The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) has proposed a considerable number of strategies over the years intended to improve operations at the agency, as well as living conditions for the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who reside in NYCHA apartments — generally ending with little to no change.

Now, Greg Russ, the chair and CEO of NYCHA, is proposing a new plan, one that would essentially change the way the Housing Authority is financed.

This move, Russ said on Inside City Hall on Tuesday evening, will enable the agency to receive a different type of housing voucher from the federal government and could leverage billions of dollars for repairs. The proposed new division of NYCHA, the "Public Housing Preservation Trust," would virtually create a new entity, transferring apartments from one agency to the other.

Russ told NY1 there's still a lot of conversations to be had about the proposal, as it's still in draft form.

"We have to really have a lot of approval processes here," he said. "We do have a lot of things to build. First thing we have to build is a relationship with the residents so they understand what the plan is about and that they understand that we're taking special care to make sure that the resident protections, the resident rights, things that they're familiar with in public housing, are going to be carried over.” Russ explained.

"We don't want families fearful of this. We want them to feel like if we can make the change and raise the money, they will be at the benefit of that."

Russ, who has already discussed his proposal with Mayor de Blasio, said he would also like to speak with Governor Cuomo to go over the intent behind the unprecedented plan.

"At some point, I would like to have a conversation with the governor about it, too, so that we can brief the governor on what the intent and how this might work" he told Errol Louis. "We're doing this carefully and thoughtfully. And we're going to keep both the city and state apprised as we get updates."

Russ' plan comes as the city grapples with a housing crisis that is likely to worsen due to the coronavirus pandemic.

------

Watch the full interview above.