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Gov. Kathy Hochul recently signed a bill that pushes for quicker restoration times of “vital services,” at public housing apartments, including gas.
Adi Talwar
Thomas Lubrin, 75, in his kitchen at NYCHA Red Hook West during a months-long gas outage earlier this year. He was using a hot plate in lieu of a working stove.Lea la versión en español aquí.
Although the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) saw some improvement in response times for service outages over the past fiscal year, it now faces more pressure to restore disruptions faster.
On Oct 2, Gov. Hochul signed a bill that aims to speed up NYCHA’s response times to gas outages, along with more transparent communication while service is out.
Introduced by State Sen. Zellnor Myrie and Assemblymember Chantel Jackson, the bill, S220B, demands the housing authority present information about any service disruptions by posting notices in lobbies, on its website and during regular meetings with tenants. The main goal is to get service restored “expeditiously,” adding gas to NYCHA’s definition of “vital services” to create “an incentive” for faster fixes, according to the written legislation.
The bill was inspired by residents routinely affected by gas outages that would last days to several months, and sometimes even longer, according to Sen. Myrie. “Public housing residents can’t wait around while the city, utility companies and NYCHA play the blame game,” he said in an email to City Limits.
The law, he added, establishes “a clear, coordinated plan to cut the red tape and turn the gas back on quickly and safely.”
The legislation also points to burdens that outages have on tenants, like out-of-pocket costs for meals and the potential fire hazard that is associated with hot plates, given for households to cook on in lieu of a stovetop when the gas is out.
At the time the bill was introduced in the summer of 2021, there were 56 NYCHA developments with gas outages. As of Thursday, there were 40 gas outages across the public housing system, with the earliest disruption first reported in April.
“With this bill, I trust residents will not live four, five or more months without gas any longer,” said Eugenia Gibson, the tenant association president of Beach 41st Street Houses.
Assemblymember Jackson, who has 21 NYCHA developments in her district in neighborhoods including Melrose, Morrisania and Claremont, said in a statement that hot water, electricity and gas disruptions are among the main complaints she hears from tenants.
“All New Yorkers, no matter their income or neighborhood deserve transparency when services that impact their quality of life are disrupted,” said Jackson.
Repair requests for gas outages—along with non-functioning elevators, heat, hot water, and stoves—are considered emergency work orders which have a 24-hour restoration target, according to the most recent Mayor’s Management Report (MMR).
The average amount of time it took NYCHA to fix such orders decreased by 26 percent in the 12 months that ended in June, from 27 hours and 49 minutes in fiscal year 2023 to 20 hours and 43 minutes in fiscal year 2024, according to the MMR.
“NYCHA worked with state partners on this important legislation, and we are pleased to provide the required information on gas outages,” a NYCHA spokesman said in an email to City Limits.
A similar bill under consideration last session, but which failed to pass the state legislature, called for compensation for tenants while service is out. The NYCHA Utility Accountability Act, sponsored by Brooklyn Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes, proposes a prorated payment of up to $75 per month or 10 percent of a tenant’s daily rent, whichever is higher.
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