§ 626. Legislative findings. The legislature hereby finds and declares
that significant capital investment is required to design, develop,
construct, reconstruct, improve, modernize, rehabilitate, and repair the
aging buildings owned or operated by the New York city housing authority
which are deteriorating due to decades of diminishing capital
investment. Restrictions relating to the New York city housing
authority's construction process, and its inability to utilize
innovative project delivery methods, have exacerbated its capital needs.
A new public entity with greater flexibility to leverage capital
investment and to manage the rehabilitation of these properties must be
established. Repairing, modernizing, and improving New York city housing
authority buildings must begin immediately so that hundreds of thousands
of New Yorkers can reside in affordable housing that is decent, safe,
sanitary, and in good repair. Establishing a new public entity, and
transferring a leasehold interest in the buildings owned and operated by
the New York city housing authority to this new entity so that they can
undergo the necessary rehabilitation, repair and modernization, will
ensure that these buildings continue to provide affordable housing to
residents of New York city for many decades into the future. It is the
understanding and intention of the legislature that any building
transferred to this new public entity and operated by the New York city
housing authority shall continue to be subject to the obligations
imposed by Maribel Baez et al. v. New York City Housing Authority, No.
13-Civ-8916.