NYCHA AUDITS FAILED
Missed lead paint
City Comptroller Scott Stringer has issued nine reports on the New York City Housing Authority since taking office in 2014, and none uncovered the agency’s failure to perform lead-paint inspections for four years, a Post analysis found.
Three of the reports dealt directly with issues central to the lead-paint scandal now enveloping Mayor de Blasio’s administration — deteriorating conditions in NYCHA buildings, shoddy repair practices and the agency’s efforts to secure federal funding.
“Mr. Stringer has failed for four years,” said state Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., who serves on the Investigations and Government Operations Committee. “This has been happening under his nose. He’s responsible. He was supposed to be uncovering these issues.”
In a September 2014 report titled “How New York Lives,” Stringer focused only on lead-paint problems during Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s administration from 2002 to 2011 — a year before lead-paint inspections in NYCHA buildings lapsed — even though the same document cites 2014 statistics on mold in public housing.
In fact, none of Stringer’s reports or audits indicated lead-paint testing had lapsed — even though NYCHA provides his office with documents in response to specific requests, according to a City Hall spokeswoman.
Stringer has kept busy Since taking over as comptroller in January 2014, issuing 399 audits, reports and policy papers.
While a July 2015 audit on NYCHA maintenance practices revealed that the agency did not track work orders for inspections, it failed to delve into lead-paint inspections.
Stringer spokesman Tyrone Stevens said, “Scott Stringer has audited NYCHA more than any other comptroller in history — and he’s gotten real results. This is not about politics. That’s why our office has worked with the US Attorneys Office and assisted in its investigation. “Ruben Diaz Sr. has no clue. We do not need a lecture from a pro-Trump, anti-NYCHA, fake Democrat.”
The US attorney sent an investigative demand to NYCHA in late 2015 about cases of lead poisoning and abatement.
The city’s Department of Investigation revealed last month that NYCHA failed to perform lead-paint inspections in its buildings from 2012 to 2016.
Stringer’s audit on NYCHA’s efforts to secure federal funding came out in December 2014. The authority’s chairwoman, Shola Olatoye, claims they first learned about the lapse in inspections in April 2015.