Bart Schwartz speaking at the 164th CityLaw Breakfast./Image Credt: CityLand
On Friday, November 15, 2019, New York City Housing Authority Federal Monitor, Bart Schwartz spoke at the 164th CityLaw Breakfast at New York Law School. Mr. Schwartz was introduced by Professor Ross Sandler, Director of the Center for New York City Law. Mr. Schwartz spoke on “NYCHA Challenges and Updates.”
Mr. Schwartz opened his remarks talking about the NYCHA federal monitorship. He talked about the January 31, 2019 agreement between the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, NYCHA, and the City. The agreement set up the federal monitorship and focused on improving NYCHA developments and quality of life for residents. Mr. Schwartz noted that the NYCHA federal monitorship was unlike many other monitorships because of its size and the position required him to make public disclosures. He noted that there were many challenges that impacted the over 6,500 NYCHA residents and wanted to first meet with them to understand the issues.
Mr. Schwartz talked about the importance of the monitorship and how it plays a role in ensuring that work gets done at NYCHA. He mentioned his experience with working with NYCHA to correctly and accurately develop a plan to fix boilers and elevators in the developments to ensure that the State provides them with a $450 million reimbursement. He notes the importance of teamwork and working with NYCHA and other parties to accomplish a goal. He emphasizes that the monitorship is not about finding wrongs but rather working together to make things better.
Mr. Schwartz went over some of the past year’s accomplishments which include a new way to organize work orders at NYCHA and the formation of a Community Advisory Committee. Mr. Schwartz also address the lead-based paint issue at NYCHA and how he had to ensure that lead-testing was done accurately and thoroughly at NYCHA developments.
Mr. Schwartz stated that going forward he wanted to use more technology to be able to tackle the issues at NYCHA including the use of drones to make efficient repairs. He closed his remarks by saying that the federal monitorship is challenging but he remains optimistic going forward.
To see public reports from the NYCHA Federal Monitor, click here.
To watch the live stream, click here.
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