Frequent and lengthy disruptions to gas, heat, water and electricity in public housing undermine the safety and stability of the tenants who reside there. These outages are chronic in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) houses and tenants regularly experience months without cooking gas, weeks without electricity, and days without heat. In 2022, NYCHA’s Brooklyn developments experienced 552 hot water outages, 232 heat outages, and 292 water outages, demonstrating widespread utility failures. There are significant costs when dealing with these outages, which fall on tenants, 90 percent of whom are Black and Latinx.
The NYCHA Utility Accountability Act is pending state legislation that advances racial justice by reducing tenant rent during utility outages. This Act requires NYCHA to credit residents with the higher of either 10% of their rent or $75 per month, on a pro-rated daily basis for each day with a disruption of heat, water, gas, or electricity service.
“Reduced rent during utility outages is only fair and will help make sure we’re not left without answers," says Ms. Ceruti, a resident of the NYCHA Wagner Houses in East Harlem, who has been living for nearly two years without gas in her building. NYCHA cut off kitchen stove gas to her and 30 of her neighbors following a dangerous basement gas leak in June 2022.
Learn more about the NYCHA Utility Accountability Act and how it will provide just relief for tenants.