Res 0676-2018

By Council Members Salamanca, Ampry-Samuel, Ayala and Cornegy Whereas, The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is the nation's largest public housing authority and provides housing to over 400,000 New Yorkers; and Whereas, NYCHA has struggled for years to modernize its management and to hold its property managers accountable for decisions affecting the properties where they work; and Whereas, NYCHA's failure to detect and remediate lead paint in thousands of apartments and its noncompliance with federal requirements to inspect for hazardous lead reflects a failure of management, resulting in elevated blood lead levels in 820 children under the age of six; and Whereas, NYCHA's failure to maintain and repair boilers, and its failure to accurately track and complete work orders for heat and hot water outages, has resulted in the failure of NYCHA to provide adequate heat and hot water to hundreds of thousands of residents during the 2017-2018 heating season; and Whereas, NYCHA failure to remediate and abate mold in apartments has resulted in recurring mold conditions at NYCHA apartments and health problems for residents; and Whereas, NYCHA failed to provide necessary repairs at Throggs Neck Houses and concurrently failed to appropriately respond to complaints from residents and staff about the sex scandal at Throggs Neck Houses; and Whereas, NYCHA employees, including property managers, assistant managers, superintendents, and caretakers are responsible for the overall operation of 326 developments at NYCHA; and Whereas, Legislation requiring an annual evaluation would allow NYCHA to ensure that performance standards are being met; and Whereas, NYCHA has stated that it needs to set performance standards and metrics for all of its staff; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, legislation that would require NYCHA to conduct annual evaluations of agency employees. LS 6604 MKD 12/14/18 3:35PM