Public Service Award

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is the largest public housing authority in the nation with 335 developments across the city. Home to 1 in 17 New Yorkers, NYCHA’s mission is to provide quality housing that is sustainable, inclusive, and safe, while fostering opportunities for economic mobility. NYCHA is also the city’s largest landlord, and one of the city’s biggest landowners. 

NYCHA’s Real Estate Development Department’s (REDD) is charged with reinvesting in, restoring, and rebuilding publicly controlled affordable housing. We deliver on our mission by securing capital sources and operational expertise through innovative partnerships, centered on robust resident engagement and collaboration.  REDD’s work is critical to achieving NYCHA’s overall agency mission. Our partnerships support NYCHA with transformative real estate initiatives such as the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program, the Public Housing Preservation Trust (Trust) program, the transfer of development and air rights, including the redevelopment of NYCHA campuses. 
 
REDD has made significant progress toward preserving thousands of apartments with around 30,000 units converted to Project-Based Section 8, leveraging capital investments of over $8 billion for residents through PACT. 

In addition to the PACT program, other development opportunities supported by REDD have included the creation of thousands of affordable apartments, public and charter schools, and supportive housing. By leveraging all available federal tools, NYCHA can further advance its mission to provide safe, affordable housing, create complete and supportive communities, and help solve some of the City’s largest housing challenges.   

The Real Estate team continues to innovate and adapt our programs to address resident needs and to plan holistic rehabilitation or redevelopment of our NYCHA land. REDD is a small but mighty team with backgrounds in planning, architecture, law, real estate, policy, and finance. Our department is organized into five business units that support the full lifecycle of a real estate development project while remaining strategically aligned in core values and objectives. Our Chief Real Estate Officer's office aligns all of the verticals within the department, ensuring that each team works together to achieve our goals. We have a team of planners and community engagement specialists in our Portfolio Planning and Project Development group who lead our efforts related to pipeline planning and resident engagement activities. Our Transactions team supports our financial closings by working closely with HUD, other government agencies, and our partner teams to ensure projects meet all federal requirements.  The Design and Construction team consists of designers and architects and construction managers who ensure each project is scoped and constructed in accordance with our program goals and all requirements. Our Asset Management team provides oversight by working with our partners to collect and analyze monthly reporting on a range of key performance indicators related operational and financial performance of all our projects.