MOLDING A REMEDY
NYCHA promises fungus fix – again
The beleaguered New York City Housing Authority, which has been in court since 2013 over its handling of mold, has agreed — yet again — to clean up its act.
On Friday, the public-housing agency signed a consent decree — the second in five years — promising to clean up mold that tenants say has resulted in respiratory ailments, including asthma.
Under the latest decree, NYCHA agreed to deal with mold problems in its buildings within seven to 15 days after problems are detected or reported, court papers showed.
The housing agency also agreed to the appointment of an independent ombudsman to investigate tenant complaints tied to its handling of mold and leak repairs.
The ombudsman will have the power to order the agency to make repairs, to direct independent contractors hired through the court to perform repairs — and to fine NYCHA over delayed repairs, according to the consent decree, filed Friday in Manhattan federal court.
The new settlement is still only an agreement between parties and must be approved by Manhattan federal Judge William Pauley to go into effect.
Pauley has been overseeing NYCHA settlement talks since the agency first agreed to clean up its act in a consent decree signed in 2013 with the same tenants groups.
That decree also required NYCHA to remediate most mold problems in 15 days.
But in 2015, Judge Pauley found that NYCHA, which oversees more than 175,000 apartments that house approximately 600,000 residents, had been failing to comply with the decree and sent the parties back to the drawing board.
“We have been completely disappointed by NYCHA’s performance over the past four years,” said Maria Nieves of Metro IAF, which represents some of the class-action parties.
“However, with the kind of independent supervision NYCHA has agreed to, there is now a much greater chance that residents will see real relief soon,” Nieves said.
NYCHA has been on the hot seat recently over a string of issues, including allegations that the head of the agency gave false testimony about lead-paint inspections.