NYCHA threatens to evict tenants over ‘free’ AC units

NEW YORK — The New York City Housing Authority threatened to evict tenants who received a free air conditioner under a 2020 city program unless they asked to have it removed or agreed to start paying monthly utility costs, according to a letter obtained by POLITICO.

The ”Get Cool NYC” program, an initiative of former Mayor Bill de Blasio, provided thousands of NYCHA residents with free A/C units and financial assistance on utility bills.

But last month the housing authority told tenants who received one of the units they would have to start paying an $8 monthly utility fee, which had previously been waived. Tenants who did not sign a written agreement regarding the new charges were asked to contact management by May 31 to have the unit removed from their apartment — otherwise, NYCHA could initiate eviction proceedings starting July 1.

“If you do not either 1) sign an Appliance Agreement for this A/C unit, or 2) tell NYCHA that you no longer want this A/C unit and would like NYCHA to remove it from your apartment — it could be grounds for the start of possible termination of tenancy proceedings on or after July 1, 2023,” said the letter, which was dated May 16.

After POLITICO reached out to the housing authority for comment, NYCHA spokesperson Michael Horgan said coverage of tenants’ utility costs would be extended until Oct. 1 and no resident would be subject to an eviction proceeding as a result of the sunsetting of the fee waiver.

“After consulting with residents and local elected officials, NYCHA has decided to continue covering residents’ utility costs through the Get Cool program through the summer of 2023,” he said in a statement Thursday. “Our priority remains keeping residents housed, healthy, and safe, and we will continue to advocate for funding to cover utility costs for all public housing seniors and at-risk residents.”

Daniel Barber, chair of the Citywide Council of Presidents, said he had no idea that NYCHA had requested return of the free A/Cs until he was contacted Wednesday by POLITICO — even though federal regulations state that “residents shall be involved and participate in the overall policy development and direction of Public Housing operations.”

Then, during a meeting Thursday, NYCHA officials told the Council they had postponed the deadline and would send a new batch of letters to notify tenants of the change, according to Barber.

For some NYCHA residents, the news is too little, too late. Louis Flores, a co-founder of the pro-tenant advocacy group Fight For NYCHA, said he is helping a friend in Manhattan’s Chelsea Houses install a new air conditioner she bought over Memorial Day Weekend, fearful her Social Security income wouldn’t be enough to cover the new monthly fees and worried that keeping the old one would make her vulnerable to eviction.

“It’s my impression that they were afraid of coming under scrutiny for doing something that would hurt the tenants,” Flores said. “NYCHA has a history of doing things that are not in the best interests of the residents.”

De Blasio announced the $55 million Get Cool program in May 2020, as the health risks of extreme heat and Covid-19 collided.

He pledged to provide over 74,000 air conditioners to New Yorkers 60 and older who earn below 60 percent of the state median income and did not have A/C at home. Of those, 22,000 were to go to NYCHA residents, supported by $10 million from the housing authority.

The housing authority ultimately installed approximately 16,000 air conditioners under the program, a spokesperson said.

NYCHA’s effort to reclaim the units — and the looming end of the utility cost waiver — could impede efforts by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to combat the health effects of climate change, as rising temperatures increase the number of days hotter than 82° Fahrenheit.

An estimated 370 New Yorkers die prematurely each summer due to hot weather, either directly because of the temperature or because it exacerbated an underlying health condition, according to a 2022 Health Department report. Death rates were higher among non-Hispanic Black New Yorkers and in lower-income neighborhoods.

Among those who died from heat stress, their place of death was most often an un-air-conditioned home, the report found.