Mayor Ras J. Baraka and Newark Housing Authority Executive Director Victor Cirilo announced today that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded the Housing Authority (NHA) of the City of Newark $24,029,303 under the HUD Capital Fund Program. The program assists housing authorities to make large scale capital improvements to their properties.

The HUD Capital Fund Grant Program is used to build, repair, renovate and/or modernize public housing in communities across the nation.  In 2011, HUD released a third-party independent study that estimated $25.6 billion in large scale repairs were needed across the nation. The Newark Housing Authority has commissioned physical needs assessments for every property in order to have a thorough overview of its capital needs. The Authority has a backlog of hundreds of vacant apartments waiting for funding,

“We thank New Jersey’s Congressional delegation for responding to the needs of Newark’s residents for quality housing that they can afford,” said Mayor Baraka. “These funds will be a big help to Newark in upgrading the condition of our public housing and expanding the availability of decent, safe, and sanitary public housing apartments.”

“The Newark Housing Authority has made a commitment to improve the quality of life throughout all our complexes,” said Director Cirilo. “This capital investment comes at the right time as we seek to address the physical condition of our existing properties and put more apartments back into service.”

Capital improvements for 2019 include roof work at senior citizen high rises, elevator modernization, replacement of weak apartment floors, rehab of leaking underground steam pipes, cyclical painting of hundreds of units, parking lot repaving, replacement of faucets and water service lines, purchase of heavy snow removal equipment, purchase of trash compactors for our new recycling program, and the full rehabilitation of hundreds of vacant apartments at various locations.  

The Newark Housing Authority oversees over 12,000 units throughout the City of Newark and it is the largest Housing Authority in New Jersey. The agency was created under the Federal Housing Act of 1938 to address blighted conditions and a shortage in affordable housing.

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