I don’t have to imagine what it’s like to live in the New York City Housing Authority; I am a lifelong resident. I know firsthand what families endure every day because of decades of disinvestment, neglect, and broken promises from every level of government.
For my family, our home became the source of illnesses, stress, and fears. Mold covered the walls and lingered in the air; leaks didn’t stay leaks; they became floods every time it rained. We were displaced not just once but twice due to development and gentrification.
And, when the elevators broke down, Abuelita missed church on Sunday because the stairs were never an option for her. For many families like mine, these conditions weren’t unexpected; they were normalized.
For too long, the city, state, and federal governments have failed to align around a real solution, and tenants continue to suffer the consequences. We need sustained public investment, stronger oversight, real tenant protections, and direct input from residents who actually live this reality every day.
NYCHA residents like me didn’t create the $80 billion capital crisis; it was the accumulation of decades of deferred responsibility by the federal and local government. And now, under Mayor Mamdani’s newly proposed housing plan, the only way out of this deficit seems to be the reliance on the private developers. When those same private developers are the reason why we have public housing in the first place.
For decades, the private developers have priced out and displaced native New Yorkers from their own neighborhoods, leaving NYCHA as the only way to stay and survive.
The Permanent Affordability Commitment Together, also known as PACT, shifts NYCHA buildings into a private management model that leverages capital by leasing long term to private developers. In the past many of these PACT buildings experienced high eviction rates compared to NYCHA buildings that opt to stay in Section 9. The Preservation Trust leases to a public benefit corporation created by the state.
This kind of approach avoids the direct investments we need for repairs, instead it relies on changing the structural management and uses complex financing that doesn’t guarantee the lasting improvements for residents. It treats public housing as something to be managed through workarounds rather than a solution that stabilizes public investment.
And for residents this isn’t a simple choice made without pressure, for many we’re living in deplorable conditions. And the risk of evictions, or losing the very protections that keep us housed are too great. The city is essentially asking tenants to let these private entities into their homes in exchange for the uncertainty of their tenant protections.
For many we’ve become accustomed to the failed promises to “fix NYCHA,” which often translated to delays, partial repairs, or stalled projects. The gap between these policies on paper to the realities we’re living is a result of this persistent in being overlooked, while our basic living standards are deteriorating around us.
What is at stake isn’t just the physical repairs to our homes, but the future of NYCHA’s affordability and public accountability. More than 170,000 apartments and 330 developments have been allowed to deteriorate over decades. Yet these buildings aren’t empty; they’re full of life, holding generations of families, memories, and the future of New York.
We deserve functioning elevators, reliable heat and hot water, mold-free apartments, safe hallways, secure buildings, and the dignity that comes with quality housing. Our homes are not commodities. They are communities.
Sanchez lives in an NYCHA apartment.