Sen. Chuck Schumer on Sunday demanded the federal government pony up $1.2 billion in funds right away for public housing that the city’s long-troubled Housing Authority would be able to tap into.

“However you want to put it, NYCHA we all know is in need of help now. This is a now or never moment,” the New York Democrat said outside the Alfred E. Smith Houses on the Lower East Side.

“We can turn the corner now and get the residences fixed up or we can let this amazing group of housing, which houses over 400,000 people, go down the drain and deteriorate … That’s the turning point we are at right now,” he continued.

Schumer’s office appealed to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson to ask for the funds be allocated to a national housing account that NYCHA could access.

“If Carson and the administration agree with the request and insert the appropriation in the fiscal year 2020 budget, NYCHA would be able to access those dollars for long-delayed capital improvements,” said spokesman Angelo Roefaro.

Reciting a litany of chronic problems that plague NYCHA units across the five boroughs, including mold, broken boilers, leaky roofs and lead paint, Schumer said it’s time for HUD to “put your money where your mouth is.”

“We’ve had the HUD secretary visit. We’ve had the New York regional representative stay in the houses. We’ve had a lot of words. And we’ve had them come in and put in a monitor. But we haven’t gotten any money,” Schumer, the Senate minority leader, said.

HUD administrator Lynne Patton, who has been staying in NYCHA units over the past couple of weeks, got stuck in an elevator last Tuesday in the Frederick Douglas Houses in Manhattan.

She was in the lift for about 15 minutes before being released after somebody in the packed car accidentally hit the emergency alarm button.

Schumer said he called Carson last week to request the $1.2 billion and the secretary seemed open.

“It’s time to make these places a livable, no one is going to be in a palace here. But it should be a place where you can live with some decency and some dignity. That’s all we’re saying,” Schumer said.

The city and the feds agreed at the end of last month to allow a federal monitor to oversee the embattled authority to fix long-standing conditions in NYCHA’s 326 developments.

The senator said the city and state shouldn’t have to come up with all the funding to address the authority’s $32 billion backlog, noting the city committed $2.2 billion over the next 10 years.

Democratic Rep. Nydia Velazquez echoed Schumer’s remarks that the city, state and federal government should provide funds to help NYCHA.

“Here we are today to remind the federal government, but particularly the Trump administration, that most of the people who live in public housing work, they pay federal, state and city taxes. It is the responsibility of the three levels of government to act,” Velazquez said.

Velazquez, whose congressional district spans neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens and the Lower East Side of Manhattan, said as a doctor Carson should be aware of why the funds are so sorely needed.

“And let me just remind Secretary Carson. When he went before the Senate during the confirmation hearings, he said that as a doctor, he cares deeply about the health care of children,” she said.

“So you cannot tackle the issue of asthma among children in public housing without fixing the infrastructure. The mold is related to water, leaks in the roof. That’s why he needs to come and make the case to the president of the United States. That’s the right thing to do,” Velazquez added.

HUD didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.