Council Member Aldebol on capital funding accountability and project delays

Okay, so we have Councilmember Aldebar followed by Brewer.

Good afternoon.

Thank you for testifying today.

1950 Hutchison Parkway Apartments, it's a co-op, a Chalamet co-op in my district in the East Bronx.

In the FY27 budget, I worked to secure funding to cover one of the major capital projects.

Of the apartment complex and by taking that large maintenance cost off, that capital cost off the books of the property,

you know, the goal is to decrease the need for major maintenance.

increases.

So my question is kind of in line with Councilmember Farias.

What accountability measures does HPD have in place as part of your oversight to ensure that these savings are passed on to residents?

And the controller's report included findings about financial oversight failures across

New York City and New York State management of the Lama properties.

City Council report also cited returned funding from past fiscal years due to mismanagement and money not used despite the obvious need for capital improvements.

What oversight measures does HPD have to ensure that money allocated towards specific projects are used?

Appropriately and how can we move these projects through the pipeline faster

because we can allocate money but if it takes years for these projects to happen the costs just go up and then we never, it feels like this cycle that we never

can get over.

So just if you have any ideas of how to move that, you know, time is money also.

So how, you know, what ideas do you have to get these projects moved more timely so that

the costs don't keep

escalating over time.

So thankfully, that project that you referenced is in the pipeline.

Yes, I know.

The additional project managers that we have at HPD and that are currently being hired and onboarded will do a lot to move through the development pipeline.

Like I said, it's not just Mitchell Llamas that will benefit.

It's going to benefit all of the affordable stock that's coming through the preservation pipeline.

The amount of capital that we put into a project, obviously it's going to...

It's going to improve the conditions of the building, and it'll probably lead to reduced repairs and maintenance expenses in the short to medium term, which could help mitigate the increase that the residents will have to pay.

The other tools that we have available to us are trying to get more creative on the operating expense side.

So like I said about the J51 reauthorization, that will be really helpful to pair with capital improvements to ensure that the increases are not as high as they would have been without J51.