NYC Comptroller Brad Lander and tenant leaders from across the city unveiled a damning audit of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) on Wednesday, exposing $36.6 million in potential misuse of funds for small repair contracts. The report revealed that vendors often failed to provide proof that work was completed, leaving residents dissatisfied with the state of their apartments.
The audit, which included a survey of nearly 800 NYCHA residents, painted a stark picture of tenant frustration. One-third rated repairs as “poor,” and less than half reported their repairs as “good” or better.
“We know for years and now really for decades, NYCHA has struggled and too-often failed to deliver the basic warranty of habitability, the basic quality of life that every single New Yorker deserves,” Lander said during a press conference announcing the findings.
The investigation into payments for small repairs was sparked by the February indictment of 70 NYCHA employees on corruption charges for accepting bribes in exchange for awarding maintenance and repairs contracts under $10,000. The audit and accompanying report released Wednesday, looked at over 100 purchase orders across 10 developments.
Auditors studied a sample of purchase orders from the Bronx borough office where a NYCHA employee was indicted in February for corruption. Out of the 19 purchase orders for walling surrounding bathtubs, the auditors could not find evidence that any of the work was completed. NYCHA paid $186,446.50 for those 19 purchase orders, according to the report.
When auditors requested documentation from the NYCHA Bronx borough office to confirm the completion of various repairs, officials were unable to provide any records indicating whether the work had been done or where it had taken place.
Auditors did find documentation that showed one of the purchases had been misclassified. Instead of installing walling around a bathtub, they found that the contractor had remodeled an entire bathroom frequently used by staff at Marble Hill Houses. When auditors visited the site, they were able to confirm that the staff bathroom had been remodeled.
Several NYCHA tenant leaders who helped the comptroller’s office conduct the audit spoke at Lander’s press conference.
Ann Valdez, a resident of Gravesend Houses in Brooklyn, spoke about the implications of the work not being completed—and how their complaints were typically ignored.
“Nobody should ever have to live this way and feel like their hands are tied and their mouth is gagged because nobody’s listening and nobody’s understanding,” Valdez said.
To remedy the lack of oversight for NYCHA contractors, the Comptroller’s office recommended a tenant led feedback application that it’s branding as “YELP for NYCHA”.
NYCHA residents would have the ability to rate specific vendors that do maintenance in their building and in their apartments. As these reviews build up over time, vendors would have a rating based on real-time feedback from the people who are dependent on these repairs. According to the audit recommendations, this feedback could be used to award contracts to vendors with higher ratings.
Princella Jamerson, resident leader at Mill Brook Houses in the South Bronx, said she supports the app, although is unsure whether NYCHA would embrace it, yet alone use it.
“The proposal is great…but the problem is that NYCHA may not want to pick it up,” she said.
Jamerson wasn’t the only one who was skeptical about NYCHA’s willingness, or ability to adopt the Comptroller’s recommendations. Lander said that while NYCHA may not implement all of his recommendations, his office would push for change.
“Sometimes we pick things where we really dig in with the agency and say, ‘No, come on, this one’s going to make a big difference,’” Lander said.
