December 13, 2018
The Honorable Dr. Ben Carson
Secretary
U.S. Department of Housing and urban Development
451 7th Street S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20410
Dear Secretary Carson and HUD Administrators,
We are clergy members and leaders of communities of faith, with thousands of parishioners who live in NYCHA developments across the city. For the health and safety of all NYCHA residents, we believe that the City of New York must retain control of NYCHA – and that federal receivership would be harmful for the agency and for NYCHA’s more than 400,000 residents.
Since Mayor de Blasio took office, and especially over the past year, conditions at NYCHA have slowly but definitely improved. Thanks to an unprecedented $2.1-billion capital and $1.6-billion operational investment, the City is replacing roofs, fixing heat, and upgrading security. Further, the recent announcement that more than 62,000 units would come under professional, private management demonstrates the administration’s continued commitment to innovative approaches that substantively improve the lives of thousands of people.
Receivership could destroy this fragile progress. We know what happens when the federal government takes over local public housing authorities. In Gary, Indiana; Cairo, Illinois; Wellston Missouri; and Chicago, Illinois, federal receivership all ended the same way: large public housing developments were shuttered and hundreds, sometimes thousands, of residents were displaced. Even with Section 8 assistance, families are priced out of their hometowns.
In the rare instances when residents have gotten to stay in place, receivership has left them living under worsened conditions. For example, 30 years of receivership left the public housing of East St. Louis, Illinois with $180 million of capital needs – and no money to fund them.
One in 14 New Yorkers make their homes in NYCHA. They are our parishioners, our families, our teachers, our nurses, our police officers. They’re our community. And in human terms, receivership means we are turning our backs on these families.
It’s no secret that NYCHA is a troubled agency, plagued by decades of disinvestment and mismanagement across all levels. It will take many more years of cooperation and commitment across all levels of government to reverse the situation. Receivership is not only a threat to these improvements – it’s a threat to the existence of NYCHA itself.
Thank you,
Jennifer Jones Austin
CEO and Executive Director
FPWA (Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies)
Raja Abdulhaq
Executive Director
Majlis Ash-Shura: Islamic Leadership Council of New York
Rev. Dr. Amy Butler
Senior Minister
Riverside Church
Frederick A. Davie, M.Div.
Executive Vice-President
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
Rabbi David Niederman
President
The United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg and North Brooklyn
Full list of signatories
67th Precinct Clergy Council ("The God Squad")
Albanian Islamic Cultural Center
Assafa Islamic Center Inc.
Association of African American Imams & The Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood Inc
Baitul Jamaat House of Community Inc.
Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis USA
Bethel Christian Church
Bethesda Healing Center
Brazilian Missionary Church
Breaking Free Ministries
Bronx Christian Fellowship Church
Cantor Alan Brava
Center for the Study and Practice of Urban Religion (C-SPUR)
New York Theological Seminary"
Charity Neighborhood Cathedral
Christian Calvary Ministries, Inc.
Church of the Ascension, NYC
Church of the First Born Ministries, Inc./Sacred Heart Church
Congregation Beit Simchat Torah
Connect NYC
Dawud Mosque
Deliverance and Healing International Ministries, Inc.
East End Temple
Ecclesia Ministries of New York
Episcopal Diocese of New York
Epworth United Methodist Church
FPWA (Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies)
Full of Faith Christian Center
Fulton Street Church of God of Prophecy
Global Bible Ministries
Gospel House Ministries
Grace Worship Center Church of God of Prophecy
Grand Concourse SDA
Greater Faith Deliverance Church
Greater New York Labor Religion Coalition
Hollis Avenue Congregational Church
Hope Church Astoria
House of the Lord Pentecostal Church
Interfaith Assembly On Homelessness and Housing Inc
Interfaith Center of New York
Islamic Circle of North America
Jamaica Muslim Center
John Wesley United Methodist Church
Judah International Christian Church
Kolot Chayeinu
Lead.NYC
Majlis Ash-Shura: Islamic Leadership Council of New York
Masjid Aqsa Salam
Micah Faith Table
Midtown South Community Council
Min. Kirsten John Foy
Mount Hermon Baptist Church
Muslim American Society of New York
National Action Network-Bronx Chapter
New Creation Ministries Inc.
New Hope Family Worship Center
New Life Seventh-day Adventist Church
New York Muslims United for Civic Engagement (NYMUCE)
New York State Chaplain Task Force
NYS Council of Churches
Parsons Temple
Pastor Bancroft Daughma
Project Hospitality
Promise Land Covenant Church
Prophetic Whirlwind
Rabbi Diana Gerson
Rabbi Joseph Potasnik
Rev. Dr. Rosalie Richards
Rev. Timothy L Morehouse
Rivers of Living Water
Sacred Fellowship Ministries, NYC
Sacred Heart
Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus
Saint Thomas Church
Salem Missionary Baptist Church
Salem United Methodist Church
SDA Church Organization
South East Queens Muslim Collective
St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Harlem
Staten Island Council of Churches
The Pentecostal House of Prayer
The Riverside Church
Triumph the Church of the New Age
Turkish American National Steering Committee (TASC)
Union Theological Seminary
United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg and North Brooklyn
United Ulama Council Of USA Inc.
Upper Room Tabernacle of Deliverance Pentecostal Church
USA Mali Charitable Association of NYC
Woodycrest United Methodist Church
Zion Youth and Family Community Center of Elmont
Source: Mercury
The Honorable Dr. Ben Carson
Secretary
U.S. Department of Housing and urban Development
451 7th Street S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20410
Dear Secretary Carson and HUD Administrators,
We are clergy members and leaders of communities of faith, with thousands of parishioners who live in NYCHA developments across the city. For the health and safety of all NYCHA residents, we believe that the City of New York must retain control of NYCHA – and that federal receivership would be harmful for the agency and for NYCHA’s more than 400,000 residents.
Since Mayor de Blasio took office, and especially over the past year, conditions at NYCHA have slowly but definitely improved. Thanks to an unprecedented $2.1-billion capital and $1.6-billion operational investment, the City is replacing roofs, fixing heat, and upgrading security. Further, the recent announcement that more than 62,000 units would come under professional, private management demonstrates the administration’s continued commitment to innovative approaches that substantively improve the lives of thousands of people.
Receivership could destroy this fragile progress. We know what happens when the federal government takes over local public housing authorities. In Gary, Indiana; Cairo, Illinois; Wellston Missouri; and Chicago, Illinois, federal receivership all ended the same way: large public housing developments were shuttered and hundreds, sometimes thousands, of residents were displaced. Even with Section 8 assistance, families are priced out of their hometowns.
In the rare instances when residents have gotten to stay in place, receivership has left them living under worsened conditions. For example, 30 years of receivership left the public housing of East St. Louis, Illinois with $180 million of capital needs – and no money to fund them.
One in 14 New Yorkers make their homes in NYCHA. They are our parishioners, our families, our teachers, our nurses, our police officers. They’re our community. And in human terms, receivership means we are turning our backs on these families.
It’s no secret that NYCHA is a troubled agency, plagued by decades of disinvestment and mismanagement across all levels. It will take many more years of cooperation and commitment across all levels of government to reverse the situation. Receivership is not only a threat to these improvements – it’s a threat to the existence of NYCHA itself.
Thank you,
Jennifer Jones Austin
CEO and Executive Director
FPWA (Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies)
Raja Abdulhaq
Executive Director
Majlis Ash-Shura: Islamic Leadership Council of New York
Rev. Dr. Amy Butler
Senior Minister
Riverside Church
Frederick A. Davie, M.Div.
Executive Vice-President
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
Rabbi David Niederman
President
The United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg and North Brooklyn
Full list of signatories
67th Precinct Clergy Council ("The God Squad")
Albanian Islamic Cultural Center
Assafa Islamic Center Inc.
Association of African American Imams & The Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood Inc
Baitul Jamaat House of Community Inc.
Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis USA
Bethel Christian Church
Bethesda Healing Center
Brazilian Missionary Church
Breaking Free Ministries
Bronx Christian Fellowship Church
Cantor Alan Brava
Center for the Study and Practice of Urban Religion (C-SPUR)
New York Theological Seminary"
Charity Neighborhood Cathedral
Christian Calvary Ministries, Inc.
Church of the Ascension, NYC
Church of the First Born Ministries, Inc./Sacred Heart Church
Congregation Beit Simchat Torah
Connect NYC
Dawud Mosque
Deliverance and Healing International Ministries, Inc.
East End Temple
Ecclesia Ministries of New York
Episcopal Diocese of New York
Epworth United Methodist Church
FPWA (Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies)
Full of Faith Christian Center
Fulton Street Church of God of Prophecy
Global Bible Ministries
Gospel House Ministries
Grace Worship Center Church of God of Prophecy
Grand Concourse SDA
Greater Faith Deliverance Church
Greater New York Labor Religion Coalition
Hollis Avenue Congregational Church
Hope Church Astoria
House of the Lord Pentecostal Church
Interfaith Assembly On Homelessness and Housing Inc
Interfaith Center of New York
Islamic Circle of North America
Jamaica Muslim Center
John Wesley United Methodist Church
Judah International Christian Church
Kolot Chayeinu
Lead.NYC
Majlis Ash-Shura: Islamic Leadership Council of New York
Masjid Aqsa Salam
Micah Faith Table
Midtown South Community Council
Min. Kirsten John Foy
Mount Hermon Baptist Church
Muslim American Society of New York
National Action Network-Bronx Chapter
New Creation Ministries Inc.
New Hope Family Worship Center
New Life Seventh-day Adventist Church
New York Muslims United for Civic Engagement (NYMUCE)
New York State Chaplain Task Force
NYS Council of Churches
Parsons Temple
Pastor Bancroft Daughma
Project Hospitality
Promise Land Covenant Church
Prophetic Whirlwind
Rabbi Diana Gerson
Rabbi Joseph Potasnik
Rev. Dr. Rosalie Richards
Rev. Timothy L Morehouse
Rivers of Living Water
Sacred Fellowship Ministries, NYC
Sacred Heart
Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus
Saint Thomas Church
Salem Missionary Baptist Church
Salem United Methodist Church
SDA Church Organization
South East Queens Muslim Collective
St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Harlem
Staten Island Council of Churches
The Pentecostal House of Prayer
The Riverside Church
Triumph the Church of the New Age
Turkish American National Steering Committee (TASC)
Union Theological Seminary
United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg and North Brooklyn
United Ulama Council Of USA Inc.
Upper Room Tabernacle of Deliverance Pentecostal Church
USA Mali Charitable Association of NYC
Woodycrest United Methodist Church
Zion Youth and Family Community Center of Elmont
Source: Mercury
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