshops at Shell Bank Junior High School, ongoing workshops at the Sheepshead Bay Community Center, we knocked on doors day in, day out.

All residents was provided bulks of literature and information explaining RAD, PACT, Section 9 and the Preservation Trust. The outreach team makes calls all day to residents, and we have an outreach team on site. They're located at 2344 Bragg Apartment 1C. The purpose of the outreach site. So, of any tenants that's gone through something, you haven't received your ballot, you can go there and talk to them. They're there 9:00 to 5:00 and even on Saturdays.

But first and foremost, I want to tell you, I'm happy, You didn't hear what I said. Nostrand is the first, they is the first. Do you know what that means to be the first? Let's clap it. Do you know how many NYCHA developments we have? Nostrand is the first. Let's clap it up everybody. Don't worry about the baby. Don't worry about it.

I am so happy. It makes me go back to when Harriet Tubman led the Underground Railroad. Mayor Adams is leading New York City housing. Let's clap it for mayor. He's leading.

I want to thank him for the media attention he brought the Nostrand and throughout the five boroughs, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx. I want to thank Mayor Adams and I'm want to ask him something. They say you got to be careful what you asked for, but I'm asking our one and only mayor for something. Listen, now, you all going to hold me. You're going to charge me. You're going to charge me to this.

When we start our renovations here at Nostrand Housing, I'm asking my one and only mayor, my role model. He saved my brother's life back in the nineties when he was an officer. I'm not even going to get into that.

He saved him in the nineties. He was going to get beaten by some officers. He was dressed in plain clothes. They didn't know he was a cop. He said, what are you doing here? You're not going to brutalize this young man. Because of the mayor, I still have my brother. Let's clap it up.

But the question I want to ask him, when we do the renovations here at Nostrand Housing, when he breaks this park up, I want it to be named after Barbara McFadden. And… Whoa, whoa, ho. Wait, wait, wait. Harriet Tubman got her star in Hollywood. Rosa Paul got her star. And why can't Barbara McFadden amd the whole entire team? Let's clap it up, Brooklyn.

I'm going to turn this mic over to our one and only Mayor Eric Adams. Thank you.

Mayor Eric Adams: Listen, I want to be extremely clear and not [inaudible] but accurate baby it's cold out.

And so we're going to move in the right direction. And just really thank Barbara and this entire Nostrand team for trekking to Albany really pushing this conversation forward. For so many years, people kicked a can down the road and talked about the calvary was coming, the calvary was coming.

And I say it over and over again, the bugles you were hearing, they were not the calvary. It was Taps. NYCHA was dying, and we needed a real lifeline. And when you look at an $80 billion capital budget, the realization of living in decrepit, torn down housing buildings that were not properly repaired, we were putting a Band-Aid on a real tragic part of our living environment.

One out of 17 residents live in NYCHA in the city. NYCHA has held it down for so many generations, and they're paying their rent, so they deserve to get the services that are required from city and that's what we're doing. We made a clear message, number one, by including NYCHA in our housing plan. For many years, it was never included in our housing plan. We said no, not in this administration.

So side by side, with our lawmakers in Albany and the governor of the State of New York to include a relief package for NYCHA tenants and residents for their being back in their rent.
When you look at the next 10 days are so significant, Barbara is right. This is a historic moment. The next 10 days, you are going to decide your destiny and how you want your housing to be. This is no longer in the hands of outsiders. This is in the hands of insiders, those who live in NYCHA.

Let's make this happen. I want to walk with you to the polls. This is a liberating moment for the tenants of NYCHA as you make a decision on your destiny. Successful, great, great work on all the parts.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, and thank you to this team of folks. Barbara has been resilient and consistent, and she's a representative of what NYCHA residents have always stood for. So, I'm happy that this administration, we heard you, we delivered, and now it's time for you to make the determination on what you want. Great job.

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