‘Lead’ her explain
NYCHA boss grill
Embattled New York City Housing Authority head Shola Olatoye will get a grilling Tuesday from the City Council about her agency’s failure to do lead testing and her lies about it.
Olatoye (inset) has admitted that not only did the authority not perform required inspections from 2012 to 2016, but that she mislead the federal government by certifying the work was done.
Tuesday morning’s City Council oversight hearing, to be held at City Hall by the Council’s Public Housing Committee, is slated to feature testimony from Olatoye as well as Department of Investigation Commissioner Mark Peters, whose Nov. 14 report detailed the authority’s failings.
“The overarching question is who knew what when,” Councilman Ritchie Torres, chairman of the committee, said Sunday. “No one wants to go to a City Council hearing where Council members are berating you, but that’s the price you pay when you’ve lied under oath to the federal government.”
The Department of Investigation revealed three weeks ago that Olatoye learned in April 2016 that authority inspectors had not been checking apartments for lead paint, but six months later, she certified to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development the agency was in compliance.
Since then, city officials have revealed that Housing Authority workers performing lead inspections and removals were not properly certified under federal regulations — another topic Torres suggested will come up Tuesday.
Olatoye has been scrambling to hold on to her job amid calls for her to resign. Two NYCHA employees even circulated a form letter to tenant associations, urging members to sign a petition praising her.
“It was appalling,” Torres said of the campaign. “NYCHA should be more concerned with lead-paint inspections and less with public relations.”
A de Blasio spokeswoman confirmed Olatoye will attend the hearing, but declined to comment.
Hizzoner said two weeks ago he does not think Olatoye lied to the feds, instead suggesting she was “not provided accurate information by someone down the food chain.”