NYC Public Housing to become more energy efficient under $70M plan unveiled by Gov. Hochul and Mayor Adams

New York City’s public housing complexes are getting $70 million to pay for new heating and cooling technology that would allow residents to control temperatures in their own apartments — a policy aimed at making buildings more energy efficient — as well as tenants’ own personal comfort.

The funding will come from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the New York Power Authority, according to Gov. Hochul, who announced the plan Tuesday with Mayor Adams in Queens.

Hochul touted the $70 million worth of “green investments in public housing” as a way to decarbonize NYCHA buildings by swapping out fossil fuel burning boilers with individual electric heat pumps for apartments.

“We’re investing in communities that have been systematically ignored,” she said outside of NYCHA’s Woodside Houses. “We’re taking steps to improve the indoor air quality in public housing … and, in the process, we’re going to spur innovation for brand new technologies here in New York that the rest of the nation will be looking at.”

The heating and cooling pumps, which were produced after the state sought out competitive bids late last year, work by absorbing heat from outside air and pumping it inside. The units sit on window sills and can also run in reverse, cooling down apartments in the summer.

“We’ll be able to have residents control the temperature in their own units — that’s a radical idea for NYCHA residents,” Hochul said. “We’re giving the power back to the people, and saying, ‘Yes, you can have control.’”

Hochul said the units will also go a long way toward helping NYCHA and the state in reaching strict climate and clean energy goals. NYCHA is required to reduce emissions 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2050.

Proponents say the electric saddle-shaped window units will greatly reduce pollution and the carbon footprint of oil-based heating.

Adams called the plan “amazing” and lauded Hochul for being an excellent partner — a relationship he’s highlighted before and which stands in contrast to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who feuded perpetually, including when it came to funding for the New York City Housing Authority.

“Historically, NYCHA has always been last — last in technology, last in evolution, last in changes, last in repairs, last in the resources that are coming from Albany,” the mayor said. “You are now first.”

Woodside Houses, where both leaders spoke Tuesday, has had a history of heating issues over the years.

Residents of the complex have been suffering as a result since at least 2018 when a boiler there conked out, resulting in a loss of heat and hot water in the dead of winter. But those problems have persisted, leading residents and elected officials to seek relief this past January.

The pumping units are intended to be the solution, with 30,000 intended for NYCHA apartments over the next several years. Midea America and Gradient both received contracts through the state to manufacture those, but NYCHA estimates that a total of about 156,000 will be needed within the decade to achieve its greenhouse gas reduction goals.

Including the $70 million announced Tuesday, NYCHA plans to put a total of $250 million toward purchasing and installing the units.

NYCHA Chairman Greg Russ predicted the new heating and cooling system would especially serve as a boon to kids and seniors who are more sensitive to extreme heat and cold, but he conceded that it’s part of a broader plan to address NYCHA’s need “to change every single piece of equipment that it currently has.”

The boilers, which he said “were designed to run hot with the windows open,” are just one example.

“We need to change that technology,” he said. “This is step one.”