NYCHA monitor nixed

Judge to Blas & Cuo: You fix it

At heart, the proposed d decree would bring about an unwarranted d — and as far as this Court is aware, unprecedented — judicial usurpation of f responsibilities that Congress has expressly entrusted to HUD. — Judge William Pauley (right) )

A Manhattan judge Wednesday killed the feds’ plan to have a court-appointed monitor overhaul the city’s troubled housing agency — saying that’s the responsibility of others, including HUD and Mayor de Blasio.

Federal Judge William Pauley said he KO’d the plan, which was hashed out by the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office and City Hall, partly because it asks the courts to fix a problem in the domain of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, which is run by President Trump-appointee Ben Carson, and City Hall.

Pauley added that besides, the plan doesn’t have the enforcement teeth it needs to make NYCHA — which already has admitted lying to the feds over a lead-paint debacle — clean up its act.

“At heart, the proposed decree would bring about an unwarranted — and as far as this Court is aware, unprecedented — judicial usurpation of responsibilities that Congress has expressly entrusted to HUD, a Cabinet-level department of the Executive,” Pauley wrote in his decision.

The judge also said de Blasio, Gov. Cuomo and NYCHA’s interim chair, Stanley Brezenoff, should step up and do something rather than hand the problem off to the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office.

The New York City Housing Authority oversees low-income apartment complexes across the city that are plagued with pests, toxic mold and poisonous lead paint. Pauley suggested the officials start by replacing NYCHA’s management, some of whom knew about major issues — such as the lead paint that was poisoning kids — but did nothing to stop them.

The judge’s 52-page ruling also questioned the funding promised by the plan. It includes more than $2 billion in the next 10 years promised by the city over and above what they had previously budgeted to fix NYCHA.

It’s just not enough, the judge said. “NYCHA’s current capital needs would not be met until the year 2166,” Pauley wrote.

NYCHA needs more than $180,000 per apartment to address the issues yet would only get the equivalent of $23,000 for each unit under the plan, he said.

The city said in a statement that the decision will not halt the mayor’s planned reforms of NYCHA. HUD didn’t return a request for comment, and NYCHA referred questions to City Hall.

The judge ordered the parties to submit their proposals to him Dec. 14 on how to move forward.

Only NYCHA’s residents cheered the decision.

“This is a great day,” said Danny Barber, who leads the Citywide Council of Presidents, NYCHA’s main tenant organization.