NYCHA federal monitor faults culture of mismanagement in final report
NEW YORK -- The independent federal monitor who oversees New York City's Housing Authority issued his blistering final report Thursday.
If you talk to people who live in NYCHA houses, like those on West 62nd Street, you tend to hear the same things repeated.
"My buzzer don't work for at least one year ... A lot of work needs to be done, that's why we need people to help us," said Fernande Courtois, who has been a NYCHA resident for 50 years.
"I mean, these buildings are really old, so there's work that really needs to be done," resident Elizabeth Saunders said.
Now, a federal monitor who's overseen NYCHA for five years issued a scathing report.
"You know the expression, 'Failure is is not an option'? At NYCHA, failure was always an option," Bart Schwartz said.
Schwartz was appointed monitor in 2019 after federal investigators found NYCHA management had covered up and lied about squalid living conditions in many of its apartments.
When he arrived, he was amazed at what he saw -- like when his crew happened upon a worker under a spewing sewage pipe.
"[I said,] 'Well, what's gonna be done?' He said, 'Well, I'm waiting for the carpenters.' I said, 'Why do you need the carpenters for a pipe that's leaking from the ceiling?' And he said, 'Well, we have to build a scaffolding so that we can get to the leak.' Now, our folks said, 'Have you heard about ladders?'" Schwartz said.
In the report, he blamed many of the problems on the agency's top managers, saying they failed to find better ways to use resources. He also criticized the agency's habit of reacting to emergencies instead of acting preemptively.
"Lack of funding has historically been offered as the main excuse for NYCHA's failures. However, I have recommended a path forward that is not centered on funding. This is not because NYCHA does not need the money. It is because there are other things it can and should focus on to deliver the services residents need today, not in the future," Schwartz wrote. "Even if NYCHA were to immediately receive the $78 billion it says it needs to make necessary capital repairs, it would take years for these repairs to even begin, let alone be completed. Funding is not the worst of NYCHA's problems, It is the lack of effective governance, ethics and accountability that prevents NYCHA from achieving comprehensive, sustainable improvements within its current financial restraints."
Schwartz says there have been some significant achievements -- like getting rid of lead paint, reducing mold and improving heating services -- but he also helped uncover a bribery scandal where the Justice Department arrested 70 current and former NYCHA employees on corruption charges in February.
"Well, the good news is that things have gotten better already but not good enough," Schwartz said.
For example, every city agency requires performance evaluations for workers each year, but not NYCHA.
"They do not have annual reviews," Schwartz said.
"So no one's held accountable?" CBS New York's Dick Brennan asked.
"That's right," Schwartz said.
NYCHA leadership released a statement in response, thanking Schwartz and his team for "years of effective guidance and partnership."
"Over the last five years, NYCHA has made transformative progress in the realms of accountability, governance, and compliance, as well as tangible improvements inside the homes and buildings of NYCHA residents through progress made in the pillar areas of the 2019 HUD Agreement," the statement read in part.
Schwartz says he does have faith in the latest management team, and Saunders says she will give the new crew a chance.
"Hope springs eternal, so some hope yes. Some," she said.
Residents Brennan spoke to at the NYCHA housing on West 62nd Street say the majority of improvements they've seen are on the outside of their houses, but NYCHA has to get cracking on the inside, where they live.