Proposed law to mandate rent reductions for NYCHA residents during essential service outages
A new legislative proposal, the NYCHA Utility Accountability Act, aimed at providing financial relief to tenants afflicted by frequent outages, is gaining traction. The proposed law would mandate rent reductions for New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) residents when they experience loss of essential services like heat, water, gas or electricity.
In 2022 alone, NYCHA developments in Brooklyn reported 552 hot water outages, 232 heat outages and 292 water outages, highlighting the severity of the problem. The new act proposes that NYCHA credit tenants the greater of 10% of their rent or $75 for each day without these critical utilities, calculated on a pro-rated basis.