Felon-Friendly Public Housing

Residents of city public housing shouldn’t have to put up with dangerous felons as neighbors. But the city Housing Authority plainly doesn’t want to evict the bad apples.

A new Department of Investigation report slams NYCHA management for failing to safeguard tenants — even though the NYPD is now giving timely notice of criminal activity in NYCHA units and by NYCHA residents.

Two years ago, DOI did fault the police department for its failure to communicate that information. But the police brass fixed the problem. Now it’s all on the NYCHA leadership.

DOI Commissioner Mark Peters rightly calls this failure to act “inexcusable.”

And it helps explain why crime is rising in public-housing buildings even as it’s falling citywide.

Yet it’s not a new issue: Under a 1996 memorandum of understanding, the NYPD is to provide NYCHA with arrest and com- plaint reports regarding serious crimes in NYCHA properties or committed by NYCHA residents.

And NYCHA’s official policy is to evict and permanently exclude the tenants responsible. Yet the DOI report says the agency is overlooking “blatant and repeated violations” of its permanent exclusion policy.

DOI faults NYCHA for only looking to exclude reported criminals, rather than evicting the primary leaseholder.

Last year, NYCHA settled 32 percent of tenant-termination cases based on criminal activity — but took only 1 percent of cases all the way to an eviction hearing.

No New Yorker should be imperiled by drug dealing and gang violence in a neighbor’s apartment — and that includes publichousing tenants.

Mayor de Blasio should start heeding his own investigators, and find NYCHA leadership that’s willing to do the job.