Ruth Hernandez just moved back into her apartment at NYCHA’s Todt Hill Houses in Manor Heights on Staten Island after major renovations. She has a new kitchen, new floors, new windows, a new bathroom and lots of closet space. 

“The most I like is the space for the clothes. Ooo! Ooo!” she told NY1.  

Plus, there’s new plumbing in her building, and no more lead-based paint. Hernandez didn’t have to spend a dime for any of the work. 

What You Need To Know

The New York City Housing Authority’s Todt Hill Houses in Manor Heights on Staten Island are undergoing a $150 million renovation. It’s part of NYCHA’s comprehensive modernization program

City and federal funding is covering the cost of interior and exterior renovations at the complex under a 2019 agreement with the federal government to address the mold and lead paint

Residents have to temporarily move out of their units while their building is under construction because the project includes such vast renovation. Everyone is given the right to return when the renovations finish, and they were told that rent will not rise as a result of the work

Moving costs are covered, and NYCHA relocates residents to other NYCHA properties. Construction for the 500 Todt Hill Houses units started in 2024 and is expected to be done by mid-2027

The Todt Hill Houses are undergoing a $150 million renovation. It’s part of NYCHA’s comprehensive modernization program.

Residents have to temporarily move out of their units while their building is under construction because the project includes such vast renovation. Everyone is given the right to return when the renovations finish, and they were told that rent will not rise as a result of the work. 

Residents are being temporarily relocated to other NYCHA apartments while their buildings are under construction. Relocation specialists are meeting with each resident in order to create a family relocation plan, and NYCHA is covering the cost of moving. 

Michele Basic Moore, the vice president of comprehensive modernization at NYCHA, is overseeing the project.

“The idea was, how do we effectively use the funding that Lynch has to comprehensively renovate our properties and deal with all of the different issues that we know our buildings have,” she told NY1. “Todt Hill Houses was selected because we knew we had a high number of units that had lead-based paint in them, mold, and children under the age of 6 living in them.” 

The city is paying for the repairs under a 2019 agreement with the federal government to address the mold and lead paint in the seven Todt Hill buildings, as well as 31 other NYCHA apartment buildings. 

The program is also addressing the backlog of repairs, another longstanding NYCHA problem. Systemwide, roughly 149,000 NYCHA apartments need about $80 billion to fix them.

Doreen Williams, the resident association president at the Todt Hill Houses, says NYCHA had to work to build trust with Todt Hill residents. 

“I trust knowing that this is going to make my life better, my neighbor’s life better, because I’m not only the resident association president, I’m a resident,” she said. “I’m excited. Just knowing everything that’s broken will be fixed.” 

Construction for the 500 Todt Hill Houses units started in 2024 and is expected to be done by mid-2027. 

Residents will be able to provide input and ultimately choose between two options on what kind of finishes they wanted in their kitchen and bathrooms. 

“We did visioning sessions with the residents to get their feedback before we even started the project,” Basic Moore said, adding that they “really tried to focus on how do we improve the quality of life in the apartments and give residents a say in the design and construction of the renovation.”

There are other programs in place across the NYCHA footprint to make similar repairs, like converting NYCHA developments to project-based Section 8 housing and leasing out property to build market-rate apartments — both of which fund repairs.

Despite being under a longstanding court order to fix mold issues, NYCHA has a drastically low compliance rate, according to the New York City Council on Public Housing. 

Residents like Hernandez and Williams say the construction is exceeding expectations, an outcome NYCHA leaders hope to replicate throughout the system. 

The Todt Hill Houses comprise seven different buildings. NYCHA recently completed renovations in one of them, and is expected to move residents back to the second one by the end of the year.