NYCHA To Get Tough Oversight Under Deal With Feds

NEW YORK — The New York City Housing Authority is in for a leadership shakeup and strict federal oversight under a new agreement between the city and the Trump administration. The deal announced Thursday will replace NYCHA's interim chairman and CEO, Stanely Brezenoff, with a new leader approved by the city, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

That means Mayor Bill de Blasio will have to work with federal officials in choosing the next head of the public housing agency that houses about 400,000 New Yorkers, some of whom have languished in squalid living conditions for years.

The agreement also gives NYCHA an independent monitor whom the U.S. Attorney's Office and HUD will choose and sets strict milestones for the housing authority to address its myriad problems. The city must also commit $2.2 billion in funding to NYCHA over the next decade.

"We see this as a partnership to get things done for the residents," de Blasio, a Democrat, said at a brief news conference with HUD Secretary Ben Carson in Lower Manhattan.

The agreement is meant to address the systemic problems such as heating failures, lead paint hazards, mold and rodent infestations that have plagued NYCHA's buildings. Such problems were outlined in a sweeping complaint the U.S. Attorney's Office brought against NYCHA last June.

As a condition of the agreement, federal prosecutors will move to dismiss the complaint within 14 days of the monitor's appointment.

"Children must be protected from toxic lead paint, apartments must be free of mold and pest infestations, and developments must provide adequate heat in winter and elevator service," U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement. "This Office has not wavered from its commitment to better living conditions for NYCHA residents."

With the deal, NYCHA avoids a federal takeover known as a receivership. Carson had threatened to declare a substantial default for the housing authority, a step in the takeover process, if a deal to address its woes were not reached by Thursday. The agreement recognizes that NYCHA is indeed in substantial default without imposing a receiver, HUD said in a press release.

An outside monitor and a city funding commitment were also part of a settlement that a federal judge rejected in November. But the new deal is "a larger agreement with much more tangible goals" with respect to issues such as heat, mold and vermin, de Blasio said.

The deal gives NYCHA 30 days to inspect every apartment housing a kid younger than 6 where lead paint may be present and get rid of any lead hazards in them. (Apartments that have been inspected within the past year are exempt from that deadline.)

It also sets a 20-year deadline for NYCHA to abate all lead-based paint in every apartment and indoor common area that contain it.

NYCHA will have to replace or address nearly 500 boilers by the end of 2026 in an effort to tackle systemic heating failures. The housing authority must also create a plan by Oct. 1 of this year for how it will respond to heat outages at each development.

The agreement also includes specific benchmarks for tackling mold, elevator breakdowns and pest infestations.

De Blasio negotiated the deal with Carson while publicly opposing a federal receivership. The two men were friendly after signing the deal on Thursday, saying they were committed to making life better for NYCHA's tenants.

"We were able to put aside any political differences and think about what would provide the right kind of environment for the people here, what have been the things that have precluded that in the past, and what kinds of things can we do now that are controlled on a local level, and empowered by all the various components, to make sure that the people’s needs are taken care of," Carson said.

But the deal does not include any significant new funding from HUD, which provides the bulk of NYCHA's budget. The housing authority faces a roughly $32 billion mountain of capital needs, some of which the city plans to address through its own strategic plan.

The agreement drew mixed reactions from other city officials. Some critics argued the independent monitor is no replacement for the money needed to actually fix NYCHA's buildings.

"NYCHA already has monitors – its residents who have suffered from decades of disinvestment," City Comptroller Scott Stringer said in a statement.

The city, HUD and the monitor should work to cut "bureaucratic waste," spend money efficiently and make repairs "with a true sense of urgency," Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said.

"As we move forward, it is important that we keep the rights of the tenants of public housing at the forefront of the decision-making process," Diaz said in a statement. "Timelines and deadlines must respect the rights of the families who live within NYCHA and who need our help."

(Lead image: Mayor Bill de Blasio and U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson shake hands after signing an oversight agreement for NYCHA on Thursday. Photo by Noah Manskar/Patch)