Resolution calling upon the New York City Housing Authority to provide an annual report to the City Council containing information concerning Section 3 and Resident Employment Program hiring.

Res. No. 321

Resolution calling upon the New York City Housing Authority to provide an annual report to the City Council containing information concerning Section 3 and Resident Employment Program hiring.

By Council Members Cumbo, Chin, Cornegy, Koo, Mendez, Rose and Cohen.

Whereas, The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is a public housing authority with 334 developments, 2,563 buildings and 178,557 public housing units, making it the largest public housing provider in North America; and

Whereas, NYCHA is home to approximately 4.8 percent of the City’s population, including 175,587 families and 403,120 authorized residents; and

Whereas, Working families account for 47.2 percent of NYCHA families; and

Whereas, Section 3 is a provision of the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Act of 1968 that helps provide economic and employment opportunities to low-and very-low income individuals; and

Whereas, Section 3 requires that recipients of HUD financial assistance, such as NYCHA, provide job training, employment and contracting opportunities for its residents; and

Whereas, All HUD funds received by NYCHA are subject to Section 3 requirements; and

Whereas, In order to comply with Section 3, HUD rules require that at least 30 percent of new hires for development, operation and modernization expenditures be public housing residents or low-and very-low income individuals; and

Whereas, In addition to complying with HUD’s requirements, NYCHA’s Resident Employment Program (REP) mandates that for contracts in excess of $500,000, 15 percent of total labor costs be used to hire NYCHA residents; and

Whereas, In 2013, 241 NYCHA residents were hired through Section 3 and REP; and

Whereas, In 2014, NYCHA projects that 465 residents will be hired, including 326 Section 3 hires and 139 REP hires; and

Whereas, In order to increase transparency and accountability concerning Section 3 and REP resident hiring, NYCHA should provide an annual report to the City Council including the total number of public housing residents hired in the preceding calendar year, the types of opportunities afforded to such residents, including the duration of the opportunities and the total number of projected hires for the upcoming calendar year; and

Whereas, The report concerning Section 3 and REP hiring should be provided to the City Council on January 1st of each calendar year; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the New York City Housing Authority to provide an annual report to the City Council containing information concerning Section 3 and Resident Employment Program hiring.

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06/20/2014