NYCHA picks housing complexes for first rush repairs
The Housing Authority has identified the first three housing complexes for its crash maintenance program, which aims to tackle its seemingly insurmountable backlog of repairs.
General Manger Vito Mustaciuolo said the program — funded by $20 million from the city — will first focus on the Manhattanville projects in Harlem, Kingsborough in Brooklyn and Queensbridge in Queens, were waits for many repairs exceed four months.
The backlog is worst at Manhattanville, where work orders that require a skilled tradesman remained open for nearly six months — 164.5 days — on average, NYCHA figures show.
The program, which aims to speed and better coordinate repairs, will eventually be used to catch up on backlogs at up to 30-35 developments, Mustaciuolo said.
He said the $20 million from City Hall would be used to cut the overall backlog from 154,000 repairs down to less than 100,000.
“This is not a number we’re happy with,” Mustaciuolo said of the 154,000. “It’s not acceptable.”
Additionally, the authority’s board approved spending $1.4 million to bring in more help as it catches up on years of missed inspections and abatement work. It’s the latest result of the scandal that cost the agency’s former chairwoman, Shola Olatoye, her job.
Ed McDonald, who oversees the department in charge of lead abatement, told the board of the agency that NYCHA currently “doesn’t have the capacity to handle the deficiencies we are finding.”
The new contract comes two weeks after Mustaciuolo told the City Council that NYCHA would miss its own self-imposed April deadline to inspect common areas at the authority’s developments for lead.
The inspections are now supposed to be completed by the end of June.