The office of NYC Comptroller Brad Lander formed a committee of 21 NYCHA residents to help execute the comptroller’s “resident-powered audit” process in 2023.
Every four years, the Comptroller’s office is required to audit all city agencies and entities that receive City funds. In July, the Comptroller’s office launched a NYCHA residents survey in an effort to ensure that the office’s oversight of NYCHA is guided by residents. The first meeting of the committee took place on Dec. 6 at the Comptroller’s office at 1 Centre Street.
“NYCHA residents are the experts on what is broken in our public housing authority, and they must be part of the solutions. By partnering directly with residents, our resident-powered audits will aim to move the needle forward on the much-needed repairs, resources, services, investments, and quality of life issues that matter most to the people who call NYCHA home,” Comptroller Brad Lander said at the time.
The committee is made up of residents of NYCHA buildings from across all five boroughs. The meeting started off with a review of the resident survey, which received 795 responses in five different languages from 132 developments. Of the responses, 70% of residents lived in NYCHA for over 10 years, while 50% lived in NYCHA for over 20 years.
The survey found that sanitation, safety, and repair tickets being closed before repairs were completed ranked highest out of five issues. The survey recommended that the Comptroller’s office specifically audit, among others, repairs and maintenance for elevators, scaffolding, intercoms, and mold, contractor oversight, and improving the quality of vendor selection and construction materials; security for door locks, intercoms, speeding, and gun violence; and cleanliness of common spaces, sanitation issues, and pests.
As a result of the survey, a quick response field review of entry doors at NYCHA developments. Nearly 60% of residential building entrance doors were open and/or had broken locks, which was up from 23.5% in 2018.
“As we’ve listened to hundreds of NYCHA residents at Family Days, structured roundtables, and informal discussions this summer, it’s been agonizing to hear the level of frustration, distrust, and appalling conditions they endure,” said Comptroller Lander. “The challenges NYCHA faces are large, and both the costs of repair and the need for management reform can seem overwhelming. But by making sure we include residents in the conversation, we can bring transparency to the process and take meaningful, achievable steps to restoring basic services, safety, and trust.”
Click here to read the full report. To view past audits of NYCHA, please visit the Comptroller’s website here.
