After a winter that left thousands of public housing residents in the cold, Mayor de Blasio announced Wednesday that the city will spend $200 million to upgrade heating systems at 20 New York City Housing Authority developments over the next five years.
The funding, which won’t be allocated until the coming fiscal year that starts on July 1, will replace 39 boilers at 10 developments and modernize hot water systems at a dozen sites.
“The record-setting cold this winter has hit these aging boilers and pipes hard,” said de Blasio. “We’re coming to the table with real resources to attack these problems, and urge our federal and state partners to do the same.”
But Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said the timeline, which won’t see renovations completed until 2022, is too slow.
“Mayor de Blasio’s announcement today is cold comfort for the tenants of NYCHA, as it does nothing to accelerate the timeline of the procurement process,” he said. “Even on the most optimistic schedule the city will have a different mayor when these new boiler installations are completed.”
Tenants at Housing Authority developments have gone without heat for days at a time this winter as the authority struggles to maintain its aging infrastructure.
Hizzoner announced a $13 million allocation toward NYCHA heating repairs Jan. 18 as an emergency measure.