Editor’s note: We previously covered the announcement of the Mayor’s new housing plan, called Block by Block. See below for several statements about the plan, which relies again on nonprofits. As we’ve also previously discussed, New York City has a payment problem when it comes to vendors for many of their services, causing charities to carry large debts, with interest, in order to provide these services that the City is supposed to pay for in a timely fashion.
Overpromise and Underpay: NYC’s Checkered History With Nonprofits
Mayor Mamdani calls his Block by Block housing plan “the most ambitious plan for affordable housing the city has ever seen.” It relies heavily on nonprofits taking over buildings in chronic neglect, with City Hall as their partner.
But New York City has a checkered history of paying nonprofit organizations on time. As of 2025, the city owed at least $1 billion to nonprofits for more than 7,000 unpaid invoices, forcing organizations to take out loans, scale back programs, lay off staff, or close their doors entirely. Recently, the Mamdani Administration reportedly considered delaying payment to hundreds of those same nonprofits to manage cash flow challenges, only backing off after widespread pushback.
Our new white paper asks the obvious question: would it be a very large and risky ask for any nonprofit to take on such projects with very little chance of timely payment?
Read Overpromise and Underpay .
With Mayor Mamdani releasing his housing plan, sharing a statement below from Jessica Katz, former NYC Chief Housing Officer and current head of the NYCHA Regeneration Initiative, on the plan’s focus on NYCHA and public housing.
Statement from Jessica Katz, Head of the NYCHA Regeneration Initiative:
“New York City’s housing plan must keep NYCHA at the center, and Mayor Mamdani’s Block by Block plan does just that. The plan pledges to use every available tool to preserve and improve public housing, pairing expanded city capital commitments and a Build First strategy with stronger financial and operational support for programs like PACT and the Preservation Trust. Just as importantly, it emphasizes deeper resident engagement and accountability to help build trust with NYCHA tenants as these efforts move forward. The plan also commits to including NYCHA tenants in broader neighborhood planning, which has been overlooked for far too long. That is how you begin to restore dignity, stability, and long-overdue investment to public housing residents across the city.”
NYC Common Sense released the following statement on Juneteenth:
“As we honor and recognize the long fight for Black freedom and dignity, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who call NYCHA home are still being denied basic needs – like reliable heat and hot water, working elevators, and apartments free of mold and lead. If City Hall is serious about racial justice, it must deliver the scale of investment, and the urgency, that NYCHA families have been promised, and denied, for far too long. The City’s largest landlord must treat its own tenants with respect before pointing the finger at others.”
Banner Image: Public housing. Image Credit – Compagnons
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