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Fun fact about the New York City Housing Authority: A $2 million graft scam barely touches the surface of its multibillion-dollar dysfunction.
The conviction in federal court of 70 NYCHA employees in this bribery and fraud scheme is good news, but the troubles plaguing the city’s massive public housing complex are deep and tangled beyond all measure.
This kickback scandal centers only on small projects that building superintendents can contract without competitive bidding; meanwhile, NYCHA needs at least $80 billion to address its major repair backlogs, with little sign of where the cash can from.
Even modest fixes take months or years: an average of 412 days to repair a NYCHA intercom, nearly 600 days for a painter to complete a NYCHA paint job.
No wonder the agency faces 612,000 open work orders, or almost four per apartment — while no one’s even talking about serious reforms to make worker productivity less laughable.
While the nation’s largest public-housing authority remains under federal monitorship after the 2019 lead, mold and heat scandals, it still uses contractors seen “remediating” black mold by just coating it in thin layers of plaster.
The only real hope is the steady transfer of project to private management under President Barack Obama’s Rental Assistance Demonstration program — yet lefty activists and “stakeholders” (like the workers who can’t get repairs done in a timely manner) fight every RAD conversion tooth and nail.
Snail’s-pace progress continues: Manhattan’s Fulton and Elliott Chelsea Houses are the next to be saved, guaranteeing residents permanently affordable, well-maintained housing . . . after a few more rounds of litigation.
The feds should keep on prosecuting scammy supers, but the stink of low-level corruption signals deeper rot within.