New Yorkers hate sidewalk scaffolding, the omnipresent structures that seemingly spring up overnight and obstruct pedestrian traffic for years at a time. New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) residents feel the scourge of these sidewalk sheds even more acutely than most, with more than 400 separate sheds comprising more than 130,000 linear feet — a staggering 25 miles — across NYCHA-managed properties.
A combination of time and weather will cause any building in the city to fall into disrepair. When cracks and other signs of age show up on exterior walls, a city law, Local Law 11, requires scaffolding to be installed until repairs can be made.
As the city’s largest landlord, NYCHA is committed to full compliance and to the safety of our developments. But scaffolds and fencing are costly and difficult to maintain; they make residents feel less safe, increase debris, reduce visibility and create additional risks for crime.
So, our focus is to keep up the scaffolding we need, and get rid of what we don’t.
We are making real progress: $323 million in state capital funds is enabling NYCHA to complete much-needed façade renovation work at 124 buildings across 29 developments where more than 46,000 residents live, and take down more than 39,500 linear feet of sidewalk sheds — four times the length of the National Mall — over the next two years.
It will save us $7 million per year in scaffolding, funding that can and must be spent elsewhere in our portfolio.
But now it’s time to build on this momentum, reforming parts of the city’s broader shedding regulations that are a poor fit for NYCHA and a nuisance citywide.
Under current rules, NYCHA’s sidewalk shedding can extend into our campus the equivalent of half the height of our buildings, depending on how high up the façade issue is. Scaffolding on our taller buildings can extend more than 40 feet, covering walkways and fencing off playgrounds and seating areas — essentially robbing NYCHA residents of needed outdoor space without additional safety benefits.
As the head of NYCHA’s board, I support the bold package of bills recently introduced by City Council Members Keith Powers and Erik Bottcher which initiate long-overdue reforms, like elongating inspection times between cycles to help reduce how frequently sheds go up, increasing the visual diversity of the scaffolding and much else besides.
First, they include measures for thoughtful, practical design requirements, enabling new colors and designs to bring a little more humanity and care to this necessary safety infrastructure.
The Council has already done great work in this area. It passed Intro 956 earlier this year, which makes the “City Canvas” program, as it’s called, easier to implement, allowing artwork to be painted directly on a sidewalk shed or construction fence — if not doing away with the sea of forest green, at least bringing the creativity of our residents and city to bear to make the sheds more appealing and dynamic.
We can attest to the program’s impacts: In 2023, we partnered with ArtBridge and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs’ City Artist Corps to display works by local artists — including public housing residents — on construction scaffolding at 16 NYCHA developments across the five boroughs.
Resident associations, resident leaders and property managers collaborated to temporarily transform these structures into canvases that were reflections of the communities themselves, and a great source of pride for all involved.
Now, this new legislation will go even further, bringing new designs and colors of the sheds themselves into the mix, positively changing the daily experiences of the New Yorkers who visit, work and live at our campuses.
One thing I’d like to see included in any legislation that makes it to the finish line is shrinking the maximum number of feet that a scaffold can extend past the façade. This wouldn’t just bring more sunlight and safety to our campuses — but being able to do away with unnecessary shedding would also bring real savings, potentially to the tune of millions of dollars, which, as we’ve proven out with the state investment, we could invest elsewhere at our developments.
As these bills make their way through the City Council, they represent a real opportunity to simultaneously remove unnecessary shedding at NYCHA developments and repurpose the funding to further address quality of life concerns for public housing residents.
The Council has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change Gotham’s landscape and improve the quality of life for public housing residents. By passing this legislation, they are heading in the right direction.
Rubin is the NYCHA Board chair.
