Starting March 18, residents at Throggs Neck Addition and nearby Randall Avenue-Balcom Avenue will be asked to choose if they want to stay in Section 9, join the new Preservation Trust or convert to private management under the PACT program.
Adi Talwar
A tenant reads about the Preservation Trust at a public meeting in January 2024.
Tenants at two NYCHA developments in the East Bronx—Throggs Neck Addition and nearby Randall Avenue-Balcom Avenue—will be next to choose which funding model they want, with a 30-day voting period to kick off in March.
Like the five other public housing campuses asked to vote before them, residents will choose if they want to stay in Section 9, join the new Preservation Trust or convert to private management under the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program.
Both the Trust and PACT convert apartments from the chronically underfunded Section 9 federal public housing program to Section 8, which is worth more in federal subsidy dollars and can unlock alternative financing streams, including through the issuance of bonds.
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More than 37,000 NYCHA units are already included or in the process of converting to PACT, under which NYCHA leases out its land to private developers and management companies that take over day-to-day work and maintenance. With the Preservation Trust, NYCHA remains in charge of operations but leases properties to the Trust itself, a public entity created by the state in 2022 as another means of accessing Section 8 funds.
So far, three other campuses selected for past votes opted to join the Trust (Nostrand Houses, Bronx River Addition and Unity Towers) while residents the Coney Island Houses chose to remain in Section 9. Another vote is currently underway at the Hylan Houses in Bushwick.
Throggs Neck Addition, which consists of four buildings along Balcom Avenue between Randall and Dewey avenues adjacent to the Throggs Neck Houses, is home to 631 residents in 287 apartments. The properties need an estimated $134 million in capital repairs over the next two decades, according to NYCHA.
The Randall Avenue-Balcom Avenue development is across the street, with three buildings for seniors that are home to 247 tenants, and with a 20-year capital repair need of $121 million.
NYCHA has launched a “100-day engagement period” at the two sites where residents will receive information about the voting process. The vote itself is expected to run from March 18 to April 16.
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