Public Advocate Again Names NYCHA Among NYC’s Worst Landlords

By Yehudit Garmaise

   The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) should get going on implementing the proposals in the agency’s “Blueprint for Change” because for the third year in a row, public advocate Jumaane Williams has pointed to city’s public housing agency as neglecting to provide livable conditions for its more than 400,000 working-class and low-income city residents.

  On NYCHA’s website, Gregory Russ, the chair and chief executive officer of NYCHA says that the agency plans to "invest billions of dollars back into the apartments and fix many of the issues that have confronted residents for year and years,” but NYCHA tenants are not holding their breath.

    After researching and compiling the building violations that tenants have filed with the city’s Department of Housing Preservation Development (HPD), Williams prepares the city’s annual “Worst Landlords Watchlist” to call out property managers who neglect to maintain livable conditions.

     Williams, who has served as a member of the New York City Council from the 45th district, reported that HPD violations, including lack of heat or hot water, mold, toxic lead, and bug and rodent infestation that were reported to HPD went completely unaddressed during the pandemic.

    Open work orders skyrocketed from 236,360 in October 2018 to 461,830 in October 2020, the report said.

    “In a moment when New Yorkers are largely confined to their homes, facing a deadly pandemic and an economic crisis, the worst landlords in New York City continue to take advantage of New Yorkers in need, neglecting emergency repairs and allowing dangerous conditions to go unchecked while continuing to cash rent checks,” said Williams, who was elected New York City Public Advocate in a Special Election in 2019 .

     “Together with tenants and advocates across the city, we will continue to hold the mayor and everyone on this list accountable through legislation and organization,” said Williams, who also called out private landlords.

 Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office