By Chaya Gurkov, KCP
If you are a New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) resident and want to comment on the current state of your housing, now’s the time to submit it! 
That after NYCHA yesterday began its call for public comment period for its Transformation Plan dubbed Blueprint for Change, a comprehensive set of ideas to transform the Authority, including the Stabilization Strategy (capital funding for 110,000 units) introduced in July, which calls for a public trust to leverage valuable federal vouchers to raise capital for NYCHA properties.

The plan is part of the 2019 federal Housing and Urban Development agreement (HUD) Agreement, in which NYCHA is required to work collaboratively with a federal monitor to prepare a new organizational plan, and this Transformation Plan is the result of that coordination.
“This Transformation Plan builds upon the intensive work NYCHA has been doing to make progress in key areas that most impact residents’ quality of life and is centered around the imperative to foster a new culture of service at the Authority,” said NYCHA Chair & CEO Greg Russ. “We look forward to making progress together and using this input from our residents and all stakeholders, and putting it toward these initiatives to change the way we do business.”

The plan includes five key factors to change the quality of life at each of its developments. These include implementing new policies and procedures, quick responses to conditions at NYCHA properties, better quality, delivering projects on time, and establishing clear goals for employees are. 
In order to achieve these goals, NYCHA outlines in the Transformation Plan three major organizational changes that will enable the key factors to take precedent. One of those include changes to NYCHA’s Board and executive management structure to streamline business decision-making.

The other two include changes to NYCHA’s property operations and central office functions. The plans to decentralize further into smaller neighborhoods are outlined in the Transformation Plan to improve management groups within each borough to better prioritize workload and faster repairs at the individual level. 
The plan also includes numerous business process improvements that focus on service delivery pain points as identified by residents and employees, such as the Annual Review process and the Alternative Work Schedule program, along with new ideas for how NYCHA can improve productivity through technology. 

The public comment period is open from yesterday Nov. 16, to December 28, 2020. To see the entire plan and submit a comment, please visit on.nyc.gov/blueprintforchange.  NYCHA residents can also make an appointment with their property management office to receive a printed copy of the draft plan in English and additional languages, and can submit comments by paper.