The New York City Housing Authority has come under fire because thousands of affordable rental units are sitting vacant, some for years at a time.
"'We're in the midst of a massive recession, and it just seems unbelievable to me that we are sitting on thousands of affordable housing units that people can't use,' said Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president. 'I believe this is a total and complete crisis in the Housing Authority. The inability to rehabilitate and get affordable apartments to people on the waiting list flies in the face of what public housing is about.'"
"Lynn Godfrey, an agency spokeswoman, said the authority had reduced the number of vacant units in recent years. In November 2007, there were 6,545 vacant units off the rent rolls, and in November 2009, there were 3,298. Of those nearly 3,300 apartments, a large number - 1,790 - are undergoing and awaiting renovations, Ms. Godfrey said, while 438 are being used as office space for tenant associations, police officers and health services."
FULL STORY: Impatience Grows Over Vacancy Rate in Public Housing
NYC mayor announces plan to repair, restore and build new public housing
Roughly 300,000 New Yorkers live in the city's public housing system.
Report: Hundreds of Vacant NYC Public Housing Units ‘Taken Over’ by Squatters
The city’s housing authority says it often takes months to renovate apartments for new tenants, leading to hundreds of empty units that pose safety risks to neighbors.
New NYC Law Requires Landlords to Provide AC Units — But not in Public Housing
Building owners are required to install AC units for tenants who request them in the next four years, but tenants are on the hook for electricity costs.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association