UES Public Housing Among Nation's Worst Managed: Report

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Three public housing buildings on the affluent Upper East Side are some of the worst-managed public buildings in the country, according to federal data and reports.

The Holmes Towers, Isaac Houses and the Ira S. Robbins Plaza were ranked in the bottom 15 developments in the country out of more than 3,800 developments inspected by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2017, the New York Post first reported. Out of a score of 100, the three buildings received a score of 25 — well beneath the score of 60 required to pass the inspections.

The miserable inspection was the worst performance for a building managed by the New York City Housing Authority since 2015, the New York Post reported. The Holmes Towers and Isaac Houses are located on First Avenue between East 92nd and 95th streets and the Ira S. Robbins Plaza — a facility for seniors — is located on East 70th Street and First Avenue.

Residents of the buildings told the New York Post that the failed inspections make sense. Managers at the Holmes Towers and Isaac Houses have told residents to spray mold with bleach and wait for fixes that never come, the Post reported.

The federal inspection grades did not reveal specific reasons for why the Upper East Side development performed so poorly, the Post reported.

City officials settled with the federal government and agreed to increased federal oversight earlier this year after misleading federal inspectors for years about lead paint testing and other quality of life issues at the New York City Housing Authority — the nation's largest public housing system.

Holmes Towers residents and city officials have been fighting a city plan to replace one of the development's playgrounds with a mixed-income apartment building. The city claims the plan — part of the housing authority's NextGen Neighborhoods initiative — is necessary to raise funds for much-needed repairs at the development.

Private developer Fetner Properties was awarded a city contract in May of 2017 to build the new 47-story tower. The new development will contain around 300 units and will be located in an open space between two existing Holmes Towers developments on 92nd Street, according to the project's original request for proposals. Half of the new tower's units will be offered at market rate rents and half will be offered at rates up to 60 percent of the area median income, according to a NYCHA press release.

Read the full New York Post article here.

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