Public Employee Press

The 2016 budget
Battle over privatization of NYCHA centers

On May 12, DC 37 and SSEU Local 371 leaders, joined by public housing residents and advocates, other labor leaders, community activists, and City Council members, rallied at City Hall to demand that the city scrap a plan to privatize the 57 community and senior centers operated by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). The plan threatens the jobs of 100 unionized workers of Local 371.

"We know what works and the city should recognize that by funding these centers through NYCHA and using our members," said SSEU Local 371 President Anthony Wells. "The current plan would create a complicated bidding process that will result in worse services at higher costs and the loss of good union jobs."

With a $22 million budget, the 57 NYCHA-operated centers serve more than 5,000 children and seniors, and the proposal in Mayor Bill de Blasio's executive budget plan to transfer the operations from NYCHA would deal a harsh blow to residents of NYCHA public housing, who number 615,000 residents, which nearly equals the population of Boston, Mass. DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido said, "If NYCHA was a city, it would be the 27th largest in the United States, so who would conceive creating a city where the seniors and the youth could not receive the services they are entitled to?"

City Council Public Housing Committee Chair Ritchie Torres, who grew up in public housing, said, "Public housing is a community, and a community is more than its physical space - more than just bricks and mortar - and ultimately defined by the quality of social services and opportunities for its residents. Social services are best provided by a municipal labor force deeply rooted in the life of our community, and not by private contractors, who only come and go."

Torres added, "The message from the City Council is crystal clear - we have your back. We will oppose any attempt to contract out the municipal labor force out of existence."

On May 19, Mayor de Blasio announced "NextGeneration NYCHA," his broad-based plan to improve conditions at NYCHA housing complexes citywide that the union is studying.

— Mike Lee