Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams labelled the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) as the worst landlord in the city today after touring apartments at the Lincoln Houses complex in East Harlem. The development was the second stop on the Public Advocate's citywide tour following his release of the annual 'Worst Landlords Watchlist' Monday morning in lower Manhattan.
Following the installation of a federal monitor and new Chair, NYCHA tenants have only seen conditions worsen, with its nearly 350,000 current outstanding work orders surpassing the previous year by more than 100,000. While NYCHA is not included in the direct methodology used to rank individual property owners, the Public Advocate has emphasized that its neglect and mismanagement needs to be spotlighted and combated. The agency was first designated as the worst landlord in 2018.
Public Advocate Williams said, "The worst landlord in our city is responsible for the housing safety and security of nearly half a million New Yorkers, and yet again, it is utterly failing in that responsibility. We have seen deplorable and dangerous conditions on the rise without the money or the management to fix it. We have seen NYCHA become a permanent fixture as a perennial political prop. What we have not seen is a commitment to meaningful change, to progress, to tenants. NYCHA has earned its federal monitor, and it has earned a place atop the Watchlist."
The Public Advocate toured a Lincoln Houses apartment Monday with tenant Rina Marie Mungin, who spoke about the deteriorating conditions in her unit and throughout the building and complex. She pointed to rodent infestation and mold growth, hazardous peeling paint, and months-long waits for dangerous conditions to be addressed and repairs to be made. She also discussed building-wide failures including elevators frequently out of serve and human waste in hallways and stairwells. Public Advocate Williams and tenant leaders emphasized that these issues are faced across the system, not specific to Lincoln Houses.
"We are facing deplorable and unsafe conditions on a daily basis," said Mungin of her family and neighbors within NYCHA. "There doesn't seem to be any care, any sense of urgency, to address the needs of people living here, and it's only getting worse."
Public Advocate Williams has introduced legislation to create a NYCHA task force that focuses on tenants and tenant voices, in a conversation where he feels they have too often been overlooked and ignored. That disconnect, he argued, has helped to create a situation where NYCHA is massively underfunded - it is estimated that resolving just the current open work orders system-wide would cost $25 billion dollars.
The Public Advocate's Landlord Watchlist is an information-sharing tool intended to allow tenants, public officials, advocates, and other concerned individuals to identify which residential property owners consistently flout the City's laws intended to protect the rights and safety of tenants.
The Public Advocate launched a citywide tour Monday of properties owned by the worst landlords, with more information available here.
View the full Worst Landlord Watchlist, as well as borough-specific lists, for 2019 at LandlordWatchlist.com.