The NYCHA public housing in Red Hook is the largest NYCHA development in Brooklyn, and the second largest in New York City. It is where the overwhelming majority of Red Hook residents live.

Land for the houses was condemned May, 1938, the same month that PortSide's flagship MARY A. WHALEN was launched. Red Hook East opened in November 1939. It has 16 residential buildings and 3 non-residential buildings with a total of 1,411 units.

Red Hook West was built in 1955. It has 14 residential buildings and one non-residential building with a total of 1,480 units.

A great summary of what prompted the planning and building of the houses and what you had to go through to get an apartment in the beginning is in a Brownstoner article here.

The NYCHA footprint has many Red Hook WaterStories associated with it since it is largely located where there were tide mill ponds and  waterfront-related businesses, because of the work history of many of the residents over the years, and because of the great damage done by hurricane Sandy. 

NYCHA
official home page 
Org chart 
MyNYCHA development portal

Red Hook East Development
map and list of buildings 

Red Hook West Development
map and list of buildings 

NYCHA Management office Red Hook East
62 Mill St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231
(718) 852-6771

NYCHA Management office Red Hook West
55 Dwight St, Brooklyn, NY, 11231
(718) 522-3880

Red Hook West Residents Association

• Karen Blondell, President
• Nahisha McCoy, Vice President
• The elected Secretary stepped down for medical reasons 8/1/22.
• Vanessa McKnight, Sargent at Arms
• Email: RHWRA2022@gmail.com
• Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/714290506222039/?ref=share
• Office 428 Columbia apt 1C, between W9th and Lorraine, west side of street, by flagpole.  Due to covid restrictions and office repairs, meeting times and dates TBD.

Red Hook East Residents Association

• President Mrs. Frances Brown
• Meeting day/time 3rd Wednesday, 6:30
• Meeting location: 167 Bush Street, Apt 1B
• Email fabbrown795@aol.com, (347) 489-6095
• No website

NYCHA official Sandy Recovery updates 
NYCHA Sandy recovery monitoring 

Official NYC Sandy funding tracker
http://www1.nyc.gov/sandytracker/#2576322132

NYCHA Resiliency upgrades
Official NYCHA RFP for state-of-the-art microgrid; heat & power generation system at Red Hook Houses 

NYCHA Resiliency plan
This is from a presentation made to the Red Hook community as part of a process seeking community input.  Here is a webpage about it from KPF the lead planning firm.

The resiliency upgrades being executed will provide great improvements to residents of the development and benefit Red Hook as a whole.

However the way the work rolled out in 2020 has caused a lot of disruption and upset. Instead of being phased so that the whole NYCHA complex was not under construction at once, all of the develpment became a work site.

90% of the trees were cut down, all outdoor amenities were removed (playgrounds, sprinklers, seating).

Enormous mounds of dirt from the excavation were left exposed, uncovered; and high chain link fences separated walkways from all this work making the place feel like a hostile maze.

Then the pandemic hit and work was stoppped as it was deemed non-essential, with the dirt piles left uncovered. Many of these were found to contain toxic soil.

The digging ruptured may gas and waterlines, in differet episodes around the development over time, leaving many NYCHA residents without heat, gas for cooking or a water source.  Coping with this on top of the pandemic has been a very heavy load.

In October 2021, NYCHA released Climate Change at NYCHA: A Plan to Adapt which outlines their approach to mitigating climate-induced hazards. 

It is a companion piece to New York City Housing Authority's Urban Forest. A Vital Resource for New York City and Flood Resilience at NYCHA: Memorializing Lessons Learned Through the Hurricane Sandy Disaster Recovery Program.

See also NYCHA Sustainability Agenda