Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Rad Pact Conversions topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Tenants, advocates raise complaints about RAD/PACT conversions, rent increases and recertification errors
Summary
Council members and tenant advocates told the Committee on Public Housing that NYCHA’s RAD/PACT conversions and related management changes have produced rent increases, recertification disputes and repair problems for residents; NYCHA said most residents will be converted but acknowledged implementation gaps and committed to targeted outreach.
Lawyers, tenants and council members used a Committee on Public Housing hearing to press NYCHA on problems arising from RAD and PACT conversions — including disagreements over recertifications, alleged rent increases and repair backlogs that, advocates say, have led to subsidy terminations and court actions.
NYCHA told the committee it has a pipeline that could convert up to 62,000 units from older Section 9 public-housing subsidies to project-based Section 8 contracts through PACT; the agency said about 27,000 units had already converted and that close to 40,000 units were actively in resident engagement. “The PACT program has a pipeline of 62,000 units that it will be converting from section 9 to section 8,” NYCHA officials said. NYCHA and council members described PACT conversions as a tool to bring private capital for repairs, while also acknowledging that conversions change administrative procedures for tenants.
Several council members and public witnesses said conversions have produced rent increases for households that do not qualify for subsidy under Section 8 income thresholds and have created confusion on succession and household composition. NYCHA staff told the committee that residents who are active on a development at conversion generally are eligible for contract protections; agency representatives said residents should use conversion engagement periods to add household members to leases to preserve succession rights. “During conversion, we really encourage everyone to…come forward and put somebody who’s been living there on the lease,” an NYCHA official said.
Public-witness testimony included detailed complaints from Legal Aid and Manhattan Legal Services about repair delays, inspection failures, and cases where failed inspections led to voucher termination rather than repairs. “RAD/PACT buildings across Manhattan are replete with repair issues,” Manhattan Legal Services attorney Neil Rana testified, saying repairs had not been completed and that, in some instances, subsidy terminations followed without corrective action from management or HUD’s contract administrator.
Council members pressed NYCHA to provide records of community engagement (meeting minutes and outreach materials) for specific developments cited by tenants, and NYCHA agreed to follow up. NYCHA reiterated that households not eligible for subsidy will be phased in over a period (agency described a multiyear phase-in) and that residents may appeal rent calculations and recertification determinations through established procedures.
