Comptroller Stringer Announces Four-Part Reform Agenda To Bring Transparency And Accountability To NYCHA

(New York, NY) – In response to decades of neglect at all levels of government, underscored in a new audit released today which found that the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) has failed to repair and maintain the buildings under its care, New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer released a four-part reform agenda to expand transparency and accountability at the Authority.

“The NYCHA audits that my office has released over the last 18 months provide incontrovertible proof that after decades of broken promises, and one unfulfilled reform plan after another, NYCHA is itself in need of repair. The four part plan that I am proposing will provide the tools, the reforms and some of the necessary funds to begin improving the quality of life for NYCHA residents,” Comptroller Stringer said.

The proposed reform agenda is comprised of four main elements:

• NYCHAStat: NYCHAStat would be a new management system modeled after the NYPD’s successful CompStat system that will provide a real-time, development-by-development breakdown of key maintenance statistics. In addition, individual apartment complaint logs would be categorized and published on a development level, as would all open work orders, which would be organized into four major types:
  • Corrective maintenance work orders, inspection work orders, preventative maintenance work orders and violation work orders, with reporting compared against benchmarks.

  NYCHAStat would bring transparency to the Authority’s operations, and give housing tenants, advocates, members of the press, and all citizens of New York City the ability to monitor NYCHA’s progress in making repairs in real time. Just as important, it would give NYCHA leadership an important new tool for holding front-line managers accountable and demanding performance when it comes to fixing what’s broken.

• Budget Reforms: NYCHA’s finances and capital plans should be as transparent as any other City agency. To that end, the Authority should submit quarterly budgetary reports, create and update a four-year financial plan with annual financial statements, and comply with all GAAP and cash accounting standards. In addition, NYCHA’s capital needs, projects and budgets should be publicly disclosed on a regular basis, including the source of funding for capital projects.
• Physical Needs Assessment: NYCHA should update and publicly release its Physical Needs Assessment, a comprehensive overview of major infrastructure needs that NYCHA has kept hidden for years, and tie that document to its capital projects report, while also making the document more timely and user-friendly, and;
• Battery Park City Authority funds: The City should dedicate surplus Battery Park City Authority funds, which amount to approximately $400 million over the next ten years, to supporting capital improvements at NYCHA, including technology and infrastructure upgrades.

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