Executive Summary

NYCHA's Blueprint for Change: Transformation Plan is the culmination of multiple engagements and hundreds of conversations with residents, employees, and stakeholders about how to reorganize and reform the agency.

The Transformation Plan is a vision for dramatic but sustainable change to NYCHA's governance and leadership structure, property management systems, and central support functions. The Plan includes a set of strategies that will set the agency on a path to a far brighter future, but it is only the beginning of this process. As this plan is completed, we will turn to the difficult task of implementing these structural and process changes in a resource-constrained environment. In building our implementation plan, we will evaluate the cost-benefit of each possible change and begin to make the difficult choices that will define the agency for years to come.

The Transformation Plan represents one of three major components of NYCHA's sweeping and comprehensive Blueprint for Change initiative prepared in response to the January 2019 Settlement Agreement (HUD Agreement) with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the City of New York. The Blueprint for Change also includes a Stabilization Strategy, which would raise capital funds to bring NYCHA properties into full compliance with HUD Agreement standards and enhance our communities, and a Jobs and Recovery Strategy, which promotes healthy and safe conditions and expands economic and educational opportunities for residents.

Various engagement activities connected to the plan were underway when the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, halting all in-person meetings. NYCHA's immediate focus shifted to responding quickly and effectively to the pandemic—including sanitizing efforts, welfare checks on vulnerable residents, food delivery, and changing how we respond to maintenance work orders to limit possible spread of the virus. In these efforts, NYCHA learned to be nimble as we shifted the way we worked and thought more creatively about what services are essential and how we provide those services.

One key example of NYCHA's swift response was the amendment of the rent hardship protocol, a policy that exists to address sudden loss of income. Prior to COVID, the policy relied on an interim recertification process that was time consuming for residents and often required in person assistance from Housing Assistants in the Property Management offices. The Public Housing Tenancy Administration team and Leased Housing Department re-designed the customer facing Self-Service portal process to streamline the information required and worked with Information Technology, and the Customer Contact Center (CCC) to create a script that allowed residents to request a rent change over the phone. From April 2020 through July 2020 NYCHA processed 13,258 rent hardship requests. This is a nearly 450% increase over the 2019 requests for the same time period.

COVID-19 has shown us that NYCHA can transform how we do business. Just as Superstorm Sandy brought climate resiliency to NYCHA's core business functions in 2012, we must learn lessons from how COVID-19 impacts our residents and employees in order to guide sustainable operations.

We need to design and implement an organizational structure and business processes that respond to the urgent needs of our residents and meet the explicit obligations of the HUD Agreement. Towards these ends, NYCHA has identified five guiding principles that underpin the Transformation Plan:

  1. NYCHA will change the way it does business by implementing new policies and procedures across the portfolio. For example, NYCHA must conduct work in compliance with federal regulations by complying with lead safe work practices, properly inspecting and remediating mold conditions and applying effective pest control methods that are consistent with Integrated Pest Management.
  2. NYCHA must be nimble enough to respond quickly to conditions at the property. For example, NYCHA must respond quickly to heat and elevator outages, and sequence work effectively in order to address the underlying root cause of mold and prevent the recurrence of pests in units.
  3. NYCHA will monitor itself to ensure quality at the point of service. For example, NYCHA's three new departments - Quality Assurance, Environmental Health and Safety and Compliance - must review resident complaints and deploy specialists and inspectors to ensure development staff are doing the work correctly and learning from mistakes.
  4. NYCHA will create and deliver large-scale projects on time. For example, NYCHA must draft and implement function-specific Action Plans and deliver large scale projects that are explicitly required under the HUD Agreement. These projects are critical to remedy systemic building issues and improve living conditions at the developments. This will include the formation of public-private partnerships to improve physical conditions and social services where appropriate.
  5. NYCHA will establish clear management structures so individuals can be measured against clearly defined goals. For example, NYCHA will need to hold property managers and maintenance staff accountable to a set of clearly defined metrics that residents can count on such as (1) heat and elevators outages resolved within hours, (2) mold conditions remediated within a week or two depending on the complaint, (3) lead-based paint visual assessments, interim controls and apartment inspections performed each year. NYCHA must restructure individual departments and implement a series of process reforms to address bottlenecks that disrupt service today.

In concert with the guiding principles, NYCHA identified a list of six core values that emerged from discussions with stakeholders about common pain points and areas of concern. These core values drove the process of developing the Transformation Plan, and will continue to drive its implementation: (1) Creating a culture of service, (2) Breaking down silos, (3) Empowering our employees, (4) Strengthening our partnership with our residents, (5) Using data to drive decision making, and (6) Becoming a better partner to our business and government stakeholders.

chap2.1

Three major sets of organizational changes are summarized in this plan:

The Transformation Plan also includes numerous business process improvements that focus on service delivery pain points as identified by residents and employees, such as the Annual Review process and the Alternative Work Schedule program, along with new ideas for how NCYHA can improve productivity through technology and supply chain management, improve resident partnerships and expand resident economic opportunities, and empower employees through learning and development. The table below illustrates a few of the business process improvement strategies outlined later in this Plan and the anticipated impacts on residents.

Strategy Action Impact on Residents
Alternative Work Schedule Evaluate existing program and determine new resource allocation Improved cleaning of buildings and grounds all week long
>An ability to schedule maintenance after hours and on weekends
Property-Based Budgeting Property Managers will have more control of their budgets Poor building conditions can be resolved faster
Work Order Reform Improve sequencing of work orders for skilled trades through increased control at local level Work orders completed more quickly, with greater transparency to the work order process
Annual Recertification Streamline Housing Assistant workload and review process Transparency for residents and Section 8 participants into rent calculation, enhancing usability of ePortal

While the proposed changes in this plan are necessary to fix the organization and the way we do business, organizational and process changes alone cannot fix all of NYCHA's legacy challenges—to meaningfully improve physical conditions and position the agency for sustainable success, we must invest a significant amount of capital into NYCHA's housing portfolio. Accordingly, NYCHA envisions that organizational change will happen in parallel with the significant capital investments described in the Stabilization Strategy, which creates NYCHA's first ever portfolio wide capital investment plan and builds on the foundation of NYCHA 2.0, PACT and other previous efforts.

Similarly, the stabilization strategies—along with the ongoing NYCHA 2.0 work—will attract billions of dollars to our developments. Thus, the Jobs & Recovery Strategy provides a roadmap for expanding job and economic opportunities for residents.

[CALL OUT BOX] Engagement Methodology

While this Transformation Plan was organized by NYCHA leadership, in collaboration with the Monitor's team, the values and ideas came from our residents, our staff, and other advocates who care deeply about NYCHA's future. It represents the culmination of multiple engagements and hundreds of conversations with staff, residents, and stakeholders. The plan process was in the midst of various engagements when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down all in-person activities in mid-March 2020.

We put some of our engagements on hold right at the start of the pandemic and we used that time to review what we heard and distilled those ideas into the key values and objectives embedded in this Transformation Plan.

We also surveyed thousands of NYCHA residents and received 6,191 responses from residents on their views of NYCHA, their development, and their apartment. Additional questions were asked on the Authority's plans to re-start maintenance work in apartments. We received thousands of comments on challenges residents face and used the survey results to develop a baseline for each development, neighborhood, borough, and the agency as a whole. Topline results included:

The survey results were indicative of the tremendous work that lies ahead for NYCHA. This plan is designed to address these very concerns and we plan to continue an annual survey to measure progress against these same metrics by development, neighborhood, and borough.

chap2.2

Chapter 1. NYCHA in Context

A. NYCHA & New York City

New York City is the nation's second most expensive housing market, with a mismatch between supply and demand that keeps stable housing out of reach for many of the City's residents.1 The supply gap disproportionately burdens New Yorkers with lower incomes, a population the City has long tried, but struggled, to serve.

In our 85-year history, the New York City Housing Authority has contributed nearly 200,000 affordable units to the City's housing market, with over 170,000 remaining under ownership today. NYCHA houses almost 600,000 people between the Public Housing and Section 8 voucher programs—more than the populations of Atlanta, Miami, or New Orleans.

While the Authority started in 1934, its genesis dates to nineteenth century attempts to regulate a housing market that was unable or unwilling to serve lower-income New Yorkers. The State of New York's first attempt at housing regulation was the 1867 Tenement House Act, which required a fire escape for every unit and a window for every room, although it failed to specify that those windows should face the outside. The subsequent 1879 Act remedied this oversight, leading to the 25-foot-wide dumbbell—or "old law—"tenements that still line the streets of the Lower East Side and parts of SoHo. The 1901 Act added waste courtyards, lighting, and fire safety measures to the requirements for all new construction. 2

The Tenement Acts regulated building standards, and while they were effective in improving housing conditions, they did nothing to address the looming threat to the City—a lack of affordable dwellings. By the 1930s, the City's housing advocates were seeking new supply-side interventions, exploring government financing or guarantees to build new units. 3

Langdon Post, NYCHA's first Chair, declared that "[n]early a century of so-called housing reform in New York City has proved conclusively that, as a solution of the housing problem, regulation has failed." Post and his colleagues believed "[o]nly a widespread government program of subsidized housing can adequately solve this problem." NYCHA's early leaders knew the City desperately needed more units to meet growing demand and enforcing existing tenement laws on exploitative landlords was impossible without an alternate place to house those displaced.

In the early 1930s, the federal Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) and Public Works Administration (PWA) built three limited-dividend developments in New York, including the Lower East Side's Knickerbocker Village, but the program was predicated on attracting private developers, which it was unable to do at scale.5 Without a private market solution, the City and state turned to an idea only tried once before in the United States—government owned and operated civilian housing. The New York City Housing Authority's creation in 1934 was a powerful acknowledgement that all New Yorkers deserved a safe and comfortable place to live.6

NYCHA's portfolio was built with City, state, and federal money—with just over 100,000 federal units, 54,000 state units, and 35,000 city units. The City and state developments were supported by their original funding sources until some were brought under the federal program in the 1960s and 1970s. The last wave of federalization came in 2010, when 21 developments were brought onto the federal funding platform.

Most construction took place after World War II, funded by the 1949 Housing Act and continuing through the 1954 Housing Act and the Urban Renewal program of the late 1960s. Between 1950 and 1970, the Authority was building over 6,000 units a year--an unrivaled pace by the standards of any era.8

NYCHA developments—and the federal public housing program—were originally designed as self-sustaining, with all operating and capital expenses funded by resident rents. By the early 1960s, as many of the first developments were reaching their first 20-year capital cycle, it was clear that rents were insufficient to fund ongoing operations, let alone capital repairs. The 1969 Housing and Urban Development Act capped rents at 25% of household income and introduced a federal operating subsidy for the first time.9

In the 1970s and 1980s, as resident demographics continued to shift, new public housing construction slowly ground to a halt and subsidies were slashed.10 The Authority continued to add new developments in the form of rehabilitated brownstones and other turnkey acquisitions. Now 40 years into the program, many developments were about to miss their second recapitalization cycle, starting the long descent to the deep capital deficits we face today.

In the 1990s, NYCHA was considered one of the few success stories in public housing, and HUD turned to programs designed to aid other housing authorities in far more distress. While other cities received large HOPE VI redevelopment grants, NYCHA, often unable to meet the affordability requirements for redevelopment, received few. As HUD turned to demonstration programs like Moving-to-Work to provide regulatory flexibility, NYCHA did not take advantage of them. By the time the Rental Assistance Demonstration program began in 2013, NYCHA's capital deficits had exploded and the organization was struggling to keep pace with a growing backlog of maintenance work.

Today, New York City has 3.5 million dwelling units, including 2.2 million rental units. 1.2 million rental units are price-regulated in some fashion, including 988,000 rent stabilized or rent controlled. NYCHA owns and operates 169,425 units—14 percent of all price-regulated units, 8 percent of all rental units, and 5 percent of all dwelling units overall.11

The City's housing stock, however, does not match the income profile of its residents. Nearly a third of New York households are paying over 50% of their household income on rent.11 Only 14% of all New York rental apartments have rents under $800—only 7% below $500. Average rent across NYCHA's portfolio is $525. Of the 79,190 available rental units identified in the 2017 Housing Vacancy Survey, only 3,532—4%—were asking less than $800 a month. NYCHA was created to directly address this problem—to provide housing for those the market could or would not serve. Only 300,000 New York apartments rent for less than $800—133,000 are owned by NYCHA.13 NYCHA's waiting lists—175,000 households for public housing and 130,000 for Section 8—demonstrate the City's dire need for these homes.14

At its founding, the Authority was designed to provide stop-gap housing for families, on the assumption that their upward mobility would eventually move them to the private market. While the Authority never realized that vision of upward mobility, it did achieve something else: 85 years as a stalwart beacon of affordability and stability in an increasingly inaccessible and precarious market.

A New York without NYCHA would be a far more unequal and unjust city—preservation of these homes is essential to the City's future.

B. Current Challenges

NYCHA is unquestionably at an inflection point in its history. In January 2019, NYCHA signed a settlement agreement with HUD and the City of New York. After signing the HUD Agreement, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and HUD withdrew a complaint that had been filed in federal court and appended to a proposed Consent Decree in June 2018. An independent monitor was also appointed pursuant to the HUD Agreement (the Monitor) in February 2019.

To transform, NYCHA must confront its recent past. The SDNY investigation found that NYCHA failed to provide "decent, safe and sanitary housing" as required by HUD regulations, engaged in deceptive practices with respect to federal inspections, and falsely certified it was in compliance after failing to adhere to lead-based paint regulations.

The HUD Agreement has had, and will continue to have, far-reaching effects on NYCHA. For example, the HUD Agreement required that the City of New York make a historic investment of $2.2 billion in capital projects over ten years. NYCHA must also achieve a set of ambitious performance metrics in six key compliance areas or "pillars" – (1) lead-based paint, (2) mold, (3) pests and waste management, (4) elevators, (5) heat and (6) inspections.

The HUD Agreement also requires that NYCHA make changes to its organization including establishing three new departments and submitting an Organizational Plan. The three new departments are Compliance, Environmental Health & Safety, and Quality Assurance. These three departments create a new accountability structure for NYCHA and have been in operation now for over a year. Already, they have played a critical role and have helped drive improvements within Operations at every level – across the entire agency by establishing clear procedures and oversight, at individual properties, and within individual devices or systems.

Executing on one of these requirements alone would be a daunting challenge. NYCHA, along with the Monitor and our colleagues at HUD and SDNY, are taking on each of these tasks simultaneously in the middle of a global pandemic. That is why NYCHA views the HUD Agreement and this moment in its history to be a once in a generation opportunity.

The HUD Agreement requires that "The Monitor and NYCHA collaboratively shall prepare an 'Organizational Plan' setting forth changes to NYCHA's management, organizational, and workforce structure (including work rules), and overarching policies necessary or appropriate to achieve sustained compliance with NYCHA's obligations under this Agreement."

In September 2019, NYCHA created the Office of Strategy & Innovation to coordinate all work with the Monitor team, including beginning work on the organizational plan in collaboration with the Monitor. This Transformation Plan represents the collaborative vision for how NYCHA's organization must change. It sets forth a series of changes to NYCHA's management and organizational structure and lays out other strategies for changing a wide range of policies and practices.

Implementation of this vision through organizational changes and business process changes will be an ongoing and continuous effort. We recognize that this Transformation Plan is the beginning of an ongoing process to transform NYCHA and that our success will be measured by whether, and on what timeline, we successfully deliver on these changes.

As noted, the performance metrics in the HUD Agreement focus on six key pillar areas. NYCHA's failure to meet basic performance levels in these areas derives in significant measure from the historic lack of capitalization in the housing portfolio combined with an operational model that is misaligned to provide services as they are needed. Therefore, NYCHA's current challenges can be summarized into three main areas:

chap1.1

NYCHA's Blueprint for Change addresses each major challenge with a targeted strategy:

1 2017 NYCHVS
2 New York City Housing Authority, The Failure of Housing Regulation (1936), p.5-11.
3 See Louis H. Pink, The New Day in Housing (1928); New York City Housing Authority Toward the End to be Achieved (1937); Charles Yale Harrison, What Price Subsidy! (1937).
4 The Failure of Housing Regulation, p.3, 19.
5 See Emily Rosenbaum and Samantha Friedman, The Housing Divide: How Generations of Immigrants Fare in New York's Housing Market (2007), 98-100; Richard Plunz, A History of Housing in New York City: Dwelling Type and Social Change in the American Metropolis (1990), p.207-8.
6 See Toward the End to be Achieved, p. 5.
7 These developments are separate from the 21 "federalized" developments that were brought under the federal program in 2010 as part of a tax credit transaction.
8 Six developments were sold as co-ops in the late 1960s. The Authority also built 11 temporary developments of Quonset huts for veterans after World War II. Over 120,000 of the Authority's units were built between 1950 and 1970.
9 1969 US Housing and Urban Development Act, December 24, 1969. Public Law 91-152.
10 In 1950, 75% of NYCHA households were white; by 1990, it had fallen below 10%.
11 NYCHA also provides housing subsidies to 83,225 households through its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program.
12 2017 New York City Housing Vacancy Survey (NYCHVS), https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/nychvs.html.
13 2017 NYCHVS
14 https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nycha/downloads/pdf/NYCHA-Fact-Sheet_2020_Final.pdf

Chapter 2. HUD Agreement Obligations

The HUD Agreement, and the history that led up to it, laid the foundation for this Transformation Plan. We need to design and implement an organizational structure that will help us meet the explicit obligations described in the HUD Agreement, and we need to undertake this task with a great sense of urgency. Based on the obligations of the HUD Agreement, we have identified five key organizational principles that are embedded in this Plan:

  1. NYCHA will change the way it does business by implementing new policies and procedures across the portfolio. For example, NYCHA must conduct work in compliance with federal rules and regulations by complying with lead safe work practices, properly inspecting and remediating mold conditions and applying effective pest control methods that are consistent with Integrated Pest Management.
  2. NYCHA must be nimble enough to respond quickly to conditions at the property. For example, NYCHA must respond quickly to heat and elevator outages, and sequence work effectively in order to address the underlying root cause of mold and prevent the recurrence of pests in units.
  3. NYCHA will monitor itself to ensure quality at the point of service. For example, NYCHA's three new departments - Quality Assurance, Environmental Health and Safety and Compliance - must review resident complaints and deploy specialists and inspectors to ensure development staff are doing the work correctly and learning from mistakes.
  4. NYCHA will create and deliver large-scale projects on time. For example, NYCHA must draft and implement function-specific Action Plans and deliver large scale projects that are explicitly required under the HUD Agreement. These projects are critical to remedy systemic building issues and improve living conditions at the developments. This will include the formation of public-private partnerships to improve physical conditions and social services where appropriate.
  5. NYCHA will establish clear management structures so individuals can be measured against clearly defined goals. For example, NYCHA will need to hold Property Managers and their central office staff accountable to a set of clearly defined metrics that residents can count on such as (1) heat and elevators outages resolved within hours, (2) mold conditions remediated within a week or two depending on the complaint, (3) lead-based paint visual assessments, interim controls and apartment inspections performed each year. NYCHA must restructure individual departments and implement a series of process reforms to address bottlenecks that disrupt service today.

A. Policies and Procedures

NYCHA's Technical Services teams often take the lead in designing changes to business processes in order to comply with the HUD Agreement. At the same time, virtually every department at NYCHA plays a critical role in helping ensure the business process changes are a success in practice. Compliance, EH&S and Law play a critical role in drafting the policies and procedures and providing advice to make sure the process comports with the law or other best practices. Community Engagement ensures that residents are involved in the process and know what to expect. Information Technology tailors software to automate and track the steps outlined in the business process, and Human Resources and Learning & Development ensure that staff is hired and trained to adhere to each new business process. Finally, Operations must implement new business processes. NYCHA needs every entity involved in each business process – from design to implementation – to work together across silos.

B. Nimble, Responsive Operations

If a boiler or an elevator goes out, or a resident reports a pest or mold condition, NYCHA must be able to respond quickly. Today, NYCHA struggles to sequence work effectively or deploy staff across an entire borough over the course of a single day to address an issue. The Neighborhood Model described in this Plan is designed to ensure managers constantly have their eyes on the properties so they can respond quickly to any condition. Staging skilled trades at the neighborhood level ensures employees are located nearby and can sequence work from one trade to another quickly and effectively as a team.

C. Monitoring Ourselves

Today, NYCHA struggles to ensure vendors and employees deliver high quality services on a consistent basis. Designing a clear vertical structure from the office employee to the Property Manager to the Neighborhood Director and finally up to a Borough Vice-President or the Chief Operations Officer helps ensure multiple layers of accountability within Operations. In addition, every central office department at NYCHA must be in service to our properties and residents. These departments should both monitor the quality of the work and support Operations in achieving its objectives. Compliance, EH&S and Quality Assurance were specifically outlined in the HUD Agreement to serve this function. In addition, the new Waste and Pest Management Department will establish a monitoring division and the Healthy Homes Department has established units to ensure we respond to mold complaints efficiently and effectively.

D. Delivering Large-Scale Projects

There are at least two reasons NYCHA struggles to deliver large-scale projects. First, it is sometimes unclear who owns the delivery of a large-scale project within Operations. A Project Management Office within the central office will take the lead on portfolio-wide projects, and Borough Administration Teams within borough offices will help implement those projects locally. Second, an important principle of the Transformation Plan's Neighborhood Model is that NYCHA staff will remain dedicated to day-to-day operations at the property or neighborhood level. Thus, to deliver large-scale projects, NYCHA will oftentimes need to hire vendors. Updating the procurement process to attract high-quality vendors quickly is critical to NYCHA's success. In construction, NYCHA needs a single pipeline that reflects a clear set of priorities, merging our Capital Planning and Real Estate Development efforts to develop a plan for every building.

E. Clear Data-Driven Metrics

The HUD Agreement requires that NYCHA track itself against a set of clearly defined data-driven metrics. NYCHA is constantly collecting large amounts of data, whether it be XRF test results or reports of heat outages. Now, NYCHA must focus on analyzing that data with clear data governance standards. Once analyzed, that data must be used by Operations to make choices about how to respond, and where to focus its efforts with respect to training, hiring, staff allocation and other investments.

Data will also be integrated into the new Operating Model and the new Governance Structure in order to hold each level of NYCHA accountable for making improvements where we are falling short. Reports that show compliance or lack of compliance with these metrics must flow up and down each managing jurisdiction. The CEO and Chief Operations Officer will know whether NYCHA is compliant across the portfolio. The Borough Vice President will know whether the applicable borough is compliant. Each Neighborhood Director will know whether that neighborhood is in compliance with the HUD Agreement's data-driven metrics. If any managing jurisdiction is not meeting the clearly defined data-driven benchmarks they will need to design a plan, in partnership with their colleagues in other departments, to solve the problem.

[CALL OUT BOX] NYCHA's Mission & Vision

A critical step in positioning NYCHA to meet the challenges and opportunities confronting the agency now and into the future is to ground all our work in mission and vision statements which reflect our goals and aspirations. As part of this Transformation Plan process, we engaged the Executive Team and other employees in a series of discussions about how to frame the organizational mission and our collective vision of the future state. The resulting new mission and vision statements confirm our commitment to NYCHA residents and Section 8 participants and the essential contribution that NYCHA will continue to make to the neighborhoods that make up New York City.

Chapter 3. Governance Structure

The underlying conditions that led up to the HUD Agreement, coupled with the scope and complexity of the Blueprint for Change tasks that lie ahead, underscore the need to strengthen the agency's governance structure and build a more effective, accountable and nimble executive leadership team. Towards this end, the Transformation Plan proposes changes to the NYCHA Board and the top-level leadership structure.

NYCHA's Board has seven (7) members—including three (3) resident members—all appointed by the Mayor. The Mayor designates one member as the Chair. This structure is set forth in the NYS Public Housing Law (PHL) Section 402 as well as in NYCHA's By-Laws.

Under NYCHA's bylaws, the Chair also serves as NYCHA's Chief Executive Officer and is responsible for supervision of the business and affairs of the agency. The Vice-Chair assumes the duties of the Chair if the Chair is unable to act. Board Member duties include voting on contracts, resolutions, policies, motions, rules and regulations at regularly scheduled meetings.

The PHL defines the Chair as a full-time paid position, which is unique among Housing Authorities nationwide, where the Board role is typically focused exclusively on policy and organizational oversight. NYCHA has historically been overseen by both a Chair and a General Manager, though the distribution of functions reporting to the two has changed over time. This bifurcated approach blurs the distinction between policy-setting and implementation and is inconsistent with the need for a clear distinction between Board and staff roles and for strong, accountable leadership to fully implement the numerous changes detailed in the Blueprint for Change.

In parallel with other changes described in the Transformation Plan, NYCHA will propose legislative changes to the PHL and submit a resolution to the Board to amend the By-Laws to create the following enhanced governance and leadership structure (see Appendix A for current NYCHA organizational chart):

chap3.1

A. Chair and Board of Directors

The most significant change proposed to NYCHA's governance structure is to separate the roles of Chair of the Board and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) into two positions, with the CEO reporting directly to the full Board. As noted, this separation is common within the industry and will serve to strengthen accountability and better distinguish roles and responsibilities. Through a change to the PHL, the Chair, as with all NYCHA Directors, will become a part-time unpaid position appointed by the Mayor. The role of the Chair and the full Board will be to set policy and provide oversight over the organization. In order to facilitate that function, NYCHA proposes to create three new committees and enhance the existing committee within the Board of Directors. Proposed charters for the committees are attached in Appendix I and also described briefly below.

The Audit & Finance Committee is the only existing committee. It is tasked with ensuring sound financial practices and policies, ensuring the integrity of NYCHA's financial reporting, tracking financial performance, coordinating with internal and external auditing entities, and working closely with NYCHA's Finance Department.

The Operations Compliance & Capital Committee will be tasked with reviewing the ongoing operations and capital work of NYCHA, reviewing that operations of NYCHA are in compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements, and generally tracking performance of operations and capital projects, and providing recommendations on long-term portfolio planning. The Resident & Community Affairs Committee will be tasked with reviewing NYCHA resident and community affairs. This committee will help foster ideas for improving our partnership with residents as well as help to address safety and security issues across our portfolio.

The Resident & Community Affairs Committee will be tasked with reviewing NYCHA resident and community affairs. This committee will help foster ideas for improving our partnership with residents as well as help to address safety and security issues across the portfolio.

The Governance Committee will be tasked with informing the Board on current best practices in corporate governance, as it pertains to the public sector and applicability to NYCHA and providing recommendations to the Board on Board Member training and development, consistent with current best practices. Our goal is to institute annual Board Member training that aligns with HUD and industry best practices.

NYCHA hopes to make these committees official in the first quarter of 2021.

B. Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Under the new structure, the CEO's role will be to implement the Board's policy direction, hire and manage NYCHA's senior leadership team, and provide effective leadership to the organization. In support of this approach, the CEO will lead a full "C-suite" executive leadership structure with four direct-report Chief Executives who oversee major organizational functions as outlined below. NYCHA's By-Laws will be amended to reflect this structure, while also providing the flexibility to adapt it as needed over time. The Mayor will appoint the CEO, although any new appointment in the next nine years or the length of the Agreement, if the latter is shorter, requires a joint agreement between the Mayor, HUD, and SDNY.

C. Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Reporting to the CEO, the COO will assume a substantial portion of the existing General Manager structure. The COO's primary responsibility will be to oversee all organizational units involved with implementing the new Neighborhood Model of operations described below including Property Management & Maintenance, Community Engagement & Partnerships, Public Safety and Borough Administration Teams. As required under the HUD Agreement, Quality Assurance will continue reporting to the COO as it currently reports to the General Manager. The COO portfolio will also include NYCHA's Leased Housing program to ensure that all housing units and vouchers are under the same executive management.

D. Chief Asset & Capital Management Officer (CACMO)

This is a new position at NYCHA that will combine the existing Real Estate Development Department and the Capital Projects Department. This new division will better integrate and align the existing work of the agency's two construction-related teams. The new team will work from a common set of priorities and bring comprehensive repairs to NYCHA apartments through strategic, data-driven portfolio planning and cost-effective project delivery and management. The team will also conduct comprehensive neighborhood planning to better align with NYCHA's new Neighborhood Model for Property Management, strengthen our immediate and surrounding communities, and identify opportunities to bring improved health, educational, recreational, and social service amenities to NYCHA residents. The team will position NYCHA's housing portfolio for the future by embracing innovation in building materials and construction methods, integrating technology to enhance residents' living experience and improving building performance and management.

This new division will work closely with the Housing Preservation Trust, detailed in Chapter 10 below. The Trust will have a small staff, relying on this new division to plan and oversee the extensive construction work. NYCHA's capital subsidy will shrink as more developments convert to Section 8 under PACT and the Stabilization Strategy. The work of the existing Capital Projects Division will shift in tandem, focusing on smaller scale capital replacements and working within the new portfolio planning process to ensure there is a plan for every building. This new division will also work closely with Property Management to protect our investments and ensure smooth transitions in project ownership.

Real Estate Development will continue to oversee the PACT/RAD transactions while also planning and executing property dispositions to the Trust. As NYCHA moves to a portfolio-wide conversion from public housing to Section 8 project-based assistance, the functions of Asset Management will grow in importance including enforcing the long-term post-closing requirements of real estate transactions and the provisions of Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) contracts.

E. Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

The CFO is responsible for all budget, accounting and financial planning, and risk management functions for NYCHA, reporting to the CEO. The role includes developing and maintaining appropriate financial policies and procedures to manage working capital effectively and providing sound advice on the financial implications of Board decisions. The CFO will also oversee NYCHA's transition to property-based budgeting, providing Property Managers with more control over their development resources.

F. Chief Administrative Officer (CAO)

Reporting to the CEO, the CAO oversees administrative functions including Human Resources, Information Technology, General Services, and Supply Chain Management. The CAO will play a key role in implementing and supporting the Borough Administration Teams which are a fundamental component of NYCHA's new Neighborhood Model.

G. Other Functional Areas Reporting to the CEO

In addition to overseeing the four (4) Chiefs, the CEO will directly manage Communications, Intergovernmental Affairs, Strategy & Innovation, the Law Department and, as required under the HUD Agreement, the Compliance and Environmental Health & Safety functions.

Chapter 4. NYCHA's New Operating Model

In 15 years, NYCHA will become the first housing authority in the country to celebrate its centennial anniversary. From the Great Depression to the urban renewal program to today, NYCHA has had a meaningful impact on the physical and social development of New York City. Each era came to ask and expect something different from NYCHA—as a landlord, a property manager, and a social services organization. Today, the complete set of functions and activities the agency performs is far beyond the imagination of Mayor Fiorello La Guardia or Chair Langdon Post in 1934. To build an effective and modern organization to meet the challenges ahead, we must first identify the obligations, expectations, and responsibilities of the New York City Housing Authority in 2020.

NYCHA's scale presents unique challenges. If the Brooklyn developments were a standalone public housing authority, it would be the country's second largest after the remainder of NYCHA. Managing the country's largest public housing authority—also the country's largest multi-family landlord and single-city property manager—is a difficult task, made even more challenging by decades of deferred capital investments and chronic underfunding. NYCHA needs an organizational structure that both recognizes those challenges and best facilitates their management.

chap4.1

Transforming NYCHA involves changing both the operational structure and the way we do business. The Neighborhood Model summarized below represents a major step towards reshaping the organizational structure at the property and neighborhood levels. To succeed, it must be paired with a new design for service delivery and development of a culture of service that can sustain these changes.

A. The Neighborhood Model: Key Principles

NYCHA's scale poses a daunting challenge for the organization and can force individual employees into near impossible situations. The current organizational structure can exacerbate the stress, by placing undue strain on frontline staff in lieu of building sustainable processes or developing system solutions to complicated problems.15 For example, one Regional Asset Manager currently covers two sites that are 22 miles apart—at least an hour drive by car during the day. How can we insist on having "eyes on a property" while making it virtually impossible to do so? The Action Plans resulting from the HUD Agreement have also brought a new wave of compliance demands crashing down on the frontline, with staff asked to do more without a corresponding increase in resources. Empowering NYCHA staff means reducing these undue burdens and designing an organization that enables and supports their success, not punishes their failure to perform miracles.

NYCHA developments were built within—and in some cases fully replaced—existing neighborhoods.16 Understanding the context of NYCHA developments relative to their surrounding communities is essential to improving service delivery and strengthening community connections. Many developments were built looking inward, as self-contained communities that isolated residents from their surroundings and the City. A new property-centric management model that supports our developments will unlock new insights on individual community needs and strengthen connections between NYCHA developments and their surrounding neighborhoods.

This model will ultimately underpin and impact every part of the agency. As developments are selected for conversion to PACT or the Trust, we will consider the neighborhood impact to ensure we are creating a more efficient and manageable legacy portfolio.

Going forward, NYCHA will organize Property Management under four geographic (Borough) organizations — Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens/Staten Island. Each team will be led by a Borough VP and will oversee and support all NYCHA developments located within its respective geographical areas, including Mixed Finance and NGO1 developments, which are currently organized as functional boroughs distinct from the rest of the portfolio.

Each of the four borough organizations will be organized into neighborhood groupings — Organizing housing portfolios by neighborhood groupings is consistent with generally accepted large scale property management practices and will replace NYCHA's current disparate and confusing regional structure. Under the existing system, for example, one Regional Asset Manager (RAM) oversees Rutgers Houses on the Lower East Side, Stapleton Houses in Staten Island, and Bay View Houses in Canarsie. Another oversees Jackson Houses in the South Bronx, along with Edenwald Houses and Boston Secor near the Westchester County line. These roles are difficult enough without additional, unnecessary geographic challenges.

chap4.2

chap4.3Moving to geographic boroughs will support and facilitate the provision of Property Management services at the neighborhood level. We will create 30 neighborhood portfolios, each consisting of 4,000-8,000 units and led by a Neighborhood Director, entrusted with more decision-making authority and control of the resources needed to effectively deliver services and ensure compliance at the individual property level. The newly constituted portfolios are far tighter and more contextual than the current RAM portfolios. The Neighborhood Director of Brownsville, for example, will oversee the nine developments that sit between Rockaway Avenue and Van Sinderen Avenue in Brooklyn. The Neighborhood Director of Alphabet City-LES will oversee the three large developments adjacent to the FDR, along with five smaller sites that line Avenue B and Avenue C.

Organizing NYCHA's housing portfolio around the City's neighborhoods will help Neighborhood Directors get to know the unique needs and challenges of their respective neighborhoods and housing developments. NYCHA needs more supervisors to have "eyes on the buildings", and the relative proximity of their portfolio sites will allow each Director to spend significantly more time at each housing development than is possible with the current RAM structure.

Neighborhood Directors will play a critical in the Transformation Plan and are central to NYCHA's new approach to management and service delivery. They must become stewards of their neighborhood housing portfolios, immersing themselves in the daily rhythms of their residents to fully understand their wants, needs, and challenges. They must come to know their sites in and out, developing their own perspective on the priorities for their developments and communicating those priorities to the Borough and central office as appropriate.

The Neighborhood will become the primary node in interactions with the central office — Each Neighborhood will have support from a team of previously centralized staff, including HR, Supply Management, and Finance, with the end goal of providing rapid, responsive services in support of property-level operations.

As part of this model, we will also evaluate every "consolidated" development—those developments without an on-site Property Management office that are managed by staff from another site. Most consolidated properties are smaller, often scattered-site developments, although a few larger sites are included. With split coverage, these developments do not always get enough attention to their specific needs and challenges. Once the Neighborhood Model is operational, all consolidated developments will be evaluated for potential reconfiguration or new Property Management offices where warranted. We will prioritize larger sites—with a workload that can sustain a full or partial staff—that are located a half mile or more from their current management offices.

B. Borough Administration Teams

Each of the four geographic Borough organizations will be supported by a team of staff representing essential central office support functions—human resources, information technology, procurement, and finance, among others. This is a new structure meant to break down the silos that exist between property staff and central office staff, bring essential service delivery support functions closer to the property level and respond to the frequently voiced complaints of site staff that they are waiting for "downtown" to respond.

A Director of Borough Administration, reporting directly to the Borough Vice President, will be charged with organizing all the central office support functions in a way that improves service delivery to the neighborhood and property levels. While staff from various departments will be placed within each Borough Office, they will continue reporting to their respective Central Office Directors. This will help ensure that processes are consistently implemented across all boroughs. For example, the Brooklyn Borough Office will be assigned a HR Generalist who will facilitate information and actions around vacancies, recruiting, onboarding and other personnel actions. Given the citywide and agency-wide use of civil service lists it will be important for that Generalist to coordinate with other boroughs as well as Central Office HR.

Borough-based coordinators will report up through their functional line to their Director in the central office. This will enable better development and career paths, more standardized evaluation, and incentivize functions to focus on operational outcomes. We will use performance management tools to ensure each Neighborhood team is performing at set standards.

C. Rent Collection

NYCHA, like many landlords, has faced a significant loss of rental income due to the COVID pandemic. The total tenant rent collected between January and September 2020 was only $751 million, compared to $804 million from January to September 2019. NYCHA has experienced a 4% decrease in cumulative rent collection as a result of the pandemic. The Governor issued Executive Order 202.8 on March 20, 2020 declaring that there will be no enforcement of any eviction of a residential or commercial tenant for 90 days. New York Courts extended this ban until October 1. Congress passed the CARES Act in March that prohibited evictions for non-payment of rent until August 24, 2020. All three eviction bans have now expired. In addition, the NYS legislature passed the Tenant Safe Harbor Act in June that prohibits evictions for non-payment of rent of tenants who have suffered financial hardship during the COVID-19 emergency period. This ban will last indefinitely and will expire only when all COVID-19 related restrictions on businesses and gatherings have expired. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also recently issued guidance that prohibits evictions for non-payment of rent of tenants who have suffered substantial loss of income. The CDC ban expires on January 1, 2021. NYCHA will continue to review all laws, regulations and executive orders regarding evictions but we expect that the significant drop in rent collections to continue into 2021.

However, the number of households that are rent delinquent was already increasing for years, pre-COVID. Rent delinquent households are defined as those that owe a balance greater than zero. Between September 2019 and September 2020, the number of rent delinquent households increased 20% (7,342) from 36,663 in September 2019 to 44,005 by September 2020.

Total Rent Delinquent Households by Month chap4.4

The cumulative rent collection rate tracks the amount of money NYCHA is supposed to collect versus actual cash intake, which is how HUD measures our performance. NYCHA used to be well above 90% on a rolling basis. However, beginning in August 2019, NYCHA's 12-month rate dipped below 90% and has been decreasing every month. The cumulative rent collection rate was 88% in February 2020, and by September 2020 had dropped to 84%. Rent collection does follow seasonal trends; however, this same time last year (September 2019), the cumulative rent collection rate was 89%. NYCHA is projecting a $67 million loss in rent collection by year-end.

Below are the reports as of January 2020 which show for the rolling 12-month average for the previous year and the current report for September 2020.

Cumulative Rent Collection Rate (January 2019 to January 2020) chap4.5

Cumulative Rent Collection Rate (September 2019 to September 2020) chap4.6

NYCHA stopped collecting payments at the management offices at least 15 years ago or more and moved to a central place (bank) to mail rent payments. A major consideration in that change was around safety issues for both the resident and staff and how to store the rent money in the office. NYCHA now offers residents 8 different ways to pay rent:

chap4.7

NYCHA believes that the existing rent collection methods are more than adequate. If residents are not paying rent, it's not due to lack of options but due to lack of financial resources or other issues. In order to address delinquency issues, NYCHA has been exploring various responses including organizing a Chronic Rent Delinquency Working Group. PHTA is working on a proposal for addressing/collecting rent arrears accumulated under COVID that strengthens and enhances our current policies regarding repayment agreements, categorizes households into income levels (to help prioritize and determine best approach) and also explores modifying other related policies.

D. Maintenance Operations – Work Order Reform

Skilled trades staff play an essential and outsized role in the operations of NYCHA developments. These staff handle a broad array of tasks that directly impact the quality of life for residents, such as addressing plumbing and electrical emergencies, responding to thousands of different building and apartment service needs, and perform numerous other critical work items. As such, improving systems to ensure the effective and efficient deployment and tracking of skilled trades workers in the context of deteriorating/aging buildings and complex work rules is a key element of the Transformation Plan.

Throughout the process leading up to the Transformation Plan, we heard from residents and staff that moving skilled trades workers closer to the property level would generate material improvements in NYCHA's ability to efficiently deliver maintenance services. This shift would move NYCHA closer to the structure it employed in the early-to-mid-1990s. Over the last 20 years, budget constraints and cost-cutting pressures led to a reduction of almost 3,000 employees—including many skilled trades staff—forcing the agency to move to a more centralized model. As we move back to a decentralized model, we will need additional staff to provide adequate coverage.

In support of the Neighborhood Model, we are beginning a pilot program in the Western Queens neighborhood to test a new approach to assigning and deploying skilled trades work. The highest demand trades—including painters, carpenters, and plumbers—will move to individual developments, where they will be overseen and dispatched by neighborhood supervisors and planners. Higher-demand trades will move to the Neighborhood-level, where they will be shared by 2-4 developments. The benefits of decentralizing skilled trades to teams located at individual sites are multifold. With the consistent presence of a team on-site, residents and staff can form relationships that promote accountability. Over time, staff members gain specialized knowledge of the unique issues facing the buildings and systems they serve, allowing them to provide better service. In cases of complex work orders that require sequencing several skilled trades, members of the team can more easily communicate to solve problems and schedule work. Finally, staff is not spending significant work time traveling between sites, thus allowing for greater productivity.

Previous attempts to decentralize skilled trades at NYCHA have failed. Acknowledging this, when NYCHA engaged in late 2019 with a work order performance improvement specialist known as Carpedia, it adopted a participatory design approach. Rather than the top-down design and implementation approach which has become a hallmark of the agency, participatory design involves all stakeholders in the design process to ensure that the result meets their needs. The first few months involved a discussion of resident input of the issues of the work order process from their perspective. Employee focus groups with borough development staff then mapped work order processes as they exist in the field, few of which were standardized across the boroughs. Through this process, Carpedia identified five areas with room for improvement: 1) managing performance, 2) allocating people, 3) job scoping, 4) assigning tasks, and 5) managing supplies. For the full list of recommendations please see Appendix B.

Carpedia also conducted data analysis of NYCHA's backlog of work orders to determine additional resource needs, and recommended the previously pilot program spanning from October 1, to December 31, 2020, during which time employees would be engaged in refining the process. Evaluation of the pilot will span from January 1st to February 28th, 2021. If the pilot provides the anticipated results, changes will be rolled out to the entire NYCHA portfolio through the end of 2021. Portfolio-wide implementation is also planned for process changes developed for the pilot, including mapping Kronos employee hours to Maximo work hours, and the "job-based approach". The job-based approach allows for greater transparency with full tracking from the initial call by the resident to completion of all work in the unit, and scheduling of all needed trades to complete the service request upon the first visit to the apartment.

If the skilled trades pilot is extended to all developments, NYCHA will explore adding a maintenance supervisor at the Neighborhood level, akin to a role that the Authority had from the early 1960s through the 1990s. Historically, NYCHA operations were divided in two tracks—the management track, which oversaw Property Managers and Housing Assistants in administration tasks, and the maintenance track, which oversaw Tradespeople and Maintenance Workers in conducting repairs. Today, the lines are mixed, with the Resident Building Superintendent, part of the maintenance track, reporting to the Property Manager, part of the management track. While the current Regional Asset Managers can come from either track, the vast majority come from the management side. With more maintenance work directed from the Neighborhood level, there may be a need for Neighborhood Directors to be supported by a highly knowledgeable maintenance deputy, who can oversee maintenance staff allocation and provide expert technical advice to the development maintenance staff.

E. Alternative Work Schedules (AWS)

In support of the Neighborhood Model and ongoing efforts to upgrade property conditions, NYCHA is focusing on establishing more flexible and responsive caretaker and maintenance staff work schedules, recognizing that conditions at each property can dramatically change after normal business hours and on weekends.

As an initial step in this process, NYCHA expanded the service hours of the caretaker staff. Caretaker staff are responsible for grounds and hallway clean-up and other janitorial tasks. As the result of an agreement in late 2018 between NYCHA and Local 237 (the union representing NYCHA development staff), building service workers may now be assigned to Alternative Work Schedules (AWS) comprising four, 10.5-hour work days per week – a change from the 8:00 am – 4:30 pm, Monday to Friday schedule traditionally in place at NYCHA properties. These schedules were first introduced at select developments in April 2019, and implementation across all developments was completed in February 2020. Since that time, roughly 75% of building service workers have been assigned to alternative work schedules.

The intended purpose of AWS was twofold. First, by redistributing staff hours throughout the week and lengthening the hours during which staff are on-site, the program designers aimed to increase responsiveness to resident concerns, particularly those around litter. Under AWS, the share of development staff assigned to work on any particular day of the week ranges from 92.5% (on Mondays, to account for debris generated during the weekend) to 62.5% on Friday and 30% on both Saturday and Sunday. However, although initially viewed as a way to increase coverage on the weekends, this change has actually resulted in reduced weekend headcount. In the traditional schedule, 100% of caretaker staff work Monday through Friday from 8:00am to 4:30pm, and a formula of "1/3 + 1" caretakers work five hours a day on Saturday and Sunday. In the AWS schedule, there are fewer caretakers on-site every day, and only 30% of caretakers work on Saturday and Sunday for ten hours. For a staff of 30 caretakers, the number of caretakers on-site on the weekends was actually reduced by two (from 11 to 9).

Second, the program aimed to reduce overtime costs for development staff. Previously, all work on weekends, planned or unplanned, was compensated at 1.5 times an employee's normal wage – the same rate paid for overtime work on weekdays. Under AWS, staff instead receive 1.2 times their ordinary wage for scheduled weekend work, and 1.5 times their wage for all other overtime work. However, rather than decreasing costs, AWS has increased costs.

From the start of the AWS initiative, we heard from numerous residents and employees that the program does not work as intended. In June 2020, as part of this Transformation, NYCHA hired the Public Policy Lab—a nonprofit government innovation consultant—to evaluate and make recommendations to the Caretaker AWS program. Selecting three Property Management sites, the consultant shadowed employees and conducted interviews. In order to evaluate citywide resident and employee sentiment regarding AWS and its intended benefits, NYCHA also distributed a survey to NYCHA residents and employees. Roughly 90% of employees and 68% of residents who responded to the relevant survey question stated that AWS had not benefitted their developments in the year since its implementation. Answers to this question were largely consistent across lengths of employment and residence.

As a result of their work shadowing and interviewing employees at several developments and the results of the citywide survey, Public Policy Lab found that AWS had failed all aspects it was requested to measure (accountability, training, productivity, morale, safety, and relationships). They presented recommendations for NYCHA's consideration that AWS be removed for the majority of caretakers and significantly altered for the rest for the following reasons:

As such, research showed that AWS for caretakers is not only financially infeasible, it could not fulfill on its promises even if it could be fully funded. Public Policy Lab recommended that building-based caretakers (Caretaker Js) be moved back to the traditional schedule, while task-based caretakers (Caretaker G's and X's) be scheduled 7-3:30 daily, alternating every other weekend. NYCHA is taking these recommendations into consideration; however, HR has expressed concerns that Caretakers X's and G's will choose to self-demote to Caretaker J's, given the preference for the traditional schedule. Employees may prefer a slightly lower base salary if weekend work is optional rather than mandatory due to weekend religious, childcare, or other conflicts. As a result, NYCHA is currently still in review of a pilot based on these recommendations. Moving caretakers to a new schedule would require significant investment. NYCHA must now weigh the benefits of altering Caretaker AWS as opposed to removing it for caretakers given the demonstrated benefits of the traditional schedule for janitorial work.

The ultimate finding was that Caretaker AWS has been an expensive and taxing exercise for both employees and residents; however, an additional observation from the consultant was that both residents and staff reported AWS would be a better fit for maintenance workers. NYCHA is already working on expanding AWS to cover maintenance workers, with a scheduled start date of January 2021. The Maintenance Worker AWS initiative will allow working residents to be able to schedule in-unit appointments in the evenings and on weekends. There are significant differences between the Maintenance Worker AWS and Caretaker AWS initiatives. As opposed to Caretaker AWS, there is no early morning shift. Additionally, rather than the 20% weekend differential, employees working on Saturday will have a 25% differential. Employees working Sunday will receive the standard overtime rate of a 50% differential. Similar to Caretaker AWS, Maintenance Workers on the AWS schedule will receive a one-time $1,500 bonus for volunteering for an AWS shift.

In addition to the traditional schedule of 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Maintenance Worker AWS Schedule I will include two weekend days a month, with a four-day workweek that begins at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 6:30 p.m. AWS Schedule II will also include two weekend days a month, with a four-day workweek that is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 7:00 p.m. Finally, AWS Schedule III will include a weekend day only once every three weeks, with a four-day workweek that begins at 8 a.m. and ends at 6:30 p.m. Schedules I and II will account for approximately 68% of Maintenance Worker assignments, while the traditional schedule will account for 16%. AWS III will also account for 16%. Site and shift preference selections will begin on November 2nd, 2020, and end on November 27th, 2020. An additional 56 Maintenance Workers, or approximately one additional employee for each 2.5 developments, are scheduled to be added to the workforce. Two additional emergency service aides will also be allocated to the Emergency Services Department (ESD). Plans for increased supervision, another recommendation from the consultant, is currently under study.

F. Property Managers & Property-Based Budgeting

NYCHA Property Managers are the leaders in charge at each development, overseeing teams of Housing Assistants, Clerical Assistants, and Secretaries to ensure the ongoing operation of the site. Property Managers also oversee the Resident Building Superintendent, who manages all maintenance activity on-site. A key element of the Transformation Plan Neighborhood Model is to provide NYCHA Property Managers with the tools and resources needed to effectively manage their sites, and to empower them to make real-time decisions in the best interest of the residents and the property.

chap4.8

The structure of the Property Management office is important as this is a key point of service delivery for NYCHA residents. A key to improving service delivery is to empower Property Managers to have more ownership over their developments.

An essential component of "ownership" is a reasonable degree of involvement and control over the property-level budget. NYCHA is strengthening the property-based budgeting process to better train and empower Property Managers to develop and manage their property budget. The current process requires Property Managers to submit funding requests to the Borough Offices, and only Borough-approved requests have been considered by Operations leadership for final inclusion into the budget.

NYCHA engaged BDO PHA Finance to provide consulting services and assist NYCHA in implementing HUD's asset management requirements. Towards this end, over the course of 2020 and 2021, Property Managers will receive training in basic and advanced budgeting concepts, general ledger account structure, effective use of financial reporting tools, and HUD asset management concepts. Beginning with the creation of the 2021 Budget and Five-Year Operating Plan, Property Managers will play an enhanced role in the creation of the budget for their respective properties. Specifically, Property Managers will submit their requests for development-managed contracts, supplies, equipment and other OTPS funding directly to Operations leadership for consideration. This new "bottom up" approach will allow NYCHA to more strictly adhere to HUD asset management requirements (codified at 24 CFR 990), provide more local control over property budgets, and above all, ensure that NYCHA residents are better served.

NYCHA will utilize a phased approach to include the Property Mangers in the budget process and transition other departments, such as Skilled Trades, that provide services to the properties to embrace the foundations of property-based budgeting.

Phase I Progress & Goals

In the initial phase, Property Managers will start to take more of an "ownership" approach to managing each property. Property Managers will now be included in providing budget amounts for specific Budget Responsibility Group (BRG) line items for maintenance materials and contracts. The BRG line items will have one aggregate budget but will be the primary responsibility of the Property Managers to assist with budgeting amounts within the BRG line items along with the Budget Department. NYCHA has already trained all Property Managers on the new budget process and technology requirements. We surveyed the Property Managers and staff who participated in the initial training sessions and found that:

All Property Managers submitted their 2021 budget requests in the FPAD database by our mid-October deadline as requested. For this to happen, the Budget Liaisons provided 1:1 support to each Property Manager on both the database technology and the content of the request. Following the training, the Budget Liaisons proactively reached out to each Property Manager to set up a follow up meeting. The Budget Liaisons met with each Property Manager at least once, but it often required multiple meetings to overcome Property Managers' unfamiliarity with the database and assist them in crafting their budget requests.

NYCHA also intends to have Skilled Trades deployed from the region instead of the borough to increase response time to specific work order activity. A recommended long-term goal to be completed during FY 2021 is to complete a modeling of Skilled Trades to be located at the Neighborhood or Property level, consistent with the pilot discussed above. This would be dependent on both whether sufficient resources are available for staffing and if there are enough work orders to maintain a full-time skilled trade at the property. The projected benefits include better response time to work orders and cost effectiveness. This is typical of asset management requirements. The modeling of Skilled Trades could include several variations on how to deploy Skilled Trades as well as a cross section of family, elderly and various types of units.

Phase II Goals

NYCHA will continue to expand the asset management model during FY 2021 in preparation for the FY 2022 budget year. This will include providing additional training for Property Managers on property operations and understanding property-based budgeting and financial statements. In addition, NYCHA will review the current cost allocation methodology and develop an implementation plan to improve fee-for-service charges. Cost allocation allows an agency to allocate indirect costs based on a reasonable basis. A fee-for-service is used in lieu of a cost allocation plan or to recover over-head costs, as is required for certain activities per 24 CFR 990, subpart H.

G. Alternative Management Options

Several smaller NYCHA developments are currently managed by private property management firms. Under the new Neighborhood Model, these firms will continue to manage these developments under the terms of their contracts but will report to the Neighborhood Director responsible for the area, who will oversee and escalate issues at those sites. NYCHA will continue to explore opportunities for private management of properties as it provides a way to mitigate the challenges of our scale. We will assess strategic properties or clusters of properties for private management opportunities. Any new private management contracts will require firms to report to the respective Neighborhood Director.

Under HUD's 24 CFR § 964.225 (b), all housing authorities "shall give full and serious consideration to resident management corporations seeking to enter into a management contract with the HA." Residents should have an active role in addressing local property management and quality of life issues. NYCHA will explore supports for resident leaders seeking to form Resident Management Corporations (RMC). RMCs have been permitted under HUD rules since the mid-1990s. Historically, RMCs have not shown promise in cities that have implemented the approach. However, property conditions at RMC sites have often been problematic and in such disrepair that any property manager would have difficulty maintaining the units. Regardless of the past history of RMCs, NYCHA will explore this model as an option in the property management structure for properties that have undergone rehabilitation, recapitalization and transition to the Section 8 platform through the Housing Preservation Trust.21 In support of residents seeking this alternative, and as recognition of the potential for RMCs in terms of creating opportunities for resident empowerment and employment, NYCHA will continue to give due consideration to all Resident Management Corporations as they arise.

H. Labor & Collective Bargaining

NYCHA's workforce is overwhelmingly unionized labor, with only about 3.5% of the employees denoted as managerial. Nearly 70% of the workforce is represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (Citywide & HA Unique) and another approximately 12% is represented by various DC37 titles. In June 2020, NYCHA engaged a labor management firm, Littler Mendelson, to review opportunities for renegotiating collective bargaining agreements to achieve work rule and other productivity savings. Conversations are ongoing but complicated due to the City's ongoing conversations regarding possible layoffs. NYCHA recognizes that HUD could abrogate the unions' contracts under Paragraph 64(b) of the HUD Agreement. NYCHA will continue to negotiate and discuss with union leadership and make reasonable efforts to achieve priority changes such as new title structures that allow for broader duties, additional work shifts in evenings and weekends and other work rule changes.

I. Public Housing Tenancy Administration

In support of the new Neighborhood Model, PHTA is working on a variety of policy and process enhancements to improve the resident experience and relieve the administrative burden at the Property Management level.

The three departments under PHTA are:

Applications and Tenancy Administration Department (ATAD), which is responsible for managing the public housing wait list and application and transfer activities. This includes:

Management Services Department, which supports Property Management by overseeing lease enforcement activities and focuses on policy development and implementation. The department has several functional areas:

Office of Tenancy Administration (OTA) – OTA was established in response to the Escalera & Tyson/Randolph consent decrees. OTA closely reviews termination and grievance cases to assist, where possible, with addressing curable breach cases, and ensuring that supporting documentation is submitted with all cases that must be forwarded to the Law Department. OTA also monitors the status of legal action for all Board terminated cases.

Public Housing Reasonable Accommodations Coordinator (PHRAC) – PHRAC reviews reasonable accommodation requests that are not approved by Property Management. The PHRAC works to obtain any additional information necessary to make a determination. The PHRAC, working through an inter-departmental process, renders a determination on whether the accommodation should be approved, notifies Property Management of their decision and how to implement the accommodation, if applicable.

Public Housing Tenancy Policy Unit (PHTPU) – PHTPU serves as subject-matter experts on tenancy policy related to Occupancy, rent calculation, rent collection, and terminations & grievances and focuses on operationalizing new policy. The team also works to modernize and streamline existing policies and processes by adopting best practices and applying technological solutions.

Public Housing Tenancy Operations Department, which consists of the following three units:

Housing Court Unit (HCU) - HCU is a pilot program which aims to relieve the administrative burden from Property Management by centralizing the court case preparation and in-person appearances for Landlord and Tenant court proceedings for Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. We will expand this unit to work directly with the Law Department and align these functions with the Neighborhood Model. This change will help improve rent collection, ensure consistent application of lease related policies and procedures, and reduce court appearances.

Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Unit – The LIHTC Unit is responsible for monitoring NYCHA's compliance with the LIHTC program. The unit provides oversight and support services to the LLC1 portfolio. The unit provides guidance to staff on various tasks such as unit rentals and annual recertifications to ensure compliance with LIHTC policy. The unit also serves as a liaison between investors and NYCHA's partner, HDC, for LIHTC reporting requirements and works in collaboration with the coordinators of the various audits.

RAD/PACT Conversion Unit – This unit coordinates Property Management activities to ensure that conversions are successful by working in collaboration with the Department of Real Estate & Development, Operations/Property Management Department, and Leased Housing Department, as well as liaise between various NYCHA departments to complete all tasks related to the closing.

Annual Recertifications – NYCHA's annual recertification (annual review) process is carried out by Housing Assistants in each Property Management office; however, much of the process and policy is set within the PHTA office. NYCHA implemented a new online recertification process in 2017. Since then there have been multiple resident and employee complaints about the system. Both residents and employees find the system difficult to navigate, often leading to miscalculations of rent. In addition, the difficulties with the process led to delays in NYCHA processing causing the organization to be non-compliant with the HUD requirement to meet a monthly 95% PIC submission rate.

In January 2020, NYCHA initiated a project with the Service Design Studio (SDS) from the Mayor's Office of Economic Opportunity. The SDS scope of work was focused on how both residents and employees could be successful with this process. The research focused on two key questions:

  1. How might we identify resident concerns with the rent recertification to streamline the process and create resources that alleviate burdens and motivate timely renewal?
  2. How might we provide Housing Assistants with the support, tools, and clarity needed to better guide residents through rent recertification and efficiently meet the Agency's monthly 95% PIC submission rate?

The SDS engagement produced recommendations focused on improving the process for the Housing Assistants, the residents and the technology that both parties use. For the full list of recommendations please see Appendix B. Recommendations for the Housing Assistants focus on building cohesion between central office and the housing development sites, promoting learning development and accountability, refocusing the goals of the role and aligning workload accordingly. NYCHA will make it a priority to decrease the overall workload of the Housing Assistant, including by:

  1. Reducing the frequency of the annual review through implementation of policy changes associated with the Housing Opportunities Through Modernization Act (HOTMA); and
  2. Expanding the Housing Court Unit pilot. The pilot program was rolled out in March 2019 to the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island, utilizing a total of 15 Housing Assistants. All of the functions for Kings and Queens County Court, Redhook and Staten Island Community Justice Center, along with the associated back-office functions, have been handled by the unit. To support the Landlord and Tenant Court schedule, we plan to expand the Housing Court Unit, aligning it with the Neighborhood Model to streamline processes associated with litigation in housing court in all five boroughs.

We also recognize that there is inherent tension in the Housing Assistant role as staff are often forced to extend beyond their core functions of landlord management to help residents navigate various aspects of their tenancy. Staff often feel like they are acting in a "social worker" capacity. There needs to be a new discussion with Housing Assistants to design the role to better service both functions. To raise performance across developments, Property Managers must engage to share best practices and elevate challenges. Facilitating cross-development learning can formalize connections between sites and increase cohesive policy interpretation and implementation.

Recommendations to improve the resident experience involve cultivating self-sufficiency with the process through increased accessibility and transparency. Residents who participated in the SDS research felt the "deck was stacked" against them because the process was unfamiliar, unfair and burdensome. A priority for NCYHA is to clearly communicate the rent calculation process for residents by including information on common definitions, explanations on how information is used, and clear directions on where residents can ask questions. NYCHA will reduce the burden of the annual recertification by streamlining the amount of documentation required and improving communications to reduce unnecessary alarm. In addition, we recognize that Housing Assistants and residents sometimes need additional support, so NYCHA intends to build on the existing network of community partners and ensure that all the development sites are aware of when, how and who is in the referral network. We also recognize that some residents still need access to either personal devices or safe and secure public devices. NYCHA will make improvements to the kiosks to ensure resident privacy, increase access and availability of the Digital Vans, and work with external partners to create additional touchpoints for residents.

The final set of recommendations focus on the ePortal that is used for annual reviews. Based on the initial research findings, NYCHA authorized work to commence in coordination with the SDS in order to begin an improved design process for the ePortal. NYCHA's Information Technology (IT) team has been working with the SDS and PHTA team to streamline the ePortal click-through experience. We expect design to continue through December 2020 and then commence user testing with residents and employees through February 2021. The priority is to launch the new ePortal screens in March 2021 to align with the quarterly recertifications.

J. Technical Services Teams

To comply with the HUD Agreement, we have been actively reorganizing around a core organizational principle – NYCHA must be preoccupied with failure and provide immediate oversight and process improvements over time in five of the six core pillar areas, including (1) lead, (2) mold and emergency leaks, (3) pests and waste management, (4) elevators, and (5) heat.

Because the Transformation Plan decentralizes certain functions to the property or neighborhood level, NYCHA must simultaneously establish a clear accountability and oversight structure. To that end, we have built centralized teams that can ensure improvements to delivery of core compliance related services over time. Each core pillar area now has centralized units or departments that are running point on implementing the Action Plans and other obligations embedded in the text of the HUD Agreement. To break down silos, these units are supported by "pillar teams," including representatives from central office departments critical to the implementation of each action. The work of both units and the rest of the Operations structure in these pillar areas is then reviewed and monitored by specialized groups within the Environmental Health & Safety Department and the Compliance Department as discussed further in Chapter 7.

chap4.9

The core functions and capabilities required of each department will align with the organizational principles of the HUD Agreement:

  1. Large Scale Projects: Contract administrators and project management staff internal to each unit will manage the implementation of large-scale projects by either procuring vendors or working within the Operations structure. From door sweeps to roof fans to a biennial risk assessment, these units must be able to complete projects across the portfolio on specific timelines. One pain point observed in our procurement process for large scale projects is that Operations struggles to write scopes for many contracts. All scope writing functions, including the team that previously worked in the Technical Services Department, will be transferred to the design department within the Capital Projects Division. CPD currently has the architects and engineering staff that are equipped to handle scope writing functions for Operations.
  2. Data Analysis: Each unit has been hiring data analysts and performance management professionals to work directly with the Performance Tracking and Analytics Department. Using work order, XRF and other data, each unit must be able to use analytics to make decisions about where staff, either internal to that unit or within the vertical Operations structure, should be deployed. These units, in collaboration with Strategy & Innovation, will also distribute "exceptions list," showing whether each managing jurisdiction is meeting the data-driven obligations of the HUD Agreement.
  3. Policy Expertise: Each unit has been hiring technical advisors and working with external experts to ensure NYCHA is re-writing and then iterating on new policies and procedures to align with best practices and local, state and federal rules and regulations. Each unit also must confirm the new business process works when operationalized. Project managers work directly with the Information Technology department to ensure NYCHA systems are built to account for each new step in the process.
  4. Skilled Trades Staff: Each unit has its own staff or vendors with technical expertise who can be deployed to housing developments to conduct work that requires a more specialized skill set. For example, the Operational Analysis & Contract Management department has a team of specialized painters it deploys to address deficiencies in units with a positive lead-based paint component. Because working on elevators and heat systems requires technical expertise, the Elevator Service and Repair Department and Heating Management Services Department manage those staff and functions centrally. The Office of Mold Assessment and Remediation maintains contracts with specialized vendors who can work on complex mold cases. Pest Control has a team of exterminators who specialize in rat reduction methods and the Waste Management team will now have a centralized compactor repair unit under its direction.
  5. Monitoring Itself: Many of these departments and units either have or will establish stand-alone monitoring units or special teams that go out to the properties to confirm that a decentralized operating model is still delivering quality services with consistency. In addition to internal monitoring, the work of these units and the rest of Operations is monitored by the Compliance Department and the Environmental Health & Safety Department. As discussed below, these departments have also added staff that specializes in the work associated with these highly technical pillar areas.

Other departments have also assigned staff to "pillar teams" to help each technical service team meet their obligations under the HUD Agreement by working across departments. To further the transformation, we will now need to complete a reorganization that aligns functions and subject matter expertise into these units.

1. Operational Analysis & Contract Management (OACM)

OACM was created to consolidate existing functions within the Department of Management and Planning, Maintenance, Repair and Skilled Trades, and Technical Services, and to oversee the creation of new units.

Centralizing Paint Remediation and TEMPO: Some paint teams and vendors will continue to be centralized to handle all remediation painting, public space work, and cycle painting. TEMPO will be created as a rapid response unit to address RRP work in an expedited manner in units where a child under 6 either resides or visits. The consolidation of lead-based paint remediation and rapid response to RRP work in CU6 units provides a focused approach to the remediation component of the lead pillar, ensuring a singular source of accountability.

Non-Pillar Related Technical Services: OACM will also absorb some of the other functions currently embedded within the Technical Services Department, including fire safety, grounds and industrial hygiene and regulated waste personnel to alleviate the burden placed on Support Services, which is tasked with handling two compliance pillars – elevators and heat – and managing the Emergency Services Department.

Management and Planning: OACM will continue to include the Management and Planning Department, which focuses on administering large-scale contracts on behalf of Operations and rolling out operational changes across the portfolio. The Violations unit will be shifted to Management and Planning.

2. Healthy Homes

In the past Healthy Homes had three units including PAIS (pests), Lead and Mold. Earlier this year, PAIS was realigned with Waste Management under a new Vice President. Moving forward, the two asbestos units currently under Maintenance, Repairs and Skilled Trades and the one asbestos unit under the Technical Services Department will be combined into one department under Healthy Homes with a dedicated director.

These changes ensure a focused approach for the Healthy Homes Department on a core mission: environmental health hazards. Simultaneously, the Healthy Homes Department can be held accountable and run point on two major pillar areas: lead, through its Lead Hazard Control Department, and mold, through its Office of Mold Assessment and Remediation. As the Neighborhood Model is implemented, Healthy Homes will evaluate opportunities to align some of its core functions (like RCCs for mold complaints and dust wipe technicians for lead remediation), providing clear lines of communication that will ensure these units can tap directly into the operating model.

3. Elevator Service & Repair

NYCHA owns and operates over 3,100 elevators, nearly five percent of all elevators in New York City. Managed by the 473-person Elevator Service and Repair Department (ESRD), NYCHA's elevators pose unique challenges, including high volume use, rapidly aging stock, and building envelope decay that has caused structural issues in elevator shafts. NYCHA employs 207 elevator mechanics and 193 elevator mechanic helpers—39 ESRD mechanics have NYC Department of Buildings-issued Director, Co-Director or Inspectors licenses. Elevator mechanic teams are tasked with performing corrective maintenance on elevators experiencing outages and regularly scheduled preventative maintenance.

Elevator mechanics and helpers are paired into teams and organized into sectors. For the time being, ESRD will continue to use the sector model; however, as the Neighborhood Model is implemented, ESRD will evaluate the potential benefits to reorganizing the neighborhood configuration.

4. Heating Management Services

Heating Management Services (HMSD) is responsible for providing adequate heat and hot water to NYCHA residents. HMSD maintains a vast and diverse set of heating systems, including 1,500+ boilers and thousands of feet of pipes and distribution equipment that generate and circulate heat throughout the buildings. HMSD works closely with the Department of Energy Finance and Sustainability, Capital Projects Division, Property Management, and Emergency Services Department. Heating Plant Technicians (HPT) serve as HMSD's eyes and ears on the ground and are the first line of defense when a heat outage occurs. These skilled employees are some of the last in New York City that know how to operate NYCHA's decades old heating systems. They rely on the knowledge of experienced Superintendents who oversee geographical clusters of developments. While the cluster teams are tasked with continually inspecting and repairing heating assets within the developments, a central command unit located in a 24/7 "Heat Desk" maintains a birds eye view of the entire portfolio using live dashboards that show heating-related complaints from residents along with NYCHA's Building Management System, which collects data from sensitive monitors within the boiler room.

The structure of HMSD, internally and within the organization, is well-suited for managing NYCHA's heating assets. The clusters are also compatible with the Neighborhood Model. As NYCHA transitions to a new operating model, HMSD will re-group clusters to better align with the neighborhood geographies, resulting in better communication with and service to Neighborhood Directors. In addition, to better align functions across Operations, the fuel oil unit formerly under TSD has been shifted to HMSD.

5. Emergency Services

The Emergency Services Department (ESD) provides emergency management, coordination, and on the-scene response to emergencies, whenever they occur in developments or at other NYCHA structures citywide. ESD personnel handles emergency and high-level communications, manages and responds to afterhours maintenance calls and manages NYCHA's three-tier radio systems around-the-clock. ESD provides NYCHA supervisors and field staff with a viable means of communicating to ensure employee safety, coordination of major emergencies and improved productivity. ESD's operations and structure will not change under this Plan.

6. Waste Management and Pest Control

Integrated Pest Management shifts our pest management focus to prevention and directs resources to address the root causes of infestations by ensuring that NYCHA timely collects and properly stores and disposes of waste while requiring that exterminators and maintenance staff work to prevent pests from harboring in our buildings. We must focus on ensuring waste is disposed properly, collected and either removed or stored in pest proof containers, as part of a holistic strategy for reducing the pest population.

In the past, the waste management and pest control functions were handled separately, and there was no singular focus on implementing best practices across the portfolio in an integrated fashion. Pest Control (formally PAIS) was previously located in Healthy Homes, while waste management functions were decentralized except for a unit that conducted compactor repairs, which was part of the Maintenance, Repairs and Skilled Trades Department. In order to align these two functions and provide the pillar area its own dedicated leadership, NYCHA established a Vice President of Waste Management and Pest Control and moved all related personnel, including the team that handles compactor repair and maintenance, into this new Department.

The Waste Management Department will help roll out new initiatives across the portfolio to ensure grounds are regularly inspected and waste is collected and stored properly or removed daily. The Pest Control Department will help ensure the proper rollout of Integrated Pest Management across the portfolio and hold all neighborhoods accountable for their respective deliverables required under the Agreement.

NYCHA needs an organizational structure that could provide sustainable support and work across functions, centralize policy and think strategically so we formed the Waste Management Department that will provide a much-needed focus to an area that affects the quality of life for staff and residents alike.

The Waste Management Department will help roll out new initiatives across the portfolio to make sure grounds are regularly inspected and waste is collected and stored properly or removed daily.

The Waste Management Department's focus will be:

To reduce the collection, storage and removal burden placed on staff, the Waste Management Department is focusing on waste streams such as increased recycling and bulk waste removal at all consolidations.

Clean to the Ground Initiative – Filling development bulk containers and exterior compactors with all material collected from the daily grounds cleaning and ensuring that there are regular conversations with private bulk vendors to ensure timely service by increasing capacity when and where necessary.

To store waste more effectively, upgrades are needed for equipment:

We also are focusing on a long-term vision for containerization with new types of technology and innovation such as state of the art underground pneumatic systems (Polo Grounds), coupled with a redesign of waste yards to create cleaner, safer and healthier environments at the development level.

An integral and very important part of NYCHA's Waste Management plan will involve residents. We need resident cooperation to properly dispose of all refuse, bulk waste and recyclables. This will be accomplished through extensive resident engagement, education and improved signage throughout all developments.

Pest Control - Under the Transformation Plan, Borough-assigned Exterminators performing both routine preventative and corrective maintenance Pest Control functions will be the direct responsibility of each Neighborhood Director with the ultimate responsibility of achieving HUD deliverables and Pest Control Department directives being assigned to each of the Borough Vice Presidents.

K. Quality Assurance

The mission of the Quality Assurance (QA) Unit is to provide objective assurance to management and regulators that residents receive high-quality workmanship from both staff and vendors. The QA Unit is responsible for improving performance and accountability by ensuring that maintenance and repairs are completed to industry standards in alignment with existing policies and procedures. The QA Unit will identify and address risks, deploy third-party contractors for training and guide business process improvements. In order to create consistency operational consistency, we will create a new Project Management Office (PMO) within the QA Unit. The purpose of the PMO will be to coordinate the execution of various operational initiatives across all four boroughs. The PMO will ensure consistency in program design and execution. Working within the QA Unit the PMO will also ensure service delivery and adherence to procedure in all operations. The PMO will include a Director and four staff, one to cover each borough.

[CALL OUT BOX]: Culture of Service

The relationship between NYCHA staff and residents has eroded over the last 30 years.21 There is little mutual trust, leading to a cycle that has hampered performance and outcomes. Residents rightfully complain of deteriorating conditions, from the elevator that goes out every week to the compactor that has been broken for months.

During our planning engagements, we heard numerous examples of work orders that are closed without the repair done, and bureaucratic processes that delay seemingly simple fixes without explanation. Above all, residents say they cannot get answers from development staff whose job, they perceive, is to provide them. This highlights one of the challenges of the current, centralized operating model which disempowers frontline employees and poses challenges in how policies and procedures are communicated, interpreted, and implemented. The lack of trust can create a difficult working environment for development staff, who find it hard to get access to apartments and enforce on-site rules. Under this dynamic, employee residents in particular struggle to defend and represent NYCHA as employees while experiencing inadequate service as residents themselves.

Under this plan, NYCHA will organize and recommit to a culture of service—service to our residents, Section 8 participants, to the City, and to each other. While individual staff members deliver exceptional customer service to our residents every day, NYCHA's culture has not reinforced and systematized these efforts.25 As a result, the resident experience is wildly inconsistent across developments and geographies, with little portfolio-wide standardization.26 Every employee, including those who don't have daily interactions with residents, must have a customer-service mindset, a desire to go above and beyond for the residents and their colleagues, leading to a foundational change in culture. Every decision must be made with one question in mind: does this improve the lives of our residents?

We must address our culture head on with training, communications, and implementation support. Culture of Service requires an empowered workforce who understand their role in the organization's overall mission, have a clear set of norms they can draw from, and are motivated to act daily in a manner that results in resident satisfaction.

To understand the current culture and to envision a culture of service we want to adopt, we asked the Employee Engagement Committee - a voluntary group of employees from across NYCHA charged with tackling tough problems around NYCHA culture - to share their experiences with the current organizational culture. The group identified existing pain points such as inadequate supervisory support, inconsistent disciplinary process, and a lack of communication and inclusion, all of which result in an unaccountable, disjointed, and unempathetic workplace culture.

Through a series of brainstorming sessions, the EEC determined some actions that NYCHA can take to meaningfully build a culture of service using four high-level goals for NYCHA. These strategies dovetail with the group's recommendations for Strategy A.2 (see page #) of this plan and a selected number of these activities are included in the Implementation Plan.

Changing NYCHA's culture will require a commitment from each of the Authority's 11,000+ employees, along with a system built to reinforce and embed a new way of working. It will take years to build a sustainable culture that serves our residents appropriately, but it must be done. NYCHA cannot survive without it.

[CALL OUT BOX]: Breaking Down Silos

NYCHA operates as a series of vertical silos with little systemic connection between them.27 Plans and programs are designed in isolation, leading to duplicative or incompatible efforts. Gaps between Capital Planning and Property Management leads to a divided understanding of physical asset management. 28 Gaps between Resident Outreach and Property Management often leave residents, partners and advocates confused when looking for an appropriate point of contact. 29

NYCHA needs a culture of cross-functional collaboration and continuous improvement, starting with a commitment from every employee to the mission and values of the organization. The creation of inter-departmental working teams for each of the HUD Agreement pillar areas has shown the value of collaboration and shared insights. Through the Transformation Plan, we will build on this momentum to integrate this way of working into all ongoing and new programs, including day-to-day operations of each housing development. Central office staff will be assigned to support Property Management operations and organized into inter-departmental working teams.

The agency's current structure fosters silos, with individual departments managed through inconsistent geographies. For example, Property Management uses a six-borough structure—two of which are non-geographic overlays. The elevator team uses sectors that don't align to boroughs but that evenly allocate staff over assets. Resident engagement uses 15 zones, while Resident Associations have nine. NYCHA's structure looks very different depending on which department you are talking to. NYCHA's new operating model must create natural points of interaction—including matching territories across departments.

Even within departments there can be silos and the scale of NYCHA's operations is larger than any other housing authority in the nation. If the Bronx were its own housing Authority it would be the larger than the housing authorities in Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle and Denver all combined. We will empower existing and new program management offices to facilitate information sharing across departments and up the ranks.

15 Transformation Plan, Property Management Workshop, Feb. 19, 2020; KPMG, Current State Observations and Maturity Assessment, pp. 10, 408, 421, 457.
16 Marcuse, Peter, The Beginnings of Public Housing in New York. Journal of Urban History. 1986;12(4):353-390.
17 Transformation Plan, Resident Association Breakfast, Feb. 12, 2020; Property Management Workshops I and II.
18 KPMG Roadmap, p. 46; KPMG, Current State Observations and Maturity Assessment, p. 62.
19 Given fringe rates hovering at 80%, it is notable that overtime rates are more cost-effective than hiring new employees.
20 While still likely to require a considerable increase in staff, it is important to note that this percentage may be inflated as staffing levels were observed during COVID, a time period of higher-than-average absences
21 While there is no statutory requirement to explore RMCs under Section 8, NYCHA is
22 KPMG, Current State Observations and Maturity Assessment, p. 211.
23 Transformation Plan, Resident Association Breakfast, Feb. 12, 2020.
24 Transformation Plan, Property Management Workshop I, Dec. 9, 2019
25 KPMG, Current State Observations and Maturity Assessment, pp. 9, 11.
26 Transformation Plan, CCOP MOU Negotiation; Transformation Plan, Advocate Engagement Session, Feb. 21, 2020.
27 KPMG, Change Readiness Report, p. 15; Transformation Plan, Property Management Workshop I; Transformation Plan, Property Management Workshop; Transformation Plan, Agency Partner Workshop, March 12, 2020; Transformation Plan, Quarterly Leadership Meeting, Dec. 16, 2019; Transformation Plan, CEP Leadership Breakfast, Feb. 4, 2020.
28 Transformation Plan, Property Management Workshop I.
29 Transformation Plan, Agency Partner Workshop; Transformation Plan, Resident Association Breakfast.

Chapter 5. Central Office Reorganization

A fundamental theme and objective of this Transformation Plan involves reorienting NYCHA operations to support improvements to service delivery at the neighborhood and individual housing development level. Property Management staff complaints about "waiting for downtown" reflect the complexity of the NYCHA staff and point to the need to streamline processes, engage central staff directly in supporting neighborhood and property operations and build a culture of service that prioritizes our residents and properties. Towards these ends, central office functions and structures will evolve to support the Neighborhood Model, through implementation of a broad array of management improvement strategies that will impact each department.

A. Human Resources

The Human Resources (HR) Department administers all aspects of NYCHA's human capital program including recruitment, labor relations, time and leave, and professional development. The HR process is sometimes facilitated by HR liaisons within program areas, but these are somewhat informal and ad hoc connections, and many have been subject to budget cuts over the years. As a result, many department managers have expressed uncertainty as to how HR processes work and how to proceed with basic tasks such as recruitment.30

The de-centralization of staff from central office to borough/neighborhood-based teams completely re-defines the role of HR liaisons. Employees assigned to the boroughs will not be liaisons but will be tasked with the purpose of delivering HR services on behalf of their assigned borough. Coordination with central functions is still key as NYCHA works through the City's civil service system. However, tracking and prioritization of vacancies and recruitment would improve through stronger understanding of the borough/neighborhood operational needs.

1. Strategy A.1: Implement a Human Capital Management System

NYCHA does not currently have an end to end HR management system. HR struggles to coordinate with Finance, often showing different position vacancy data.31 NYCHA's current HR processes are largely manual, and many of them rely on a home-grown database. HR has started the process to implement a commercial-off-the-shelf cloud-based Human Capital Management (HCM) system to automate both current processes and desired new processes. This system will play an important role in providing HR team members with easy access to all relevant information required to perform duties, increase HR efficiency, phase out HR home-grown databases and providing more transparency into the actions HR performs.

The goal of the HCM solution is to automate the full range of human resources-related services for all NYCHA employees. The HCM will offer end-to-end HR services, from initial recruiting of employees to hiring and onboarding to separation/retirement. It will also include features to enable employees and HR staff to manage employee benefit information, disciplinary processes, leaves of absence, learning management (training) and certifications.

A proper technical implementation will ensure NYCHA's data in the HCM is maintained, secure and accessible, including necessary interfaces with other internal and external systems. An HCM mobile or self-service component will also be offered securely to NYCHA rank and file employees, specifically those team members that work at properties located throughout the City.

2. Strategy A.2: Empower our staff through enhanced Employee Engagement & Recognition efforts

NYCHA employees often feel disconnected from the direction of the organization.32 Career paths are undefined, performance reviews cursory, and feedback largely unstructured. Our development staff, representing over 70% of NYCHA's workforce, want to do a good job but are too often stymied by internal processes, insufficient resources, and dire physical conditions. Employee anxiety is high, morale is low, and our operational challenges continue to grow.33 Staff engagement often comes too late in the planning process and many employees feel their voices are not heard in developing policies and programs that affect their day-to-day work.34

NYCHA recognizes that voluntary, cooperative activities by employees to meet their mutual needs or interests, serve their common welfare, or make their relationships and employment more pleasant can contribute substantially to a favorable work environment. Organizing such activities under employee associations assist with meeting some of the interest needs of employees.

Employee associations help foster a more inclusive environment in which all employees are empowered and feel motivated to contribute to the employer's organizational success, by an enhanced sense of their own well-being. Diversity and Inclusion values are foundational in allowing employees to be their authentic selves and shaping inclusive policies and processes that give credibility to Authority's decisions. These associations seek to increase cultural awareness, educational advancement, and professional development opportunities for their members and colleagues.

One such organization is the Employee Engagement Committee. To better understand current challenges and to develop impactful employee empowerment strategies that would resonate with staff, we asked NYCHA's Employee Engagement Committee to lead brainstorming sessions on how to repair NYCHA's relationship with our employees. Tasked with thinking through how to empower NYCHA employees, the EEC identified five high level goals for NYCHA:

EEC's ideas for improving NYCHA are further detailed in the Implementation Plan (Chapter 11). We will continue to work with current and future cohorts of the EEC to co-create, validate, and implement strategies that empower employees and improve NYCHA's organizational culture to ultimately provide better service to our customers.

The EEC is an example of how NYCHA can break down silos to work together. Wholesale change to an established culture is difficult, but we believe this cross-functional and thoughtful team is the right group to lead the charge. Through open and honest discussions of NYCHA's challenges - and failings - we can begin to repair the trust that has broken between the agency and its employees.

B. Learning and Development

A key organizational principle of the Transformation Plan is that NYCHA will monitor itself to ensure quality. NYCHA took a significant step towards making this a reality with the creation of three new oversight departments: Quality Assurance, Environmental Health & Safety, and Compliance. However, visibility into how the work is being done is only half of the equation. After mistakes have been identified, we must be able to correct the behavior with training. Right now, NYCHA is not set up to adjust how we work based on findings from quality control reviews.

We have also heard from staff, residents and external partners that more training is needed, ranging from customer service to basic procedural standards such as opening and closing work orders. In the role of property manager, it is our duty to ensure that our employees have access to the tools they need to do their jobs well. To determine the extent of training across the Authority, the Compliance Department comprehensively documented and mapped NYCHA's existing training by obtaining training contracts from procurement and meeting with training points of contact from departments across NYCHA. The major finding was the need for centralized tracking and oversight of training throughout the agency and improving staff access to available trainings.

In response to these findings, and to better align training function with the new Neighborhood Model, NYCHA will make fundamental changes to the Learning & Development Department (L&D) so that training is accessible and adaptive to an evolving NYCHA.

1. Strategy B.1: Launch a Learning Management System (LMS)

In October 2020, NYCHA launched NYCHA University, an online portal that business units can use to offer direct access to training for staff, track learning progress and performance and maintain compliance.35 NYCHA University will become the agency-wide source for on-demand learning content, providing every employee with convenient and flexible access to both required trainings and voluntary, self-paced professional development courses. NYCHA University will also provide employees with a "transcript" of their NYCHA learning in order to better identify gaps or next steps for career advancement. NYCHA University features include:

2. Strategy B.2: Align Training with the Neighborhood Model

In the new Neighborhood Model, Neighborhood Directors will create annual Neighborhood Training Plans with the assistance of L&D. As part of this process, Directors will use training progress and performance reports from the previous year to set learning objectives and identify specific training needs and targets. Training plans will consider existing training resources and, if required, outline a plan to create and procure new training materials.

L&D will also create the Management Academy, a cohort-based program geared primarily towards Property Managers that includes opportunities for individual coaching and mentoring, exposure to cross-functional and diverse experiences within the agency, experiential learning projects where cohort members can practice skills, and opportunities for professional and industry association involvement. And, because the Property Manager career trajectory is only one of many at NYCHA, L&D will develop Independent Development Plans (IDP) as part of NYCHA University that allow employees to chart actionable steps towards their long-term goals.

L&D's ability to create accessible and adaptive training that supports the Neighborhood Model also relies on connectivity to key functions within NYCHA, particularly those that monitor operations and dictate changes in procedure. Alignment with departments such as Compliance and Performance Management & Analytics, for example, provide L&D with visibility into where training is needed the most.

C. Supply Chain Management

NYCHA is a notoriously difficult organization to work with as a business partner. Feedback from our vendors, elected officials and other external parties was universal: we need to change how we interact with the outside world.36 Our vendors experience a complicated and opaque process, leaving them uncertain of their status and unable to plan for themselves. The RFP process can take upwards of a year from scope writing to contract start—hardly a workable situation for an agency in continuous crisis.37 Getting paid is an arduous task, with little inherent transparency or urgency, and invoices can sit unpaid for years on technicalities.

Unsurprisingly, NYCHA's poor business practices attract a limited pool of qualified vendors as many are simply unwilling to take part in the process.38 Limited competition leads to lower quality work and higher prices, while restricting our ability to default or swap underperforming vendors.

Given the current state of NYCHA's portfolio and organization—and our reliance on vendors to supplement staff capacity—we cannot afford to accept underperformance on contracts. In support of the Neighborhood Model, NYCHA must attract the most qualified, effective, and professional vendors across every spend category, which will require a dramatic change in the way NYCHA conducts business.

1. Strategy C.1: Create Chief Procurement Office

NYCHA hired a new Chief Procurement Officer (CPO), who will temporarily report to the General Counsel and oversee the Authority's Procurement, Materials Management, and Supplier Diversity departments. The CPO is tasked with unlocking NYCHA's potential as a business partner, improving our processes and procedures to ensure we attract only the best vendors. We are moving these functions under the General Counsel to bring them closer to the Law Department's Corporate Affairs procurement expertise. Once the procurement and vendor management processes have been redesigned, the CPO and these departments will report to the Chief Administrative Officer.

2. Strategy C.2: Re-design the procurement and vendor management process

NYCHA engaged an outside consultant to analyze the agency's procurement processes and recommend changes to improve performance and perception in the market. The team worked closely with business units across the agency, along with the Supply Management Department and Law Department, and submitted a detailed set of recommendations in August 2020.

Based on the recommendations, NYCHA will move to a hybrid procurement model, relying on cross-functional procurement teams (P-teams) comprised of buyers, contract specialists, lawyers, and business unit representatives. Currently, NYCHA's procurement process involves all these same functions, although their coordination is ad hoc. This hybrid model balances business unit needs with agency-wide goals, while enabling collaboration and centralized compliance. The new Chief Procurement Officer is tasked with developing new procedures for the hybrid model.

NYCHA will also act on several recommendations relating to internal efficiencies, including changes to the procurement workflow and new requirements on active planning. Lastly, once process improvements are activated, NYCHA will enhance its approach to strategic sourcing and vendor management. To attract and retain the best vendors across all categories, we need a new way to engage and manage the market. For the full set of recommendations on Supply Management, see Appendix B.

D. Finance

The Department of Finance leads NYCHA's financial planning and analysis, accounting, cash management, payroll, risk management, and investment activities. Finance is responsible for fiscal policy, including annual five-year operating and capital plans, the investment portfolio, and the issuance of annual financial statements for NYCHA and its subsidiaries. Finance operates in adherence with the US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and federal financial management requirements.

1. Strategy D.1: Property-based budgeting

As previously noted, NYCHA engaged BDO PHA Finance to provide consulting services related to NYCHA's implementation of HUD's asset management rule for public housing authorities (PHAs). HUD revised 24 CFR 990 in 2005, with implementation beginning in 2007, to transition PHAs to asset management. The goal of the HUD asset management model is for PHAs to manage their properties according to an asset management model, consistent with the management norms in the broader multi-family management industry. PHAs must also implement project-based management, project-based budgeting and project-based accounting, all of which are essential components of asset management.

NYCHA was an early adopter of HUD asset management principles. BDO has comprehensively reviewed the NYCHA budget process from inception to implementation, property-based budgeting approach, and central office fee-for-service methodology to provide opportunities for improvement. NYCHA's plans for strengthening property-based budgeting are further detailed under the Property Managers & Property-Based Budgeting section of this plan. Currently, NYCHA operates 148 Asset Management Properties (AMPs) as defined by HUD. Some AMPs align to NYCHA consolidations and some cross consolidations to include individual groupings of developments. Under the asset management rule, PHAs must maintain a system of budgeting and accounting for each AMP in a manner that allows for analysis of the actual revenues and expenses associated with each property. HUD allows a PHA to charge a service directly to an AMP if that service is provided directly to that AMP or to no more than two AMPs. Once a function crosses over three or more AMPs it becomes either a Central Office Cost Center (COCC) charge or a fee for service (using fees formulas prescribed by HUD rules.)

NYCHA's plans to align Property Management functions closer to the point of service delivery – at the AMP level – would change the financial position and revise the property staffing formulas that NYCHA has historically operated within. NYCHA will model the financial changes once the structural changes are finalized. For example, based on the skilled trades pilot previously discussed, NYCHA will analyze the additional trades needed to properly staff consolidations or Neighborhood portfolios. NYCHA will consider the additional cost of those staff in the context of the changing allocation, possibly from COCC to fee or direct AMP expenses.

Finance is assessing how best to support Property Managers and staff as part of the Borough Administration Teams to be implemented as part of the Neighborhood Model. This could include deploying Financial Planning & Analysis (FPA) and Accounts Payable (AP) staff members. FPA staff could assist Property Managers with revisions for the properties (move funding from one account to another within adopted budget). In addition, FPA creates periodic reports that Property Managers can use to monitor their budget. Staff can provide trainings on how to access and use the reports effectively. The AP staff could work with the Borough VP/ Neighborhood Directors to ensure the three-way match needed for payment, trouble shoot receipts at the properties, and help streamline the receipt process. Staff will be able to target properties in each borough with the highest levels of outstanding vendor payments and provide additional support. While the structure for the Borough Administration Teams is still under development, this proposal from Finance provides a good example of the opportunity to strengthen connections between the properties and central office functions.

E. Compliance and Environmental Health and Safety Department (EH&S)

The Compliance and EH&S Departments play a critical role in driving improvement at every level – across the entire agency, at individual properties, and within individual devices or systems. As a key component of oversight, these Departments focus on identifying failures while providing immediate oversight and recommendations for process improvements over time, including in each core pillar area: (1) lead, (2) mold and emergency leaks, (3) pests and waste management, (4) elevators, (5) heat, and (6) inspections.

The Compliance Department's mission is to ensure that NYCHA complies with laws and regulations and is ethical in fulfilling the overall mission to provide safe, affordable housing to our residents. The EH&S Department is responsible for providing oversight, analysis, and evaluation of all matters and work conducted by the Authority which have any impact upon the environmental health and safety of NYHCA residents, employees and real property.

Together, the tasks of the Compliance Department and EH&S include:

1. Strategy E.1: Provide regular Reporting on System-Wide Challenges

EH&S and Compliance report out on systemic, portfolio-wide challenges preventing NYCHA from complying with the HUD Agreement or other laws and regulations. For example, Compliance and EH&S jointly issue a "Lead Exceptions Report" each month to Operations and the Executive Team. The reports describe the findings of its joint Lead Compliance Assurance Program. EH&S also issues a report each month rolling up the findings of its specialized teams based on field monitoring and other analysis. EH&S has oversight teams dedicated to each pillar of the Agreement, including the Lead Oversight Team, the Indoor Air Quality Team (which handles mold among other items), the Heating Oversight Team, the Integrated Pest Management Oversight Team and the Elevator Oversight Team.

Consistent reporting provides actionable recommendations to Operations and the Executive Team, which are then tracked in each subsequent report by Compliance and EH&S. We will use this reporting and feedback structure to drive system-wide process improvements or address common deficiencies found across workflows on an integrated basis.

2. Strategy E.2: Conduct System-Wide Bi-Annual Risk Assessment Analysis and Property-Level On-Site Monitoring, and Technical Assistance

To track performance across all developments using data analytics, the Compliance Department, in partnership with the Performance Tracking and Analytics Department (PTAD), developed a risk assessment framework using key data points to determine which developments are at greatest risk for non-compliance with the HUD Agreement and other laws and regulations. Compliance and PTAD worked to compile a matrix of key indicators to analyze across developments, and to build an algorithm that weighs these indicators and assigns a risk assessment score to a development. Using this scoring algorithm, Compliance and PTAD can determine which developments need additional focus in terms of compliance monitoring, technical assistance and integration efforts. Indicators related to Operations and the HUD Agreement are the most important to this initiative and therefore comprise most of the indicators. However, several indicators related to day-to-day management of the developments and the quality of life for residents and workers are also included.

Compliance then uses this risk assessment to schedule onsite monitoring at developments with lower scores.

On-Site Monitoring:

The Compliance Department and EH&S, in partnership with the Quality Assurance Department, conduct two on-site monitoring projects per month at developments based off analysis from the risk assessment. Over the course of the week, staff from Compliance, QA, and EH&S (collectively, the "On-Site Monitoring Team") conduct investigations into general property management and operational areas including: heating, elevators, pests, daily inspections and trash, annual recertifications, resident files, rent collection, general maintenance and repair, recycling and janitorial, mold, lead, smoking signage and complaints, violations, crime, vacancy rates, and procurement. The On-Site Monitoring Team investigates topics covered by the HUD Agreement and other high-risk areas.

After the On-Site Monitoring Team has completed its work at the development, the team works together to draft the On-Site Monitoring report. The report is then issued to the development, along with Senior Operations, and Executive staff within approximately thirty (30) calendar days of the On-Site visit. Development staff must prepare a corrective action plan with time frames and deliverable deadlines to address deficiencies found during the monitoring exercise. Compliance then works directly with development staff to track, manage, and close the deficiencies through an online tracker. Development staff must provide weekly updates that demonstrate corrections to the deficiencies found and must provide these updates in a timely manner in order to achieve compliance with the report. When a development successfully completes most deficiencies, a close out memo is issued to development staff along with the Senior Operations team.

Technical Assistance:

When a housing development is having difficulty correcting deficiencies in multiple areas or in one area found in the report, Compliance sends a team back on-site to provide technical assistance. Based on the findings of the On-Site Monitoring Report for the development, Compliance creates a Technical Assistance Guide (TAG) for staff using the NYCHA standard procedures and any applicable laws or regulations covering the area of the deficiency(ies). Compliance incorporates corrective actions and guidance specific to each area of deficiency cited in the On-Site Monitoring Report for the target development. The TAG is geared toward the specific staff/titles who were cited for the deficiency and/or who are responsible for complying/ensuring compliance with the applicable standard procedure, law, or regulation.

The Compliance team schedules a visit to the development to review the TAG. In advance of the visit, the Compliance team submits the TAG to the Regional Asset Manager (RAM), the Property Manager, and the Property Maintenance Supervisor for their awareness. On the day of the visit, the Compliance team comes to the development to review the TAG with the Property Manager and the Property Maintenance Supervisor (or other appropriate point person) and/or the staff which participated in the initial On-Site Monitoring (or named in the On-Site Monitoring Report). The specific purpose of the visit is to provide on-site technical assistance for staff, answer any questions the staff may have, and work to come up with additional timelines and dates to have the deficiencies corrected. The visit takes place several weeks after the issuance of the initial On-Site Monitoring Report for the development.

3. Strategy E.3: Conduct Root Cause Failure Analyses of Building Systems

EH&S' Elevator Oversight Team analyze data to conduct a "root cause failure analysis" on elevators with recurring outages over a thirty-day period. Similarly, EH&S' Heat Oversight Team conduct a "root cause failure analysis" on any outage that took more than twelve hours to resolve. The analyses are system or device specific and identify parts, staffing or other items that may have contributed to any serious failures.

EH&S then provides recommendations directly to the Elevator Service and Repair Department or Heating Management Services Department. EH&S will then track whether the recommendations are implemented for those building systems, reporting out on the status of implementation for each item on a regular basis.

F. Information Technology (IT)

Enabling new business and operational capabilities through innovation and technology is critical to successfully transform NYCHA's core operations and services to enrich the resident experience. The NYCHA IT department, led by the Chief Information Officer (CIO), had previously reported to the General Manager as a core operational support function. However, for IT to become more proactive, nimble, and responsive to the rapid pace of change at NYCHA, it must actively participate in key decisions supporting all departments. As part of the Transformation Plan, IT will be aligned as a central support function reporting to the CAO.

In May 2020, NYCHA hired a new CIO to improve the IT service delivery model and elevate the quality and effectiveness of the IT Department's customer service, reliability and relationship with other NYCHA departments and key stakeholders. This improvement effort spans the entire IT Department and, not only requires change in our technology roadmap but, more importantly, to the fundamental principles and embedded processes that have shaped the internal culture and perceived value of IT across the organization.

1. Strategy F.1: Develop a holistic strategic direction for IT

The NYCHA IT department will establish a strategic direction in three steps:

Step 1: Assess the current IT maturity and satisfaction

NYCHA IT will hire an independent IT advisory firm to conduct a maturity assessment and baseline the current level of customer satisfaction of our IT products and services. The result of these engagements will include a measurement of NYCHA IT against comparable IT organizations, with recommended short- and long-term improvements.

Step 2: Evaluate the stability of the infrastructure and application architecture

The IT department hired GCOM Software LLC, an independent technology consulting firm, to complete an initial, comprehensive infrastructure assessment and provide recommendation for stabilizing and modernizing our IT datacenter hosting architecture. The recommendations will be reviewed with other departments, such as, Human Resources, Operations and Capital Projects Division, prior to the development of an action plan and recommended technology investment strategy. In a parallel workstream to address our legacy housing application dependencies, NYCHA IT will procure third-party services to document core business requirements for our mission-critical systems supporting Public Housing and Leased Housing. We will align those use-cases with our current custom applications and validate their value against newer and potentially more cost-effective commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software and services.

Step 3: Publish an IT strategy and technology modernization plan

NYCHA IT will combine the outcomes of the assessments with outputs from internal strategic planning workshops and recommendations from the KPMG report to determine the department's mission, guiding principles, and goals for IT going forward. The CIO will propose a sequence of business-driven initiatives and with measurable objectives aimed at addressing the identified gaps from the assessment and carve out an immediate path to collectively achieve our business and technical goals.

2. Strategy F.2: Close the inter- and intra-departmental divide across major IT services and engagements

NYCHA IT strives to be a close partner whose goals align with the business goals of its customers. However, to most internal and external stakeholders, IT is currently perceived as a utility or a means to provide and maintain systems availability. In the past two years, IT has faced an unprecedented rate of change at the Authority, which resulted in an environment that is mostly reactive and engages with the business on an as-needed basis. Over time, the level of engagement with a business department varies from one IT unit to another, leading to unbalanced allocation of resources. Additionally, our internal processes are separate and, in some cases, redundant, creating a disjointed customer experience. This decentralized engagement results in unpredictable and unmanageable IT demand and a silo-promoting culture, which is detrimental to the quality of our service delivery.

The strategic partnership between IT and other NYCHA departments will be strengthened by establishing a customer experience management framework, with business relationship managers (BRMs) dedicated to understanding the business needs and expectations of assigned departments and shepherding their IT requests throughout the fulfillment process. NYCHA IT will implement a new IT intake process, a well-defined method to capture and manage all customer demand and bridge stakeholder expectations with IT capabilities and strategic prioritization. Additionally, IT will realign its functions and services to eliminate redundancy, establish independent checks and balances over product delivery, and streamline the end-to-end customer experience.

3. Strategy F.3: Buildout a cybersecurity program and enhance testing function

As the nation's largest public housing authority, NYCHA is responsible for securely storing, transacting and protecting the large amounts of private and sensitive information that traverses multiple NYCHA applications, its network infrastructure, and our staff. The risk of a cybersecurity threat, internal system failure or information exposure depends on the strength of our security posture. NYCHA will hire its first Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) to expand the capability of the current IT security audit function into a comprehensive cybersecurity and IT Risk Management program.

4. Strategy F.4: Standardize around IT Service Management (ITSM) processes

NYCHA IT will introduce an ITIL best practices framework and an associated set of tools and processes to streamline IT operations management. In November 2019, NYCHA implemented its first module of ServiceNow, a leading ITSM platform, but has not yet been able to maximize the full potential of the product due to process deficiencies, lack of training and staff readiness for change. NYCHA will build out a standalone ITSM function to manage the adoption and department-wide integration of new ITIL-based processes including incident, problem, and change, management, service asset and configuration management, and the maturation of three separate help desks into a consolidated service desk and tier-1 client services center. This will serve as a foundation to strengthen and improve reliability around the full set of infrastructure, application and security products and services NYCHA IT provides to our customers and stakeholders.

G. Community Engagement & Partnerships

The Department of Community Engagement & Partnerships (CEP) connects NYCHA residents to critical programs and services, and engages residents around key agency priorities. CEP supports NYCHA's extensive network of Resident Associations (RA) and manages partnerships, programs and initiatives in the areas of economic opportunity, youth, senior and social services. CEP works with residents and partners through six departments:

Resident Engagement (RED): Engages residents on key initiatives to foster resident input, education and awareness. RED supports NYCHA's extensive Resident Association network, including overseeing RA elections, training and administration of Tenant Participation funds. RED also manages a network of youth councils and "Senior Champion" or senior volunteer network, supports other resident-led groups and oversees key programs such as the Resident Leadership Academy.

Community Development (CD): Implements targeted, strategic engagement in support of new construction and/or substantial rehabilitation and modernization projects. CD facilitates public meetings and workshops, and performs individualized engagement to solicit input, increase awareness and understanding, and support successful conversion for residents within our real estate development and rehabilitation portfolio.

Resident Economic Empowerment & Sustainability (REES): Empowers residents to increase their income and assets through programs, policies and partnerships in four key areas: employment and advancement, business development, adult education and training, and financial literacy and asset building. REES manages key programs including the NYCHA Resident Training Academy, Family Self-Sufficiency Program and Business Pathways Programs. REES also connects residents to jobs generated through Section 3 and other NYCHA hiring requirements.

Family Partnerships (FPD): Through partnerships, connects NYCHA residents to youth, senior and social services. Provides individual social service assessments and referrals for certain "at risk" populations to resolve tenancy issues and support long-term stability. FPD manages relationships with City-sponsored community and senior center providers and oversees key programs such as the Family Reentry Program.

Health Initiatives (HI): Manages partnerships and interagency efforts to connect residents to preventive health resources, create healthier indoor environments and cultivate resident leadership in health. HI manages key programs including Smoke Free NYCHA and Farms at NYCHA.

Office of Public Private Partnerships (OPP): Provides centralized grant management for CEP and other competitive agency grants. OPPP manages government and private funder relationships and serves as liaison to the Fund for Public Housing.

CEP departments currently use a "zone" service model or borough-based model, based on the functional area. At the local level, staff work with resident leaders and key external stakeholders, local service providers and local NYCHA offices to connect NYCHA residents to high quality services and engage.

1. Strategy G.1: Negotiate a new MOU with the CCOP and strengthen engagement under 24 CFR §964

NYCHA needs to strengthen its partnership with Resident Leadership. In January, the Chair began discussions with the Citywide Council of Presidents (CCOP) on a new memorandum of understanding (MOU), which will formalize how NYCHA and Resident Leadership will collaborate under the terms of 24 CFR §964, which requires NYCHA to incorporate resident participation in "all aspects" of the Authority's "overall mission and operation." The rule includes guidelines on resident associations, resident management corporations, resident training, and resident opportunities.

The MOU will address many of these guidelines, including: Resident Association elections and increasing resident participation; frequency of meetings between NYCHA and resident leadership from the development level to the NYCHA Board; resident input on capital improvements, property-based budgeting, and resident services, and developing jointly led resident satisfaction assessments. RAs are not the only touchpoint with residents—we need to redefine the relationship with each resident, based on our newly articulated mission. As part of our MOU and in support of our shared-decision making, NYCHA will include residents in working groups concerning occupancy, general management, maintenance, security, resident training and employment, social services, modernization priorities, and other new initiatives planned for implementation. Every resident should know and have the opportunity to offer input on the future of NYCHA. NYCHA will leverage its communication channels to ensure residents remain up-to-date as the transformation plan is implemented. This includes informational campaigns tied to key initiatives and new tools, such as smart screens at developments, to quickly share accurate and timely information. We must commit to their ongoing housing security and access to opportunity.

2. Strategy G.2: Strengthen Engagement with Community Partners

Community based organizations also need a new level of partnership from NYCHA. In our engagements, we heard that we can be slow to commit to promising programs and our changing priorities can leave partners feeling left in the lurch.38 NYCHA has built a successful partnership-based service coordination model, as well as a suite of programs and services exclusive to public housing residents. However, new investment is needed in order to deepen partnership opportunities and provide more dedicated resources to residents.

Community based organizations also need a new level of partnership from NYCHA. In our engagements, we heard that we can be slow to commit to promising programs and our changing priorities can leave partners feeling left in the lurch.38 NYCHA has built a successful partnership-based service coordination model, as well as a suite of programs and services exclusive to public housing residents. However, new investment is needed in order to deepen partnership opportunities and provide more dedicated resources to residents.

3. Strategy G.3: Resident Ambassadors

The vast majority of NYCHA's residents know and follow the rules. Still, if one resident does not dispose of waste properly or fails to treat their neighbors with respect, it can have cascading effects on the quality of life of every resident and staff member at a property. Currently, situations tend to escalate to the point where a property manager must initiate a formal complaint against a resident, the tenant is brought in for an administrative hearing, or an action is commenced against a resident in Court. NYCHA needs to implement an efficient and effective way to work in partnership with its residents to address quality of life issues. Resident associations serve an important function as resident advocates and should have a seat at the table on major decisions, but we must also work to empower specific group of residents who can help work hand-in-hand with NYCHA staff to have resident input on quality life improvements and support education and enforcement before and after an issue arises.

NYCHA could contract with organizations, such as Green City Force, to provide robust education, awareness and compliance campaigns at the development level. Through this model, NYCHA would be able to provide residents with stipends and experiential learning opportunities that can support their long-term career advancement. For initiatives that require full time commitment, NYCHA would replicate its new Smoke Free Ambassador model which is employing residents to provide peer education and other engagement to proactively address potential lease enforcement issues in this area. Other Housing Authorities pay stipends to teams of resident ambassadors at each property. Utilizing these parallel models at NYCHA is an effective way of empowering residents and enforcing rules.

While community-level engagement is a key component of improving quality of life, property management will also require individual intervention in lease enforcements after an issue with specific residents arise. To fill this gap, NYCHA proposes Housing Assistant Trainees who will be empowered to work with property management to resolve the issue before the administrative hearing or termination of tenancy processes unfolds. Housing Assistant Trainees can help residents with annual recertifications; provide tenant onboard at the lease up process; assist with informal conferencing; tenant notification for outages and emergencies; and tenant relocations.

[CALL OUT BOX]: Diversity Inclusion & Equity

NYCHA is committed to creating a workplace that is diverse, inclusive and fosters equity. To advance these goals, NYCHA will adopt the goals of the City's Executive Order 45 (EO45), which represents New York City's commitment to equity, inclusion and opportunity. NYCHA, with support from the City, will go through a one-year process to analyze how practices, policy and organizational culture contribute to inequity; address disparities to updated performance measures; and, align our new operation structure and performance frameworks with racial and social equity principles to meet and advance the objectives of EO45. NYCHA will also join a learning community of other City agencies undergoing similar transformations to share best practices and lessons learned.

[CALL OUT BOX]: Fund for Public Housing

The Fund for Public Housing creates and leverages resources and relationships to enhance the opportunities and quality of life for New York City Housing Authority residents, while uplifting the importance of public housing to our city. As a nonprofit (501c3) organization, the Fund for Public Housing amplifies and supports NYCHA's critical mission to provide quality housing for New Yorkers that is sustainable, inclusive, and safe, while fostering opportunities for economic mobility.

Vision 2025

The Fund for Public Housing will invest in leadership development, workforce skills and healthy lifestyles, with a focus on NYCHA 's 100,000 youth and young adults (14-24 years of age) as a centerpiece of our commitment to creating economic opportunity and equity for all NYCHA residents.

The Fund for Public Housing will offer powerful support to NYCHA's Transformation Plan and elevate the impact of NYCHA residents on diversity and equity in NYC's economic recovery and future.

Values/Operating Principles

Ethics: We demonstrate the highest Ethics, through honesty, transparency, and accountability.
Engagement: We Engage and Energize partners, the public and residents to embrace and contribute to NYCHA's Transformation Plan.
Equity: We foster Equity for our residents by designing and implementing programs to empower residents and increase economic opportunities.

Goals (Strategic Plan By 12/20)

H. Equal Opportunity

The Department of Equal Opportunity (DEO) promotes and monitors equal opportunity compliance in employment, public housing, and the payment of prevailing wages by NYCHA contractors. DEO's mission is to foster agency-wide equal opportunity, inclusiveness, and non-discrimination to persons who live or work at NYCHA, receive NYCHA services, or are paid by NYCHA contractors. DEO conducts investigations of discrimination and provides equal opportunity training and assistance services. We value inclusiveness and deliver equal opportunity services without regard to race, color, gender/sex (including pregnancy, gender identity), religion, national origin, disability, alienage and citizenship status, age, marital status, familial status, military status, partnership status, predisposing genetic characteristic, sexual orientation, prior record of arrest or conviction, unemployment status, prior salary history, consumer credit history, caregiver status, or status as a victim of domestic violence, sex offenses, stalking or dating violence.

I. External Affairs

External Affairs includes both the Office of Intergovernmental Relations and the Department of Communications (DOC). The Office of Intergovernmental Relations is responsible for acting as NYCHA's liaison with State and City legislative bodies, and various governmental agencies. It works with members of the State Legislature and the City Council on oversight issues, legislation, or appropriations relative to the Authority's operations. The Office also prepares NYCHA's annual legislative program and assists the Law Department in the preparation of legislation for consideration by the State Legislature as well as comments on other legislative proposals that may impact agency programs or functions.

Intergovernmental Relations works closely with DOC. DOC develops and disseminates NYCHA's messaging to multiple audiences including media, residents, employees, community partners, and the general public through numerous communication channels. The department also serves as the key point of inquiry and outreach to media on topical and ongoing issues. In collaboration with other departments and external partners, DOC ensures NYCHA is represented accurately and consistently.

Communications at NYCHA are organized around four major areas:

J. Strategy & Innovation

The Office of Strategy & Innovation (OSI) was created in 2019 and works with all parts of NYCHA to make positive changes in how we deliver services to residents. Uniting the Strategic Planning and Performance Management teams, the goal is to ensure that we are using service design and data driven techniques, as well as introducing innovative tools to improve operational efficiency and the residents' experience.

1. Strategy J.1: Establish Data Governance

Data, when property acquired, maintained, and utilized can be a powerful asset in changing the quality of operations for a large and complex organization like NYCHA through the use of timely and actionable information. NYCHA utilizes complex and various systems to conduct its activities such as making a repair in an apartment, completing residents' annual recertifications, procuring materials and supplies, making capital improvements at a development, transacting with Section 8 landlords, and processing payments to vendors. Millions of records with various attributes are created in those systems often without clear and consistent rules. Data Governance is the practice of organizing and implementing principles, policies, procedures and standards for the effective use of data. It will help NYCHA answer some basic questions about its vast amount of data: Is there a high level of confidence needed to make the right decisions? Are we achieving a seamless sharing of data across our major systems? Is our data secured and protected? Do we have a common understanding and consistent definitions that are clearly communicated?

As part of the overall Transformation Plan, IT Department's decentralization model intends to redefine and strengthen the relationships with the four core areas of the agency that are the users of the various systems and consumers of the information produced: Operations, Asset & Capital Management, Regulatory and Compliance, and Finance & Administration. IT will play a key role along with other organizational partners in establishing the data governance framework and processes to support operational, tactical, and strategic decisions.

An enterprise data governance and strategy will help NYCHA achieve the following benefits:

NYCHA envisions data governance as a long-term goal for the organization which will include the following phases:

  1. Issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to develop the NYCHA Data Governance Structure
  2. Establish the NYCHA Data Governance Organization
  3. Staff the Data Governance Organization
  4. Develop the Data Governance Process Framework and Technology
  5. Operate the Data Governance Organization

2. Strategy J.2: Invest in new technology

NYCHA employees rely on technology every day to do their jobs. They process work orders in Maximo, enter purchase orders in Oracle, document resident complaints in Siebel, and use countless other tools and systems. But, while these technologies are critical to our ability to serve residents, they also preserve the status quo and inhibit change.

In order to improve our service to residents, rebuild NYCHA's image, and become a leader in property management, we must invest in cutting edge technology that provides visibility into the conditions within our buildings and systems. For example, NYCHA has already begun installing a new state-of-the-art Building Management System (BMS) to provide real-time feedback on assets, such as heating equipment failures, utility usage, and indoor temperature sensor readings.

In addition to this and other smart building technologies, NYCHA will invest in an Enterprise Geographic Information System (GIS) that is integrated throughout the agency. The Enterprise GIS will be a unifying tool where multiple users across departments can share and analyze spatial data. The true innovation behind the Enterprise GIS will be a 3D, geo-located "digital twin" of NYCHA's properties with which asset management staff can visualize real-time Maximo work orders along with other building performance and condition data.

The Enterprise GIS will foster digital collaboration between Operations and Capital, breaking down silos and enabling comprehensive asset planning by aggregating critical data into a single location: asset age, useful life, and warranties; condition data from the Physical Needs Assessment (PNA); and, performance data from the Building Management System. With the data integration in place, asset management teams can use work orders and other data as a proxy for asset performance, which, when analyzed spatially, can inform the distribution of resources, the capital selection process, and the all-around building management.

Furthermore, NYCHA is making a technological transformation with the adoption of Building Information Modeling (BIM), a process used by architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals to plan, design, and construct buildings more efficiently. BIM integrates detailed information about assets and produces 3D representations that are compatible with GIS, making it so that designers in Capital Projects are working off the same information as Operations maintenance staff. The result of this integration is line-of-site from planning to design to construction to maintenance. Or, to put it another way, data-informed decision-making at every step in a building's lifecycle.

3. Strategy J.3: Empower NYCHA-Stat to implore operational decisions

"If you can't measure it, you can't improve it" is a quote often attributed to management thinker Peter Drucker. In order to meet the organizational goals presented in this plan, NYCHA staff must have clearly defined metrics and a systematic process to review performance. NYCHA originally implemented the Authority Productivity Tracking System (APTS) in 2001 as a tool to hold managers accountable and provide NYCHA executives with the ability to analyze data and achieve a more effective and efficient service delivery. The process went through various iterations leading to the current NYCHA Statistics, Trends, and Tracking (STAT) meetings. The meetings have been held sporadically over the past years. As part of the Transformation Plan, NYCHA intends to prioritize regular and consistent performance management at all levels of the Authority.

The monthly NYCHA STAT meetings will bring together the Executive staff to do a fully transparent review of performance at the NYCHA-wide, borough, neighborhood and development level. During these meetings, Property Management team members from Neighborhood Directors to Property Maintenance Supervisors will be expected to explain trends on key performance metrics such as rent collection, rent delinquency, annual recertifications, maintenance and skilled trades work orders, vendor work orders, apartment prep time and turnaround time for re-occupancy, etc. Senior level representatives of support departments such as Budget, Human Resources, and Law, will attend the meetings and can provide useful insights on challenging or problematic issues. The process emphasizes accountability but also highlights areas where staff need assistance or more training. All items that require follow-up or corrective action are tracked, escalated if necessary, and addressed in a timely manner.

In addition to the performance review for Property Management departments, the NYCHA STAT process will include the review of key departments such as Capital Projects and Procurement. The meetings will also highlight the metrics pertaining to the pillar areas of the HUD Agreement (mold, pests, lead, elevators, and heat) to give a holistic, integrated view of NYCHA's performance.

While the larger NYCHA STAT meetings will take place on a monthly basis, the vision is to imbed NYCHA STAT principles in the day-to-day operations of the agency. From the Property Manager who checks in daily with the Housing Assistants on their annual reviews, to the Property Maintenance Supervisor who reviews the work orders for the day, to the Procurement staff who monitors the inventory of supplies, all department leads will be expected to review their metrics with staff at least once a week to identify areas that need attention and where early intervention can greatly improve the outcomes. NYCHA STAT will instill the discipline and focus needed to deliver best in class services to our residents.

K. Law Department

The Executive Vice-President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel and the attorneys of the Law Department provide legal counsel and representation to NYCHA. The Law Department is divided into the following practice groups: Strategic Initiatives and Special Policies; Labor Relations & Employment; Fair Housing and Employment Litigation; Appeals; Corporate Affairs; Real Estate and Economic Development; Commercial Litigation; General Litigation; Civil Litigation; Employee Discipline; Housing Litigation; and Torts.

As part of this Transformation Plan, the Law Department is working with Community Engagement and Partnerships, Strategy & Innovation and the Management Services Department to review how NYCHA can improve its enforcement of the terms of the resident lease, while also working with the Supply Management Department on a new Procurement Policy Manual.

During many of our engagements, staff and residents raised a consistent theme – NYCHA needs to do a better job enforcing its rules to improve the quality of life of residents at our properties.

1. Strategy K.1: Take the Burden off Overtaxed Property Level Staff and Implement a Consistent Business Process at the Neighborhood Level

Currently, NYCHA requires that Housing Assistants and Property Managers initiate termination of tenancy proceedings against residents for non-payment of rent and other violations of the lease. NYCHA's Law Department and Public Housing Tenancy Administration have little visibility into which cases are brought and why. In addition, compiling files and showing up in court, both of which require a high degree of familiarity with the legal process, are responsibilities often imposed on Housing Assistants and Property Managers who then are forced to decide between a focus on their other tasks at the properties or a focus on enforcing the lease.

The Law Department, Public Housing Tenancy Administration and Operations will design a new business process for lease enforcement actions. As an initial matter, the Law Department will align itself with the new Neighborhood Model geographic structure and begin to work with Property Management directly at the beginning of the process. Attorneys will work with Property Management to determine whether a termination of tenancy action should proceed, based on the facts and circumstances of that specific case.

Second, NYCHA will review an ongoing pilot, the centralized Housing Court Unit, and assess whether it should be expanded across the portfolio for all non-payment cases. The expanded Housing Court Unit would also be aligned with the Neighborhood Model. Assistant Managers and Housing Court Unit staff will be assigned to each Borough, except that some staff will also be separately assigned to neighborhoods in Harlem and Red Hook, which have separate ????

An expanded Housing Court Unit would centrally track court-ordered repairs, meet with residents, make court appearances, prepare case files, and create service requests in Siebel. Centralizing the processing of non-payment cases will help ensure property-based Housing Assistants and Property Managers have more time to focus on other proceedings, including other breaches of rules and regulations, at the property.

In addition, by aligning the Law Department and the Housing Court Unit with Operations' geographic structure, attorneys and other staff with expertise in the legal process will now have one point of contact for each case as it proceeds. Establishing clear lines of communication will provide additional visibility into the process and allow one person to weigh how cases should proceed to the next step in that process.

2. Strategy K.2: Design Front-Loaded Interventions for each Case

NYCHA does not have a way to look at a household's history relative to the facts of a case in order to decide what the most appropriate intervention might be to enforce the lease. Instead, there is a lack of consistency across the developments on which rules are enforced and the extent to which they are enforced.

With adequate data, NYCHA could require uniform decision-making while ensuring that we better focus our efforts in court on cases involving "non-desirability" and consistent rent delinquency or late payment. Based on the circumstances of each case, other interventions, including rapid repairs, HRA grants, payment plans, or social services may be a more appropriate intervention to ensure the rules of the lease are enforced. These interventions can and should take place before we get to court.

30 KPMG, Current State Observations and Maturity Assessment, p. 329
31 KPMG, Current State Observations and Maturity Assessment, p. 372
32 KPMG, Current State Observations and Maturity Assessment, p. 366-70.
33 KPMG, Change Readiness Report, p. 10.
34 Transformation Plan, EEC Meeting, Feb, 28, 2020.
35 KPMG, Current State Observations and Maturity Assessment, p. 479
36 Transformation Plan, Agency Partner Workshop; Advocate Partner Workshops I and II.
37 KPMG, Current State Observations and Maturity Report, p. 388-89.
38 KPMG, Current State Observations and Maturity Report, p. 130.

Chapter 6. Portfolio Planning

NYCHA's housing portfolio has a capital need of $40 Billion dollars and no existing path to raise that amount of money. While the original public housing finance model was designed to be self-sufficient, with enough rental revenue to fund capital repairs on regular cycles, it has proven to be anything but. Capital subsidies have not kept pace with the need, and many developments have missed two—if not three—recapitalization cycles. These capital needs have a significant impact on residents' quality of life and create a vicious cycle for Maintenance staff, who must fix the same problems repeatedly, while knowing the real, required fix is not coming. This moment is an opportunity to pursue recapitalization of the entire portfolio, and position NYCHA as a stable, sustainable resource in the City it has served since 1935.

A. Capital Projects

The Capital Projects Division (CPD) is responsible for the planning and implementation of all capital construction projects undertaken at NYCHA, including the Super Storm Sandy Recovery and Resilience program. At CPD, limited resources are allocated strategically to ensure the preservation of NYCHA's housing stock for the next generation.

Capital investments are generally long-term projects that improve or enhance the operating conditions of the properties for generations to come. A ten-year outlook and five-year planning cycles obligated CPD to look forward and drive decisions with data, proof of concepts and expertise, thus positioning it to lead the agency on its energy and sustainability portfolio, climate adaptation, innovative design standards and building technologies, among other fronts. CPD coordinates many functions in order to meet NYCHA's overall mission, with expertise in code compliance, design, energy and building science. In addition, CPD has aligned itself functionally to anticipate the changing needs of NYCHA's capital program, breaking down silos that have existed in the past.

Categories of work are now split into four general areas – (1) building envelope projects including exteriors like roofs, masonry, and windows; (2) building systems such as heating, elevators, plumbing, gas riser, underground steam and water distribution lines; (3) apartment and building interior renovations, and (4) grounds and other exterior site security and site improvements. CPD also executes on energy performance contracts.

NYCHA's 2020 Capital Plan provides approximately $7.114 billion in planned commitments for infrastructure improvements, major modernization, other systemic upgrades, repair, resiliency, and fortification of developments damaged or impacted by Superstorm Sandy. The Plan is based on the current federal capital funding outlook, funding from local elected officials and the City of New York and expected disaster recovery in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.

The Plan includes $6.1 billion in City and Federal funds to address deteriorated heating, elevators, facades and roofs. The City Plan includes $1.2 billion to address lead, mold, heating, elevators and pests. The Federal Plan includes $791 million to address building exteriors, including brick and roof projects and another $114 million to address elevator replacements. The State Plan includes $350 million for boilers and $100 million for elevator replacements. Overall, of the $7.114 billion dollars included in this Plan, 47% is from Annual Federal Capital Grants, 38% is from the City of New York, 7% comes from the State of New York, and 8% comes from other sources (Community Development Block Grant, Disaster Recovery, and Other.) 40

To deliver on this critical pipeline of capital projects, CPD is using some of the below strategies.

1. Strategy A.1: Conduct Ongoing Internal Reorganization and Capacity Building

In recent years, CPD integrated large third-party independent program management firms where funding resources are unlikely to recur, allowing for maximum effectiveness in its organizational management. CPD also completed a strategic organizational realignment to increase accountability of managers and staff and to align with industry standards. Ongoing improvement efforts include increased availability and use of technology, standardizing forms and simplifying internal processes, and pursuing different project delivery options. The thread of a capital project runs through each CPD department and is driven to the finish line by a collective effort. These critical functions are:

2. Strategy A.2: Implement Data-Driven and Strategic Capital Planning

Leveraging information captured through the PNA process as well as operational data, CPD applies a logical building sequence when planning work to protect and sustain investments made within developments. This sequence starts with sealing the building envelope --roofs and masonry work-- then turning to building systems, interior renovations and grounds.

Building off this approach, developments scheduled to receive recent elevator and heating plant replacements were identified based on the following process:

Projected costs for capital projects are determined based on the following data sources: PNA estimated cost for replacement, RS Means costing data for New York City projects and NYCHA's recently awarded construction contracts for similar projects. Also, NYCHA applies an escalation factor to capital project allocations.

3. Strategy A.3: Continue Adoption of a Comprehensive Program Management Information Software System

In 2019, CPD procured e-Builder, a high-transparency, cloud-based, ball-in-court program management information system software. The user-friendly software is also a data management platform which allows staff to have full access to documents and project information onsite using their laptops, tablets or smart phones. E-Builder was procured to replace the previous project management software, which would no longer be supported internally or by the software creator.

Since the launch of e-Builder, CPD has outlined workflows for nearly every step in NYCHA's capital process, from project charter and initiation to closeout, and in some cases commissioning. There are now more than 700 active projects in e-Builder, from planning/project charter through design, procurement, construction, closeout and commissioning. Projects were migrated from the old system over a period of nine months, requiring close collaboration with stakeholders in and outside of CPD. Furthermore, in order to accurately track projects and reflect the appropriate funding to a development, all contracts, including requirement contracts or single contracts with many task orders (up to the thousands), were separated by task order and assigned as individual projects with specific funding numbers. This necessitated the creation of thousands of new Oracle funding numbers and thousands of new project files. As such, the system's architecture provides direction and transparency; it has also eliminated hundreds of forms once passed from department to department within CPD.

CPD's adoption of the cloud-based e-Builder proved to be an enormous asset when the COVID-19 health pandemic hit, as staff were able to flag the projects impacted whether by funding or due to conformance with CDC guidelines. Importantly, staff pivoted immediately to a remote working environment utilizing this cloud-based software which allowed them to continue to work without interruption. CPD's certified payroll items during the height of the pandemic in NYC remained at pre-pandemic levels, averaging seventy-five million dollars per month, despite the change in how business was conducted. Much of this could be credited to the e-Builder's seamless transaction approval processes, which included electronic submissions from vendors. Importantly, a majority of capital projects remained on schedule while maintaining safety and quality assurance.

CPD has also piloted using e-Builder for more detailed asset management tracking with its New York State funded Grant Disbursement Agreement (GDA) projects, an allocation of $450 million to replace heating plants and elevators at thirty-five (35) NYCHA developments. The GDA projects will be tracked as individual assets. However, given the additional resources required to complete this level of asset tracking in e-Builder, CPD is also exploring other options.

4. Strategy A.4: Request Utility Waiver from HUD to Capture Savings

NYCHA is working on a proposal to HUD that requests a series a of changes to capture all the savings from utility costs no matter how these savings are achieved. NYCHA is grateful for the supportive relationship our colleagues at HUD have afforded us through the years in advancing Energy Performance Contracts (EPCs). To date, NYCHA went from a single, self-developed $18M EPC in 2013 to financing $310M in projects in 2020, exceeding our 2016 Sustainability Agenda goals. NYCHA energy projects have evolved over the years from simple lighting retrofits to leveraged projects using savings to finance steam plants, decouple domestic hot water, and install building management systems that can monitor operating conditions in tank rooms and comfort conditions in apartments. As NYCHA brings a wide array of mixed financing sources together, we will need access to the full financial benefit of our conservation initiatives. The established energy performance contracting (EPC) and utility rate reduction frameworks restrict and limit what can accrued to NYCHA.

NYCHA plans to request the following changes and is preparing the analytical support to accompany the request and make a final submission:

  1. Accept Rate Reduction Benefit from All Utilities

    Allow NYCHA to retain the full financial benefit from our rate reduction actions with New York Power Authority, DEP, and our gas utility companies.

  2. Waive Three Year Water Baselines

    Allow NYCHA to establish baselines with less than 3 years of data. NYCHA will have 1-2 years of volumetric data and in some cases partial year data that may be used to establish baselines for financing retrofits. The water-financed work would be performed with electric and gas measures happening simultaneously.

  3. Permit Use of All Available Funding Sources to Generate Utility Savings, Including Frozen Base

    Permit NYCHA to retain the full financial benefit of utility and waste reduction projects from equipment replaced using all available sources including but not limited to Capital and Operating funds, allowing NYCHA to freeze its rolling base consumption level and making any required adjustments for missing, incomplete, or incorrect utility data; equivalent consumption adjustments for anticipated fuel changes such as natural gas to electric or natural gas to purchased steam; weather related, occupancy, or Code compliance adjustments; and similar considerations.

  4. Remove Restrictions on EPC Incentives.

    Ensure that all savings flowing through HUD utility incentives are available and received by NYCHA for project work. Savings provided from the HUD energy incentives (e.g., frozen base, additional subsidy) to NYCHA are frequently less than the full financial benefit from the savings achieved. Savings truncated by restrictions on incentives is often 10-15% of estimated savings and could finance more than $45M in additional building system retrofits applied across 110,000 dwelling units.

  5. Allow Structured Finance for Operations and Maintenance Reduced Costs

    Reduced costs from advanced technologies can reduce both operations and maintenance costs but have not been included in third party contracts or financing. NYCHA's proposed pneumatic waste loop pilot project, for example, is expected to reduce housekeeping staffing from 20+ to 2. NYCHA's exterior lighting projects to improve safety and security by installing LED lamp technology that has substantially longer lamp life, 70,000 hours compared to 24,000 hours for a typical high-pressure sodium lamp, which results in reduced labor and equipment requirements. These and other innovative approaches to resilient and sustainable technologies or public-private financing strategies could be funded from reduced operating and maintenance costs. For each $10M reduction in NYCHA's personal services labor budget, NYCHA could finance $120M.

5. Strategy A.5: Implement Other Capital Project Management Improvements

CPD is also in progress of implementing additional changes that provide an opportunity to improve current practices and strengthen CPD's delivery of services to NYCHA residents.

Below is a summary of the seven recommended initiatives, and CPD's progress implementing each initiative:

  1. Develop an updated capital projects procedure manual.

    An updated capital projects procedure manual, reflecting all process stakeholders is underway and is expected to be released, along with a training program, in 2021.

  2. Develop project strategy documents with relevant stakeholders.

    The creation of uniform project strategy documents is underway. Using e-Builder all new projects now receive a "project charter" capturing industry standard elements for project initiation. Staff training on the e-Builder Project Charter is complete. Other documents such as a Project Delivery Execution Plan, which includes detailed information on timelines, costs, and organizational structure, have been completed for select portfolios and CPD is analyzing the rollout of this document to the entire portfolio.

  3. Expand the use of Key Performance Indicators.

    Working with the Performance Tracking and Analytics Department, CPD has identified and is monitoring Key Performance Indicators including but not limited to, whether projects are on schedule and within budget, safety incidence rates, project timelines, contractor safety and quality performance, and others.

    CPD is working to ensure the quality and consistency of data and timeliness of updates, as well as evaluating the portfolio and business requirements to identify additional measurements. Visualizations through reports and dashboards in e-Builder are being developed to provide 'at a glance' storyboards as well as mechanisms for drill downs to view supporting information. As they become available, staff will receive training on the utilization and customization of the new reports as they are become available.

  4. Form a dedicated scheduling team.

    CPD is in the process of building out a dedicated scheduling team. Roles and responsibilities for the team have been defined and job descriptions have been posted. Hiring has commenced and training will be conducted once the schedulers are on board.

  5. Strengthen compliance and internal audit oversight on CPD.

    With regards to strengthening compliance and internal audit oversight on CPD, evaluation of internal roles, responsibilities, and procedures have begun. Restructuring of the department to avoid overlap with existing functions is underway and additional staffing needs are being finalized.

  6. Separate quality and safety inspection team.

    CPD has completed the separation of the quality and safety inspection teams, identifying new roles, hiring staff, and modifying existing templates and policies to accommodate the new configuration. Training is ongoing.

  7. Develop design team timekeeping.

    Finally, the timekeeping initiative, which is spearheaded by IT and will ultimately benefit multiple divisions throughout NYCHA beyond the CPD Design Department, is expected to be completed in 2021.

B. Real Estate Development

The Real Estate Development Department (REDD) is responsible for forming, negotiating, and structuring public-private partnerships to recapitalize and rehabilitate the Authority's apartments. REDD is primarily responsible for executing the NYCHA 2.0 plan, a 10-year plan to address $24 billion in vital capital repairs. As part of its Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) initiative, NYCHA is converting 62,000 units to the Project-Based Section 8 program to provide a more stable flow of federal subsidy and allow NYCHA and its development partners to raise financing to address the full capital needs of over one-third of the portfolio. "Build to Preserve" (BTP) and "Transfer to Preserve" (TTP) will provide for major repairs at another 10,000-15,000 apartments. By the end of 2020, NYCHA will have converted over 9,500 apartments through PACT. Full repairs have been completed or will be underway at these buildings – with over $1.3 billion being invested in them. Another 12,500 apartments are part of PACT projects in the process of resident engagement or pre-development.

Collectively, these programs represent an unprecedented opportunity to not only address the physical needs of NYCHA's buildings and apartments but also invest in resources and amenities that support resident health and prosperity, including safe, walkable streets; public spaces; neighborhood retail; transportation; and social services.

In order to execute the NYCHA 2.0 plan and play a critical role in executing the Blueprint Strategy, REDD has been reorganized into the following business units that can support the full lifecycle of a real estate development project while remaining strategically aligned in core values. The new structure will help the department be more intentional at each stage of the process, ensure project management excellence, and provide high level customer service to our residents and to other colleagues across the NYCHA workforce.

Portfolio Planning

The Portfolio Planning team is charged with developing and managing REDD's project pipeline, leading community planning and engagement initiatives, and crafting policy and communications strategies to support the overall success of these efforts. In collaboration with other NYCHA departments, including Community Development, the Portfolio Planning team leads all advance resident and stakeholder engagement from project inception through developer selection, at which point the Transactions team begins to play a bigger role in shepherding the project through to financial closing. The Portfolio Planning team recently conducted a comprehensive analysis of NYCHA's portfolio to develop a more clearly defined, data-driven approach to selecting properties for inclusion in the PACT, BTP, and TTP programs. The team has also been collaborating with citywide resident leadership to implement new resident planning and engagement strategies, with the goal of providing residents with meaningful opportunities to shape the future of their communities. Team members combine skills in real estate finance, community planning, urban design, architecture, research, and housing policy.

Design and Construction

The Design and Construction team is responsible for providing technical services and expertise across all REDD projects and initiatives. Services include property due diligence; environmental planning; environmental review as required by the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act ("SEQRA") and/or National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA"); preparation of physical conditions assessments as required by HUD for disposition activities such as RAD Capital Needs Assessments ("RAD CNAs") and Obsolescence Assessments per Section 18 of the U.S. Housing Act of 1937; zoning and code review; design and specification review; filing and permitting with the Department of Buildings and other NYC agencies; construction oversight; and quality control. Additionally, the Design and Construction team ensures that PACT repair scopes meet the physical needs of PACT properties, maintaining a standard of quality for repairs, and that PACT repair scopes address the NYCHA priorities of lead, mold, asbestos, heating, elevators, waste management, and generally further the goal of providing healthy homes to NYCHA residents.

Transactions

The Transactions team is responsible for executing real estate development transactions beginning with the procurement process through the transaction's construction closing and including permanent loan conversions and/or refinances. The Transactions team collaborates with REDD Portfolio Planning to develop procurement materials such as RFQs, RFPs and/or RFEIs and evaluates the proposals, ultimately designating a development partner for the public-private partnership. The Transactions team then works with the selected developer partner, attorneys, consultants and other NYCHA developments to see the projects through to financial closing, negotiating and structure the terms of the transaction to maximize value to the Authority's residents and real estate portfolio. At the financial closing of the transaction, the Transactions team coordinates the hand off of the development project to REDD's Asset Management team. Lastly, the Transactions team steps in to manage the conversion of the development project to permanent financing and/or any other refinances.

Asset Management

The Asset Management Team is responsible for managing the ongoing relationship with our development partners and monitoring each project's performance in the portfolio. The team works collaboratively with other NYCHA departments and REDD teams to ensure compliance requirements and portfolio analysis are clearly defined, tracked, managed, reported, and rated. Compliance requirements include monitoring HUD regulatory requirements, monitoring labor and contractor requirements, monitoring construction, monitoring eviction and legal proceedings, and monitoring other legal requirements on a project. Managing portfolio details takes a more in-depth look into a project's financial health, monitors and manages payments to NYCHA, approves operating budgets, and makes management-related decisions on projects when needed. The asset management team will also work out problems on projects with development partners and Property Managers when they arise.

Business Operations

The Business Operations team provides operational and administrative support across REDD and is focused on internal processes and procedures to help the team run expeditiously. It is responsible for managing consultant procurements on behalf of the department and managing contracts and business relationships with REDD's various external consultants. The Business Operations team also manages REDD's internal budgets and serves as the department's liaison with other supportive business units within NYCHA such IT, HR, Procurement, and Financial Planning & Analysis.

C. Blueprint for Change & Public Housing Preservation Trust

To prevent further deterioration and bring NYCHA's full portfolio into compliance with the HUD Agreement and basic Housing Quality Standards, NYCHA estimates the need for approximately $18 billion to stabilize the properties. The Blueprint for Change Stabilization Plan outlines NYCHA's plan for raising the funds and implementing these improvements. The Stabilization Plan addresses the funding gap and the needs of the 110,000 apartments that are not currently in the pipeline for NYCHA 2.0, which covers 62,000 apartments. This "stabilization cost" would address all the key areas of the HUD Agreement:

Fully transforming these buildings, which would mean additional work beyond stabilizing investments, would cost another $7 billion, for a total of $25 billion. A full transformation would involve improving community centers and grounds, new external cladding, and other improvements. 

However, when all the capital funding secured from federal, state, and City partners is added up, combined with projected long-term NYCHA savings, we are confronting a gap of over $11 billion for stabilization and over $18 billion for full transformation. 

The Stabilization Plan is NYCHA's first ever comprehensive plan for every building. To do this, we propose to create a public trust for public housing and to leverage new funding sources to deliver rehabilitated homes for residents, ensuring we leave no apartment behind.  A public trust would be able to procure and expedite massive, historic levels of construction and access federal Tenant Protection Vouchers (TPVs). 

TPVs are HUD's most valuable voucher, worth nearly twice the subsidy of other federal sources. NYCHA has at least 110,000 apartments that are eligible for TPVs because they are in such poor condition and meet HUD's "obsolescence" criteria. When units are "obsolete", they are eligible for TPVs.

NYCHA proposes to use this TPV subsidy as collateral to raise capital. HUD will need to approve the plan to pool the TPVs together before attaching them to specific apartments, so that they can be used to raise funds for capital repairs now. By doing this, NYCHA would be able to raise enough upfront capital funding to stabilize all 110,000 apartments, leveraging the federal dollars further—for every $1 in federal TPV subsidy, NYCHA could complete over $6 in capital repairs. Full funding of the Stabilization Strategy will also require additional Congressional appropriations.

With a public Trust, NYCHA would be guaranteeing a fully public process with end-to-end public control. The relationship between the two public entities would be as follows: 

D. Leased Housing

The Leased Housing Department (LHD) administers NYCHA's Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8). Under this federally funded program, NYCHA makes rent subsidy payments on behalf of eligible families authorized to lease publicly and privately-owned apartments that meet prescribed Housing Quality Standards (HQS). The Section 8 Program provides a rent subsidy, allowing families to pay a reasonable share of the rent with government subsidies making up the difference, up to a maximum amount called the payment standard. The subsidy paid to the landlord (or the housing assistance payment) is usually the difference between thirty percent of the household's total adjusted gross income and the contract rent approved by NYCHA for the apartment.

A total of 24,954 landlords participate in the Leased Housing Program, renting 83,225 Section 8 apartments that house 185,127 authorized residents. Unit rents average $1,403/month rent, with the resident paying an average of $360 and NYCHA paying an average subsidy of $1,053. The average annual income of Section 8 residents is $17,150. The combined Public Housing and Section 8 Programs occupy 7% of the City's total dwelling units and 7% of the City population41

The PACT/RAD and Preservation Trust programs envision a comprehensive portfolio-wide conversion from the Section 9 Public Housing subsidy platform to the Section 8 subsidy platform. If successful, this could mean nearly 170,000 additional vouchers under management upon full conversion.

chap6.1

To prepare for this platform conversion, LHD has commenced a review of its operations and policies. The goal of this review is to ensure that LHD determines its future resource needs to accommodate this program growth. In this multifaceted review, LHD will cover operational components such as workload analysis, office capacity, software assessment as well as policy components that minimize the displacement of residents as conversions occur.

1. Strategy D.1: Implement PACT Pathway to Authorization Pilot

The PACT Pilot Program – Pathway to Authorization, is an example of a policy component that is being piloted by LHD with the goal of reducing displacement of occupants during the conversion process. This pilot program provides a limited opportunity for unauthorized occupant households who did not sign a PACT lease at the time the property converted to project-based Section 8 to obtain authorized status and begin receiving Section 8 assistance.

chap6.2

2. Strategy D.2: Preparing for Increased Vouchers and Workload

Under the HCV program there are regular activities such as annual recertifications, lease renewals/contract rent increases and housing quality standards (HQS) inspections that occur on an annual or biennial basis. There are also several activities that occur at a lower frequency such as transfer requests, interim recertifications and court appearances. LHD'S current state workload analysis takes each activity type and frequency into consideration when determining the appropriate staffing levels. In consideration of the anticipated increases displayed above in the chart labeled "Est. HCV Program Totals by Year", LHD has refreshed its workload analysis to assure that the processing times in the current state are up to date. At the present time, the outcome for the appropriate number of staff required is being reviewed along with the impacts of office space availability, information technology and third party assistance.

40 Capital Plan information per Adopted Budget for FY2020 and The Four-Year Financial Plan FY 2021 – 2024. March 2020.
41 Voucher information per Adopted Budget for FY2020 and The Four-Year Financial Plan FY 2021 – 2024. March 2020.

Chapter 7. Jobs and Recovery Strategy

Section 3 of the Housing Act of 1968, as amended by the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992, is intended to ensure that employment and other economic opportunities generated by certain HUD financial assistance shall, to the greatest extent feasible, and consistent with existing federal, state and local laws and regulations, be directed to low- and very low-income persons, particularly those who are recipients of government assistance for housing, and to business concerns which provide economic opportunities to low- and very low-income persons.

The Section 3 regulations found at 24 CFR Part 135 generally provide for activities and requirements in three broad areas: contracting and hiring goals, use of Section 3 businesses, and other economic opportunities. The rules include specific instructions related to procurement, hiring, economic opportunities, and formation of eligible business entities.

For NYCHA, all HUD provided funds including the Public Housing Operating Fund, Capital Fund and HAP Funds plus any City provided CDBG funds are covered by the rule. There is a need to develop recruitment and other approaches to advance Section 3 within the HCV program and to complement the public housing program efforts. HCV is a substantial portion of the annual budget, mostly as a pass through of Housing Assistance Payments to landlords; however, an assessment of the HCV and Section 3 connections must be a part of this next reform effort. Further, for public housing, there are no contract thresholds. The rule applies to both contractors and subcontractors, and the entire project or activity is covered regardless of whether the Section 3 activity is fully or partially funded with Section 3 covered assistance. In practice NYCHA already applies Section 3 requirements to work that is not federally funded.

Section 3 applies to all construction, reconstruction, conversion or rehabilitation of housing (including reduction and abatement of lead-based paint hazards), other public construction which includes buildings or improvements (regardless of ownership). However, Section 3 covered contracts do not include contracts for the purchase of supplies and materials, unless a contract for materials includes installation.

NYCHA is in the process of preparing a separate policy document with a comprehensive set of ideas to reform NYCHA Section 3 policy and practices to be organized into four general areas:

PART 1 – Hiring of Section 3 Residents/Labor
PART 2 – Business Development and Contracting with Section 3 businesses
PART 3 – Procurement practices that facilitate hiring of Section 3 residents or use of Section 3 businesses
PART 4 – Based on the above compliance efforts, creation of other economic opportunities for Section 3 resident

Connecting these various aspects of compliance must be a centerpiece of any Section 3 policy. Section 3 is an agency wide responsibility that impacts every NYCHA department. NYCHA's Vendor Integrity & Supplier Diversity unit, within Procurement, and Office of Resident Economic Empowerment & Sustainability (REES), lead the program – ensuring Section 3 residents and businesses are connected to opportunities generated by the Authority. Recently both units introduced a new interim standard procedure and training for all agency staff, that address compliance gaps. NYCHA plans to issue updated guidance, inclusive of new measures to expand Section 3 business contracting opportunities and other measures.

Chapter 8. Change Management Plan

While NYCHA's Transformation Plan will provide substantial improvements and enhancements to our residents, properties and employees, we will need to adjust and shift the way we operate and interact to effectuate the many changes discussed in the Plan. Even with good change management, change is hard, and leadership can expect a transition period and, oftentimes, a short-term dip in productivity while the change is being processed.

Organizational change management is critical to the success of the Transformation Plan. Studies report that 70% of change efforts do not succeed: they either fail to deliver benefits or are abandoned entirely42. Change management is the linchpin and key to improving the likelihood of successful outcomes. Effective change management requires stakeholder engagement, training, communications, leadership alignment, a change vision, and change ambassadors. Change is made successful through a combination of soft (qualitative) and hard (quantitative) factors. The most important aspects for a successful change include leadership sponsorship, a shared vision, communication, and ownership of change by upper and middle management. Organizational change management must operate in parallel with the creation and implementation of the Transformation Plan given the scope of changes needed.

A one-size fits all organizational change management approach, strategy, and framework will not be effective in enabling sustainable change, especially in an organization-wide transformation. NYCHA needs a strategy focused on optimizing engagement and acceptance from 11,000 employees across a range of departments, located in disparate locations, in different roles, with different tenures and experiences, and employees who are residents, where this strategy takes on a different meaning. The change management plan sets a critical foundation for NYCHA's Transformation Plan. It establishes the change vision and overarching approach and maps the path to achieve specific goals and outcomes in the transition.

NYCHA's change management approach consists of four phases including:

A. Understanding Change Readiness and the Current State

To prepare NYCHA for the launch of the Transformation Plan, work has already begun to understand the current state through the recent and planned activities summarized below:

chap8.1

B. Align on future state

To continue to drive awareness and understanding of planned changes through stakeholder engagement activities, we are developing a change network, engaging leadership, and focusing on empowering staff.

C. Executing on the Change

Executing on planned changes will occur after understanding the impact of the changes and continuing to engage with internal and external stakeholders. Activities that began in the previous phases will continue throughout the implementation of the Transformation Plan through continuous improvement and gathering feedback and leading to development of an enterprise level framework for change management.

D. Reinforcing the change

Many change initiatives experience short-term success, but ultimately fail due to a lack of sustained commitment by the organization. Maintaining and strengthening change and the desired behaviors across the organization requires close tracking of what is working and what is not, as well as the ongoing refinement and evolution of change messages and techniques to keep employees engaged. We plan to track compliance with new processes across stakeholder groups and adjust the change management plan as needed. To build towards ongoing sustainable change and enable the full expected benefits of the Transformation Plan, we will review, iterate on, and continuously improve our enterprise level framework by incorporating feedback and lessons learned from stakeholders.

42 Harvard Business Review: What Everyone Gets Wrong About Change Management by N. Anand and Jean-Louis Barsoux
43 KPMG developed the NYCHA Roadmap to provide opportunities for improvement identified in the Maturity Assessment.
44KPMG conducted a change readiness survey in September 2019. The survey was sent from the Office of the Chair to 600+ leaders, from EVPs to property managers. The survey primarily focused on perceptions among management of the HUD Agreement and the new Chair. The Transformation Plan change readiness survey will build on the findings from the KPMG survey and track NYCHA's progress on addressing the risks outlined in the KPMG Change Readiness Report.

Chapter 9. Implementation Plan

NYCHA's complex, agency-wide transformation demands an iterative implementation approach as the strategies described in this plan are largely dependent on each other and overlap with the Agreement compliance pillars and Action Plans. To ensure that employees and stakeholders remain meaningfully engaged in both planning and rollout of NYCHA's transformation, implementation plans have been created for each initiative. Throughout implementation, NYCHA will monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to understand each transformation strategy's progress and where adjustments may be needed to enable long-term sustainability and success.

A. Approach

As with any aspect of NYCHA's transformation, implementation planning requires significant cross-departmental collaboration. To develop each project plan, NYCHA engaged those employees closest to a specific strategy through a series of planning meetings. These individuals (colloquially referred to as "owners") worked closely with the Strategy & Innovation team to develop a thoughtful, phased approach to NYCHA's transformation. The ensuing project plans are composed of the following elements:

In sum, these project plans have provided NYCHA with the dependencies, timelines, and resource considerations necessary to develop an agency-wide implementation plan.

B. Roadmap

Ultimately, the goal of these engagements was to create a comprehensive, agency-wide implementation roadmap that incorporates the scale, breadth, duration, and sequencing of NYCHA's transformation. This deliverable will help guide NYCHA through this process, both as a planning tool and as a visual aid to convey the long-term objectives the Transformation Plan.

As a result of this exercise, NYCHA was able to identify dependencies and establish clear project sequencing for the transformation strategies described in this plan. Some examples include, but are not limited to:

NYCHA's focus on continuous improvement is reflected in the numerous business process and organizational changes described in this plan. The examples above are a small part of the inter-departmental improvements, reforms, and reorganization contained in each project plan. To implement these strategic priorities, NYCHA will closely track what is working and what is not, ensuring that employees and stakeholders remain engaged and committed to the transformation. The roadmap below illustrates the complexity and breadth of NYCHA's multi-year transformation. See Appendix D for a more detailed implementation plan.

chap9.1