Tenants can’t veto NYCHA bid

A public housing tenants group that opposes the proposed NYCHA consent decree can’t veto the agreement, but will be allowed to make clear its opposition to the deal to appoint a monitor to oversee the authority, a judge ruled Thursday.

Manhattan Federal Judge William Pauley rejected a request by the Citywide Council of Presidents to be included as a party that would have to sign off on the agreement reached in June for it to go ahead. A nonprofit housing advocacy group, At-Risk Community Services, can also weigh in.

But the judge did approve the tenant group’s request to file a formal opposition to the deal filed in June that aims to make sure NYCHA provides its 600,000 tenants with safe, habitable housing.

Mayor de Blasio and NYCHA entered into a consent decree with the Manhattan U.S. attorney in June, agreeing to the appointment of a monitor after prosecutors documented the authority’s historic coverup of its failures to provide decent housing.

Within days the tenant leaders filed court papers demanding to be part of the agreement and requesting more involvement. The monitor has yet to be picked and ultimately must be approved by Judge Pauley. A hearing is set for next week.

On Thursday Pauley ruled the tenant group can’t become an “as of right” party in the case that would have the ability to reject the consent decree.

“Intervention of right is denied because the (tenant group) have not shown that the government cannot adequately represent the NYCHA tenants’ interest in decent, safe and sanitary housing,” Pauley wrote.

But Pauley ruled that the Council of Presidents, a board of elected NYCHA tenant representatives, can appear as a concerned party with the limited purpose of making clear their opposition to the agreement.

The consent decree limited the tenants’ group role as one of several stakeholders with whom prosecutors would “consult” in picking the monitor.