NYC Comptroller: Public Housing Repairs Severely Mismanaged
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — New York City's comptroller is calling the city Housing Authority's handling of repairs "a case study in mismanagement."
Scott Stringer released a "scathing" audit Monday of the troubled agency NYCHA, WCBS 880's Jim Smith reported.
NYC Comptroller: Public Housing Repairs Severely Mismanaged
"The city's public housing authority is failing its tenants and failing our city," Stringer said.
Stringer says residents have to endure long waits for repairs. He says NYCHA has underreported data on its maintenance backlog and hasn't properly trained employees to deal with such problems as mold and mildew.
He has accused the housing authority of having a back log of more than 50,000 repairs and huge wait times.
Tenants like Ginny Wade said she's frustrated and angry.
"It took NYCHA an average of 370 days to fix health and safety violations," Wade pointed out. "There's a stench in the walls. There's a leak that came from above."
Stringer also says NYCHA closed work orders without the work actually being done.
Stringer's audit looked at maintenance and repairs from Jan. 1, 2013, through July 31, 2014.
NYCHA says that Stringer looked at outdated data and that the agency has new management working to fix those problems.
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