On the same day he appointed a new leader of the New York City Housing Authority, Mayor de Blasio said he will not go forward with the Bloomberg-era “infill” plan that would have leased some NYCHA land to private developers. Several of the sites were on the Lower East Side and in the East Village.
But the mayor did state, at the Feb. 8 press conference, that he would consider a new land-lease plan if it were supported by public housing residents — perhaps an unlikely prospect, even though such a plan could bring tens of millions of dollars in new revenue to the cash-strapped agency.
De Blasio named Shola Olatoye, a former executive of a nonprofit organization that invests in affordable housing, to be the new NYCHA chairperson. She replaces John Rhea, who, along with Bloomberg, was heavily criticized by tenants over the infill scheme, among other issues.
De Blasio and Olatoye also said public housing needs to be retrofitted to be made energy-efficient.
“It’s a total reset,” de Blasio said.
