OPINION: Plan to extend the life of critical NYCHA properties
A $100 million plan recently announced by New York City and HUD to retrofit nearly 300 New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) buildings will be important for the environment, our city’s affordable housing inventory and tenants.
Part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “One City: Built to Last” plan to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 80 percent by 2050, the initiative aims to enhance energy efficiency in NYCHA buildings. Brooklyn is home to 58,698 NYCHA apartments including the Coney Island, Gowanus, Farragut and Marcy Houses.
According to findings from the mayor’s report on the “Inventory of New York City Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” 70 percent of GHG emissions in the Big Apple in 2013 were caused by buildings’ use of heating fuel, natural gas, electricity, steam and biofuel. Throughout the country, commercial and residential buildings accounted for only 12 percent of those emissions in the same year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.