Several decades ago, London was in the midst of a crisis similar to the one the New York City Housing Authority faces today. Our counterpart across the pond made major changes that vastly improved its public housing. Incoming NYCHA Chairman Gregory Russ should draw from them to deliver the turnaround that New York’s public housing residents urgently need.

In the 1980s Londons public housing suffered from extensive capital needs, reduced federal subsidies, weak management processes and disenfranchised tenants who were denied a basic standard of living. Sound familiar?

The size of Londons public housing systemmore than 770,000 apartments in 1980made its emergency even more challenging. (New York City’s has 170,000.) Since then, there has been a remarkable transformation in the housing conditions of public housing residents in London. What lessons could we apply here?

Read in the op-ed by CHPC’s Executive Director Jessica Katz.

More CHPC in the media

Does NYC need more small or large affordable apartments?

“It’s a continually vexing issue: Which of these things do we need more of? Like so many things in housing, we end up answering like it’s an either-or question, but there’s such a need for both,” said Citizens Housing and Planning Council Executive Director Howard Slatkin.
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New York Can House More New Yorkers, Better

“What we need is not haphazard compromise through gritted teeth," writes Howard Slatkin, "but the embrace of a coherent policy to safely and affordably house more New Yorkers. We need to build more housing and help more people afford it.”
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Community preference settlement to shift dynamics in NYC affordable housing lotteries

Howard Slatkin called community preference "a tool that was used to allay concerns about gentrification as the city rebuilt neighborhoods."
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