A ‘Yelp’ For NYCHA Repairs? Audit Calls For More Oversight and Resident Feedback on Vendors

“An app which allows residents to give real-time feedback on the repair vendors in their apartments that adds up to a vendor’s scorecard so we will have real accountability for NYCHA contractors, which the audit shows is so badly needed,” said Comptroller Brad Lander.

An audit from Comptroller Brad Lander showed that although the New York City Housing Authority spends millions of dollars a year on apartment repairs, there are “sorely lacking” tools in place to ensure the efficiency of those fixes.

The report, released on Wednesday, showed that in 2022 and 2023, NYCHA spent $135.6 million on “smaller purchase” unit repairs—jobs that cost less than $50,000 each. However, nearly half of the work orders reviewed in the audit lacked evidence to show whether the third-party vendors actually completed tasks.

According to the audit, 93 percent of tenants surveyed by the Comptroller’s office said they were not given a chance to rate the contractors that worked in their homes.

A report in conjunction with the audit called “Repairs, Reviews and Resident Voice,” suggests having a scorecard to better hold vendors accountable. Comptroller Lander suggested a review system for tenants to rate the contractors, so they have the opportunity to share a more accurate picture of how effective vendors are.

“Essentially, you can think of it as Yelp for NYCHA repairs,” said Lander, referring to the popular online website where users can publicly review restaurants, shops and other consumer experiences. “An app which allows residents to give real-time feedback on the repair vendors in their apartments that adds up to a vendor’s scorecard so we will have real accountability for NYCHA contractors, which the audit shows is so badly needed.”

The findings were based on the work of auditors as well as  a team of NYCHA residents, who are part of the Comptroller’s audit committee launched in 2022.

When the Comptroller introduced the resident-led audit committee, consisting of 21 NYCHA tenants, the purpose was for residents to have a direct say into concerns that need more oversight.

Last February, the committee selected two issues for Lander to dig into first: contractors hired for repair work and eviction rates at developments that converted to private management through the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program.

Aixa Torres, the tenant association president at Alfred E. Smith Houses in Lower Manhattan, acknowledged the importance of having tenants involved in matters relating to their homes.

“We read all the time and we see all these policies that affect us and nobody asks us,” Torres said of NYCHA residents. “[NYCHA] makes decisions and they don’t come down to the ground as our Comptroller has done and sat with us and said, ‘Okay, what do you really want?’”

The findings come nine months after the City’s Department of Investigation (DOI) cracked down on NYCHA’s process for awarding small dollar contracts to vendors.

In what is considered the “largest single-day bribery takedown in the history of the Justice Department,” 70 NYCHA employees were charged for allegedly accepting bribes for granting micropurchases—or repairs that cost $10,000 or less.

As a result, the DOI suggested implementing 14 reforms to prevent further scandal.

The Comptroller’s report says that the housing authority is making the necessary improvements, but “residents are still almost entirely missing from the process.” Of the 10 housing developments that auditors visited, work requests and completion records were unorganized and often unfinished, according to the report.

“Shockingly, at one development, documents were covered in mold resulting from water damage,” the audit stated.

One tenant association leader in Harlem said that sometimes she is up past midnight hearing from tenants about the incomplete repairs in their apartments.*

“[Vendors] constantly come into our homes doing what they feel like they want to do, or don’t do, and then leave out and close the ticket,” she said. 

Tenants cited the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulation Part 964, which emphasizes the importance of resident engagement to create a positive living community.

 NYCHA tenants: What are your thoughts on having a rating system similar to Yelp to review third-party vendors? Would you use it? Email: [email protected]

Maura Hayes-Chaffe, the deputy comptroller for audits, said her team worked on the findings for more than a year, conducting months of on-site engagement at NYCHA campuses across the five boroughs, including roundtables and surveys of more than 1,000 tenants from 44 developments. 

Of tenants who gave a rating, 30 percent shared that the work performed by contractors was “poor” and 46 percent rated the work as “good” or “better,” according to the audit.

Hayes-Chaffe said that problems stem from “weak oversight” and “poor vetting” by NYCHA’s central management, and puts the housing authority at risk for fraud, waste and abuse.

The recommendations from the Comptroller’s office  include stronger oversight, better monitoring of vendors and an emphasis on resident feedback. 

“We also found that NYCHA does not see or report testimony or feedback from residents with completed repairs and no system currently exists to effectively collect this data,” said Hayes-Chaffe. “More than half a million New Yorkers are counting on NYCHA to get it right and implementing the recommendations we provided is a meaningful step forward toward that.”

A spokesperson for NYCHA disputed aspects of the audit’s findings. In an email, the spokesperson pointed to several measures of improvement the housing authority has already made, including a majority of the recommendations mentioned in the audit, in the face of a capital need of close to $80 billion over the next two decades.

“Through NYCHA’s Transformation Plan and outgoing work with our federal and local government partners, the Authority is diligently reforming its procurement, contract administration and vendor management processes,” the spokesperson said.

“While we do not agree with some of the Audit’s analysis and findings and take issue with its numerous unsubstantiated claims, we appreciate Comptroller Lander’s commitment to improving NYCHA and quality of life for public housing residents.”

*This story was updated after publication to remove the name of a tenant who was quoted but did not want to be identified by name.

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