From City Limits:
The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) on Friday appointed six members, consisting of NYCHA officials and tenant association presidents, to the newly minted Preservation Trust board—part of the struggling authority’s plan to raise billions of federal dollars to repair thousands of public housing units.
The appointed members include three city housing officials: the Interim Chief Executive Officer at NYCHA, Lisa Bova-Hiatt, NYCHA’s Chief Financial Officer Annika Lescott-Martinez and New York City’s Chief Housing Officer, Jessica Katz.
Two of the members are NYCHA tenant association presidents—Karen Blondel of Red Hook West Houses and Barbara McFadden of Nostrand Houses—while Baaba Halm, the vice president and New York market leader of the nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners, will be a board member “at large.”
The first board meeting will take place within the next few months, according to NYCHA.
Established by state lawmakers last year, NYCHA has dubbed the Trust “the first process of its kind in the county,” through which it aims to to renovate 25,000 apartments, part of an ongoing effort to revitalize the housing authority’s outdated infrastructure, with a whopping $40 billion in capital repairs needed across the system.
In a statement, Bova-Hiatt called the Preservation Trust an “innovative tool” that—alongside a separate initiative, Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT)—will yield investment into NYCHA developments and the residents who live in them.
“Today’s appointments to the board are foundational to the future success, governance, and oversight of the Public Housing Preservation Trust,” Bova-Hiatt said, adding that the Trust will “usher in a new chapter for the Authority.”
Read City Limits' article "NYCHA Names Board to New Preservation Trust, Pitched as Key Tool to Fund Repairs."