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Debate on NYCHA budget challenges and impact on maintenance
1:22:29
ยท
6 min
Council Member Banks and NYCHA officials engage in a heated discussion about the root causes of NYCHA's maintenance issues, with officials emphasizing funding shortfalls and Banks arguing for better management of existing resources.
- NYCHA CEO Lisa Bova-Hiatt emphasizes lack of funding as the primary issue
- NYCHA CFO Annika Lescott-Martinez cites $555 million in federal underfunding over ten years
- Council Member Banks argues that proper maintenance could have prevented current issues
- NYCHA officials stress the need for support from various levels of government, particularly federal
Lisa Bova-Hiatt
1:22:29
So Brian Honan will gladly set it up.
1:22:33
I go to many developments, but respectfully, this has absolutely nothing to do with the what you said, your words, not mine, incompetence of staff.
1:22:43
We have 12 staff very dedicated staff members.
1:22:47
What we don't have is funding.
1:22:50
And what we haven't had for the past ninety years is sufficient funding.
1:22:56
And this is a federal issue
Chris Banks
1:22:58
agree that there are issues with funding.
1:23:00
We agree that there are issues with funding.
1:23:04
There are major maintenance issues, things that could have been dealt with that that has nothing to do with funding.
Lisa Bova-Hiatt
1:23:12
They have everything
Chris Banks
1:23:13
to do with It's it's it's just the lack of NYCHA's commitment to really deal with the repair issues.
Lisa Bova-Hiatt
1:23:19
I'm sorry.
Chris Banks
1:23:20
That's Someone getting a paint job.
1:23:22
Listen.
Lisa Bova-Hiatt
1:23:22
Not true.
1:23:23
I'm We
Chris Banks
1:23:24
can But
Lisa Bova-Hiatt
1:23:24
all of these things lead back to a lack of And you know what?
1:23:30
To CEO CEO Trent
Chris Banks
1:23:33
How long have you been the CEO of NITRA?
1:23:35
NYCHA?
Lisa Bova-Hiatt
1:23:35
For since '20 I was appointed interim in 2022.
1:23:41
I've been at NYCHA for five years.
1:23:43
I was a general counsel before I became the CEO.
1:23:47
And I will tell you, you will never meet a more dedicated group of people who are interested in making sure that our residents have decent, safe, and sanitary housing.
1:24:00
But when you are trying to balance a budget, and you saw the budget in the out years, we have a $200,000,000 deficit.
1:24:08
Maintenance is tied to capital repairs.
Chris Banks
1:24:10
So, CEO Bova, would you agree that when a ticket is closed out and the resident is home waiting for the repair person to come and the person never comes and the ticket is closed out, that has something to do with funding?
Lisa Bova-Hiatt
1:24:27
Okay.
1:24:27
Well, as miss Trimble spoke to about earlier, we're gonna talk about Could
Chris Banks
1:24:34
you answer that question?
Lisa Bova-Hiatt
1:24:36
Repeat the question.
1:24:37
I'm sorry.
Chris Banks
1:24:38
If a resident has a ticket for a repair and the resident's home waiting for that repair person to come and and take care of the repair.
1:24:50
And the repair person doesn't come, and then the ticket ends up being closed out.
1:24:57
Does that have to be does it have to deal with a funding issue?
Lisa Bova-Hiatt
1:25:01
You know what?
1:25:01
It could actually deal with a funding issue because that maintenance worker could be stuck at a different apartment finishing a repair there.
1:25:10
No work ticket should ever ever be closed if the work hasn't been done.
1:25:15
And as our COO stated earlier, the percentage of work tickets that are closed without work being done has dropped absolutely dramatic.
1:25:26
I think it's
Chris Banks
1:25:26
Lisa, I disagree with you.
1:25:29
We're not dealing with reality.
1:25:31
You throw these numbers out and these this data, and it doesn't match what's going on on the ground and the developments.
1:25:39
And that's that's that that, to me, is the scary part because you defend us.
1:25:51
Just it's it's a frustration that's here.
1:25:54
And and and and and and and I think we we need a commitment to the resident a real commitment to the residents of NYCHA.
1:26:02
And we we we're not getting that.
Lisa Bova-Hiatt
1:26:04
We share your frustration, but I can assure you that a lot of the frustration that tenants are feeling, that our own workers are feeling, is that there is not enough money for us to handle all of the needs of our 73,000 apartments across five boroughs.
Chris Banks
1:26:28
Well, I mean, listen.
1:26:29
Had NYCHA done the proper maintenance over the years, we wouldn't be in this situation.
1:26:35
And and that's what you that's what you fail to to accept and understand.
1:26:40
Respect that the the ship is burning now, but we could have been dealing we could have been doing things, putting things in place to avoid this.
1:26:50
And that's and and that and and that's where we're we're at right now.
Annika Lescott-Martinez
1:26:54
So council member Banks, I think it's important just to add a little bit of color to what Lisa's saying in terms of the numbers.
1:27:01
So in terms of federal underfunding, NYCHA has been underfunded by over half a billion dollars over the last ten years operating.
1:27:08
So that means that over the last ten years we were missing half a billion dollars in addition to the renteriors.
1:27:14
I think it's also important to note that in some years it could have been in the 50 to hundred million dollar range.
1:27:21
So I think certainly what we are trying to do is more with less.
1:27:24
There's a lot more work to be done.
1:27:27
We are all very much committed to this work and we need support from our various levels of government, particularly the federal government and so forth in order to get the resources that we need for our tenants.
1:27:38
And that's the key.
Chris Banks
1:27:39
Listen, I hear you.
1:27:41
I think there's a commitment from all my colleagues to advocate for more funding for NYCHA, but we we do have to accept the fact that there is a the ship is burning now, and there are things that NYCHA can do to deal with some of these issues on the maintenance side and the repair side.
1:28:01
And it it it it it seems like NYCHA is constantly leaning on, yeah, we don't have the funding, but you do there is a budget that exists right now that NYCHA operates with.
1:28:11
Am I
Annika Lescott-Martinez
1:28:13
That's correct.
Chris Banks
1:28:13
Right.
1:28:14
So we can we can we can and but there's some of these issues are going back years and years of just NYCHA not dealing with them.
Annika Lescott-Martinez
1:28:24
And NYCHA not being historically funded.
1:28:26
So it has happened over years and it's no fault of the city, no fault of the state, but historically we have been underfunded by our federal government partners.
1:28:36
And so we have tried to do the best we can with the funding that we have, but $555,000,000 of underfunding just in ten years alone is significant for us.
1:28:47
So we are doing the best we can with that $5,400,000,000 budget.
1:28:50
We commit to you and to our residents to continue to work as hard as we can.
1:28:54
If you have specific concerns in certain developments, we are happy
Chris Banks
1:28:58
to give you We hear that all the time.