Dive Brief:
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New York City’s public housing stock needs an upgrade, and city officials are looking at private investors for help, The Wall Street Journal reported.
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The New York City Housing Authority’s Rental Assistance Demonstration Program is looking for private-sector support for roughly 1,700 units in Brooklyn and the Bronx requiring a total of $350 million in repairs, from new elevators to upgraded kitchens.
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Such partnerships with private entities could increase the number of units in the city participating in the Section 8 program to 3,100, though critics are wary of private sector involvement in public programs.
Dive Insight:
The proposal joins a host of efforts in the residential and commercial sectors to establish partnerships between public entities and private investors to facilitate building construction and maintenance.
In New York City’s Rockaways, private developers have been tapped to upgrade 1,400 units of public housing administered by the city’s housing authority, according to The Journal. The $325 million project includes $190 million for Hurricane Sandy-related repairs.
New York is developing other public-private projects for major upgrades across the city, with a $4 billion terminal addition underway at LaGuardia Airport led by Skanska.
Private equity could also be tapped for the $10 billion expansion and redevelopment of the city’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, in particular the planned terminal additions and upgrades.
President-elect Donald Trump has also raised the prospect of using private funds as part of his $1 trillion infrastructure plan to plough billions of dollars into upgrading the nation’s roads, airports and utilities.
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