OP-ED: Tenants should not have to trade their rights, stability, or community to get safe living conditions

The Trump administration is advancing proposals that would limit how long families can remain in federally subsidized housing, including Section 9 and Section 8. For public housing residents in New York City, that’s not an abstract policy debate—it’s a direct threat to housing stability.

At a moment when federal support is becoming more precarious, New York City should be doubling down on the one system that has consistently provided deeply affordable housing: Section 9 public housing. Instead, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) has spent years steering developments toward privatization through programs like PACT (Permanent Affordability Commitment Together).

This approach is often framed as the only way to secure long-overdue repairs. But the reality on the ground tells a different story.

At Red Hook West, residents are seeing visible upgrades to building exteriors—facades, roofs, and infrastructure tied to conversion requirements—while some apartments remain in disrepair. Tenants are left waiting for basic fixes inside their homes, even as millions are invested around them.

Red Hook West has been made safer from climate change, and NYCHA wants to hand it over to a private developer!? NYCHA is counting on tenant frustration to enable privatization. So they won’t make comprehensive repairs to units. Instead they will repair the grounds, elevators, boilers, roofs and facade. NYCHA will show tenants rehabilitated apartments, but tell them that it is only attainable if they accept PACT.

Tenants should not have to trade their rights, stability, or community to get safe living conditions.

Across the city, tenants, lawyers and housing advocates have raised serious concerns about PACT. In City Council hearings, they testify about displacement pressures, the loss of protections and succession rights, poor-quality repairs, and rising rents. These are not isolated complaints—they are patterns that deserve scrutiny before more developments are pushed down the same path. You can watch some of these testimonies by visiting www.bit.ly/BADPACT

And yet, in Red Hook West the proposal to privatize and demolish is moving forward without full transparency. Residents are being asked to accept PACT and even demolition proposals through processes that many feel excluded from. Often, those who oppose PACT are silenced or banned. That is unacceptable for decisions of this magnitude. The Red Hook West tenant association wants you to believe that they can negotiate your safety under PACT. They can’t. PACT harms tenants.

There is another path, and you are needed for it to succeed.

What you can do

Public housing can be preserved and repaired without privatization. We’re demanding $662 million in city funds and $772 million in state funds on top of the $1 billion included in the state budget be earmarked for comprehensive modernization!

This is not a question of whether the money exists—it’s a question of political will and priorities.

New York cannot afford to follow a federal trend that weakens housing protections while simultaneously dismantling its strongest affordable housing asset from within. Preserving Section 9 public housing is not just about maintaining buildings; it’s about protecting the stability of generations of New Yorkers.

On May 8, community members will come together to call on elected officials to fund public housing without privatization and to reject plans that put tenants at risk. That pressure is necessary. I hope you’ll join us. You can register by visiting www.bit.ly/ss9phonebank

Additionally, you can sign our petition against the privatization and demolition of Red Hook West by visiting www.bit.ly/saverhw

Because once you join PACT there’s no way back to Section 9.

Save Section 9 is a coalition of public housing tenants that advocates for the sustainable and resilient rehabilitation of Section 9 housing, America’s only truly affordable housing stock. They educate residents and lobby for adoption of federal solutions to the nation-wide housing shortage crisis.
savesection9.org