To date, 37,707 NYCHA units are either in the planning and engagement stage, under construction or have already been converted to the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) initiative, officials testified at a recent City Council hearing.

Adi Talwar

NYCHA’s Manhattanville Houses in Harlem is among the public housing campuses that have been converted to the PACT program.

During a recent City Council hearing, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) testified that an “incredibly impactful initiative” is bringing in billions of needed dollars to help restore and repair its aging properties.

The initiative referenced was the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program—which converts public housing properties, also known as Section 9, to the federal Section 8 program as a means to unlock additional repair funds. To date, 37,707 NYCHA units are either in the planning and engagement stage, under construction or have already been converted.

As part of the process, NYCHA campuses are turned over to private developers to carry out renovations such as new windows, kitchens, bathrooms and building facades. The new management team also handles the day-to-day operations, while NYCHA continues to own the land.

“Right now, 57 developments are under active construction, representing over $3.9 billion in construction work happening across the city—work that we would not be able to accomplish without PACT considering the lack of federal capital funding available,” Jonathan Gouveia, NYCHA’s executive vice president for real estate development, testified to councilmembers at the April 19 hearing.

NYCHA presented a survey of PACT tenants which showed that 77 percent of respondents were “very satisfied” with renovations to their buildings, 87 percent said they were “likely or very likely” to recommend the PACT program to other NYCHA developments, 78 percent said the grounds were more kempt than before, and close to 70 percent said they feel “more stable” than prior to the conversion.

But some tenants who testified at the Committee on Public Housing hearing painted a different picture. They shared concerns such as getting timely repairs post-conversion, and questioned NYCHA’s process for selecting the campuses it converts to PACT. Councilmembers also had a plethora of questions.

Councilmember Alexa Aviles, the former chair for the public housing committee, asked officials about tenant participation in the survey results they shared, which included responses from residents at just four PACT-converted developments, out of the 138 that are currently under the program or in the process of converting.

Gouveia shared that roughly 1,000 residents from the four developments replied to the survey. It is unclear how many tenants responded from each campus.

“I would love for you to provide for the Council what that breakdown actually looks like,” Aviles said.

Repairs and rights

PACT is New York City’s version of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program, introduced in 2011. NYCHA developments that convert are also referred to as RAD-PACT properties.

It is one of the programs—alongside the newer Public Housing Preservation Trust—being used to help chip away at the near $80 billion the housing authority says it needs over the next two decades for capital repairs.

When NYCHA tenants have maintenance issues, there are a couple of ways to flag them. Public housing tenants can either call the Customer Contact Center (CCC) or submit a ticket or work order online, where they can track the status of the request.

When a development is transferred to PACT, the new private management team takes over repairs at a development. But the housing authority is responsible for maintenance repairs up until the date of conversion—which can take about two years, according to advocates—potentially leaving tenants in a period of limbo.

Alexandra MacDougall, a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society, testified about concerns she has heard from clients who live in PACT developments post-conversion.

While NYCHA receives frequent criticism for how it handles repairs and the pace of making fixes—it took the Housing Authority an average of 370 days to complete repair work in March, when the target is 15 days—residents are at least able to track the status of their work order requests online. 

There is no such uniform system for tenants to place work orders at PACT-converted campuses, advocates noted.

 “A lot of tenants tell us there’s not really a clear way to make requests for repairs and to track those requests which is a huge problem,” MacDougall said. “Especially after hours in the evenings and on the weekends when there’s serious issues like boilers going out.”

August Leinbach, a staff attorney at the Manhattan Housing Unit of Legal Services NYC, said tenants they’ve worked with have continued to live in poor conditions post-conversion despite the promise of rehabilitation.

“While the central promise of the RAD-PACT program has… [been] to fund repairs for rehabilitation, this promise often comes slowly, if at all,” said Leinbach.

Different PACT partners use their own tracking software for repairs and are supposed to provide NYCHA with a summary of that data, according to Gouveia. According to NYCHA’s “PACT Project Progress and Compliance Oversight” dashboard, 93 percent of work orders submitted by PACT residents were completed on time as of the third quarter of 2023.

“We track work orders and resolutions of work orders on a monthly basis and overall the performance is strong, well over 90 percent on time,” said Gouveia.

“However, as we’ve heard, sometimes that doesn’t seem to be the case so I would invite the residents to obviously work with their property managers,” he added. “But also if they’re not getting satisfactory answers, they can reach out to us through the PACT hotline, through CCC, through 311, but primarily through us and we’ll look into the issue.”

Which developments get PACT?

In December 2018, NYCHA set a goal to convert 62,000 of its properties to the PACT program by 2028, according to Gouveia. The housing authority has surpassed the halfway mark with more than 37,000 converted units, or units in the process of converting.

NYCHA developments are considered for PACT based on several factors, he said, including the level of deterioration determined by NYCHA’s Physical Needs Assessment (PNA) and the overall quality of maintenance on a day to day basis.

For prospective PACT developments, NYCHA said that the team works with resident leadership and will then have meetings with the development at large to determine if the program is a fit.

One East New York tenant who only wanted to go by the name “Miss Yves” said that she is living in a PACT development, the Penn-Wortman Houses, which was converted in 2021.

 “We didn’t have a choice to vote,” she said.

Brian Honan, the senior vice president of NYCHA’s office of intergovernmental relations, said that the housing authority has no interest in forcing the program onto residents who don’t want it.

“The federal law does not require a percentage of residents to support a PACT project for conversion, however, we have engaged residents at certain sites and they told us they are not interested,” Honan said.

Last year, the housing authority introduced an election process for the first time, by which residents at selected campuses who are over the age of 18 and are on the household composition—a list of authorized tenants who live in the unit—can vote on the future of their homes.

On the ballot is PACT and another funding model called the Public Housing Preservation Trust, signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2022. Under the Trust model, properties will also convert to Section 8 and can unlock funds through bonds for repairs (NYCHA would continue to manage the properties, rather than bringing in private companies, as PACT does.) Residents can also vote to remain in traditional Section 9 public housing.

So far, two developments—Nostrand Houses in Brooklyn and Bronx River Addition Houses—have been allowed to vote on which model they want, and voters at both opted for the Trust.

Other ways of getting tenant input have been introduced, but also faced skepticism. Last year, residents of the Fulton Elliott-Chelsea Houses in lower Manhattan were given a survey to determine whether their properties should get traditional PACT renovations or start from scratch  by way of razing the existing buildings and constructing new towers.

NYCHA announced that a majority of participating residents opted for demolition, but questions arose about how the options were presented,  how many tenants participated and whether the survey was an accurate representation of what the majority of residents want.  

Ramona Ferreyra, a resident of Mitchel Houses in the Bronx, testified as a member of the group Save Section 9, which is fighting to keep units in the traditional public housing program and to see Section 9 funded adequately without shifting units to private management or the Trust. 

“What you’ll know today is that the tenants are telling you that in spite of the tenant repairs that we need, what we want is to keep public housing,” Ferreyra said.

To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Tatyana@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

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Tikki Brown is set to serve as the first Commissioner of the Department of Children, Youth, and Families. (Courtesy of the Office of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan)

Gov. Tim Walz has named a longtime Minnesota Department of Human Services official the first commissioner of a new state government agency that will be responsible for state child care and public assistance programs.

Tikki Brown will head the new Department of Children, Youth and Families when the agency is established in July. Brown is currently the assistant commissioner for Children and Family Services with the Minnesota Department of Human Services, an agency she has worked at since 2001.

“From the initial inception of the new Department of Children, Youth, and Families, I have been excited about the opportunity to create better outcomes for Minnesotans,” Brown said in a statement.

Brown will run an agency handling responsibilities currently held by others, including the Department of Human Services and the Department of Education.

The new Department of Children, Youth and Families will handle child care services, child support, and welfare programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It also will deal with some juvenile justice-related divisions from the Department of Public Safety.

Brown has served in many roles related to the areas DCYF will cover when it starts operating, according to the governor’s office. In her 22 years at the Department of Human Services, Brown has worked in nutrition assistance and food programs, and climbed into senior administrative roles.

Walz pitched a new state agency focused on youth and families in his 2023 budget recommendations, and DFL lawmakers approved the move during the last session. The new agency was part of the governor’s push to make Minnesota the “best state in the country for kids.”

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By STEPHEN GROVES (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress gave one of its highest final tributes on Monday — a lying in honor ceremony at the Capitol — to Ralph Puckett Jr., who led an outnumbered company in battle during the Korean War and was the last surviving veteran of that war to receive the Medal of Honor.

Puckett, who retired as an Army colonel, died earlier this month at the age of 97 at his home in Columbus, Georgia. He was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2021, the nation’s highest military honor, seven decades after his actions during the wartime.

The lying in honor ceremony at the Capitol is reserved for the nation’s most distinguished private citizens. Only seven others have received the honor, and the latest, in 2022, was Hershel W. “Woody” Williams, who was the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from World War II. The ceremonies for both Williams and Puckett were meant to also recognize the broader generations of veterans who are now dwindling in numbers.

“Ralph Puckett wore our nation’s highest military decoration. And in the hearts of generations of soldiers to come, the courage and self-sacrifice that earned that honor will be this great man’s eternal legacy,” said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.

He said that Puckett led 50 Army Rangers through “a crucible of staggering odds” during a 1950 battle on a strategically important hill near Unsan in which they were outnumbered 10-to-1. He “repeatedly risked his own life to defend his position, rally his men, and order them to safety without him,” McConnell said.

During the battle, Puckett sprinted across an open area to draw fire so that Rangers could spot and target enemy machine-gunners. Though badly outnumbered, Puckett’s troops repelled multiple attacks from a Chinese battalion of an estimated 500 soldiers before being overrun.

When two mortar rounds landed in his foxhole, Puckett suffered serious wounds to his feet, backside and left arm. He ordered his men to leave him behind, but they refused.

“Many soldiers in the Korean War paid the ultimate sacrifice,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson. “Seven thousand others remain unaccounted for. But a select few, like the colonel, went above and beyond the call of duty.”

Eight other Medal of Honor recipients attended the Capitol ceremony and gave final salutes to Puckett.

Born in Tifton, Georgia, on Dec. 8, 1926, Puckett graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and received his commission as an infantry officer in 1949. He volunteered for the 8th Army Ranger Company, and despite his inexperience, Puckett was chosen as the unit’s commander. He had less than six weeks to train his soldiers before they joined the fight.

When Puckett took command, McConnell said, he did so “with humility and with clear eyes about the horrors of war.” He also prayed: “Dear God, don’t let me get a bunch of good guys killed.”

__

Associated Press writer Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed.

Lakeville teachers have voted to go on strike after months of negotiations with the school district failed to result in a new contract.

Teachers in the district want pay raises, benefit increases, and to continue having a say in whether the district can transfer them between teaching assignments. But with no agreement nearly a year after the last contract expired, a strike now looms.

The assignment transfer rule changes proposed by the district are a key sticking point keeping negotiations from moving forward, union representatives say.

Of union members who voted Thursday and Friday, 99% favored a strike. An authorization vote doesn’t mean a strike happens right away. The union must now file an intent to strike to give the school district notice 10 days beforehand.

Teachers and the school district could yet reach a tentative agreement before anyone walks off the job.

District serves 12,000 students

A strike would shut down a school district serving around 12,000 students in Lakeville, as well as parts of Burnsville, Elko New Market, and other south Twin Cities suburbs.

“Striking is always the last possible option, but we’ve been working on an expired contract for more than 300 days and Lakeville teachers believe we need this tool on the table for the district to take our asks seriously,” Lakeville teachers union president Carrie Popp said in a statement.

Negotiations have been ongoing since July 2023, soon after the contract between the district and union expired. Lakeville schools say while the state increased education funding last year, it’s still facing budget shortfalls, making it difficult to accommodate teacher wage increase requests.

“Lakeville Area Schools, like many districts across Minnesota, are facing financial challenges,” said district spokesperson Stephanie Kass.”While recent state funding increases have relieved some funding gaps, it’s important to note that these funds aren’t simply added to the general fund; many are earmarked for specific purposes and new mandates.”

The union and district reached a tentative agreement in February. But in March, union members overwhelmingly rejected a tentative contract agreement with the district. Talks have been in mediation since December.

The sides are next scheduled to meet for mediation on May 6. Union leaders said teachers and other supporters plan to rally Tuesday outside the school district office before providing comments at the Lakeville school board’s meeting.

Transferring teachers

Union bargainers want increases in wages and benefits, but they also want to stop the district from making changes that would allow administrators to transfer teachers between schools, grades and subject areas without teachers’ input.

Union representatives argue the so-called “forced transfer language” would upset stability in schools and disrupt relationships between teachers and students.

“Parents, educators and community members have concerns about the district’s push for unilateral transfer power,” said Johannah Surma, the union’s lead negotiator and a K-5 English as a second language teacher. “This threat to our job stability is stalling our ability for positive movement in negotiations.”

The district said it’s proposing “modest” changes to teaching assignment rules in order to help meet staffing needs at its schools.

Kass said while it’s typical for Minnesota schools to give full right of assignment, the district is proposing the rule change to get more flexibility with staffing. The district said its proposing moving no more than 15 employees a year — about 2% of the total workforce.

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