This was our second show on NYCHA this year and once again, we had a great response. Every line was ringing from the minute the show started and we left it the same way. While some of our viewers said NYCHA had a long way to go in improving the system, others empathized with the agency and said it's doing the best it can. More of your thoughts posted below.

A new report paints a dismal picture of how the New York City Housing Authority operates. The $10 million taxpayer-funded report finds deficiencies in property management and maintenance, as well as inconsistent purchasing of building supplies. The report identifies that with better management, $70 million in annual savings can be achieved the next five years.

The report comes the same day the City Council is holding a hearing on funding the installation of better security systems in public housing developments. Outside City Hall today, residents gathered to criticize safety conditions where they live. What do you say?

How would you improve security at public housing developments in the five boroughs? If you live in NYCHA housing, what are the conditions like in your building? Do you welcome $10 million tax dollars being spent on a report by an private consulting firm?

Send your thoughts using the link above.

10 million is a lot of money to spend to find out something that basically everyone knew, how dysfunctional the NYC Housing Authority is, and will continue to be, unless major changes are made by the city and state.

Felix
Bay Ridge

Yet again we are to believe that no one has known about any of this going on in NYCHA.

So it took the city council to hold a hearing on the safety, repairs and the unbearable conditions that they must live in to realize this problem that they have.

Take a look outside and notice how none of the maintenance, up-keep of these city and state facilities which incudes roads, bridges and real estate that they own and should be taken care of so that people can live in at least a half way decent apartment. It seams that both city and state surely know how to collect the taxes and rents from all of these properties and no one does any repairs and everything is just ignored time and time again. So now everything is falling apart. Now the panic sets in but we still have to pay higher fares for transit and bridges because no one can nor will they ever account for what happens to all of this money they take in. In the meantime is this person in charge of NYCHA responsible for signing off on all purchases and up until now he has never had to answer to no one as to what he is doing. To me either the council and the mayor and whomever represents there sections or areas have never brought this to anyone's attention. Doesn't look like it.

THESE ARE ALL GOOD JOBS = IF YOU CAN GET IT.

Where are the people that take care of the finances. Someone with a higher authority had to sign off on these purchases because everything should be done by the comptrollers office. Better yet where is Mayor Bloomberg in all of this.

THAT'S WHY EVERYONE FROM THE GOVERNORS OFFICE RIGHT ON DOWN TO CITY HALL AND THIS FAMOUS CITY COUNCIL AND ALL OF THE PEOPLE THAT ARE SUPPOSE TO MAKE LIFE EASIER WITH OUR EVERYDAY LIVING. HEY DON'T FORGET THE MOVIES IN THE PARK, LIKE NO ONE HAS ANY TV AT HOME. THEY SPEND ON THE MOST FOOLISH THINGS AND I HAD BETTER LEAVE AT THAT.

SOMEONE HAD BETTER WAKE UP.

[GOOD EXAMPLE = CO-OP CITY] A COMPLETE DISASTER BECAUSE OF NEGLECT IN MAINTENANCE.

I GUESS BECAUSE THERE WERE SO MANY SHOOTINGS THAT IT RANG A BELL IN SOMEONE'S HEAD THAT THEY NEED SECURITY CAMERAS.

WHY IS IT THAT THESE INCOMPETENT PEOPLE THAT ARE IN CHARGE NOT FIRED.

I'M CURIOUS TO KNOW JUST WHERE AND HOW DO THEY GET SO MUCH CONTACT TO DO THESE STUDIES FROM PRIVATE FIRMS.

Maxxiee
Morris Park

I AM PLEASED THAT NYCHA HAS BEEN IN THE SPOTLIGHT. THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR DEPLORABLE CONDITIONS.

WHAT ABOUT ALL THOSE VACANCIES IN NYCHA? MISAPPROPIATION OF THE MONIES ALLOCATED TO REMEDY BAD SCENARIOS IS TERRIBLE.

PUT A COP ON POSTS THAT ARE ALREADY MAPPED IN EACH PRECINCT AND YOU WILL SEE CRIME DROP.

WHEN YOU SEE A POLICE OFFICER ON POST, THANK THEM.

JOE
BAY TERRACE

I had the pleasure of living in the Douglas Houses on the Upper West off and on for the first 20 years of life due to my grandmother living there, and you could have paid me a little less than 10 million to tell you NYCHA has been poorly run pretty much forever as far as I know. Our building was actually one of the better buildings in the complex and overall Douglas was 100 times better then other projects I have been to in the city, even then there were issues. Whatever year they finally got rid of the incinerators helped stop the periodic garbage fires that filled the building with toxic smoke, but the elevators continued to be a death trap when they worked. I had great cardio and leg strength from having to walk up 16 flights of stairs on regular basis, and during the height of the crack epidemic it was always an adventure. Any minor repairs and painting my grandmother ever needed done were done promptly by me from the time I was about 12 or 13, luckily I was handy and more reliable than the Housing Authority was.

The paint thing is funny to hear since I can recall a time when they spent money to paint over the graffiti in the stairwells in the late 90's and used paint that was so flammable someone died in a stairwell fire in one development, and then Housing stripped all the paint from the staircases, probably at an additional cost. There was also a legend that they used to ration out the heat in the winter because the site manager would get a bonus for saving on heating oil. I don't know about the manager bonus part being true, but even when it was freezing we got heat once in the morning and once a night, and it never felt like it was at full strength.

This study by yet some other outside "consultants" have already started the ball rolling for so-called private contractors, which means next step is no more Public Housing. You ever notice how the government hires people who run things into the ground, and then say it's failing so they can make the workers and people who are supposed to be served suffer? Why do we need to pay taxes and support a government that can't seem to do anything but farm their responsibilities out to private interests?

RL
The Bronx

Unbelievable 10 million dollars of our tax dollars
REALLY? I could have done that for them for a half a million
city housing is out of control
but what do you expect when people do not pay for things on their own
the have no respect for what they don't pay rent for
so the tax payers get screwed twice
we pay for the mess and then we pay to find out that its a financial mess
the city is full of eroding infrastructure why would city housing be any better?
then go on Craigslist and see listing for renovated apartments going for market rates and they are in projects they get the apartments put a little money into them and then rent them out at market rate
UNREAL

that 10 million dollars would have been better spent seeing who is getting over on the system

if you cant afford to pay rent how is there are streets full of double parked cars every morning for alternate side of the street parking
you want the streets and parks clean why not make it a work for rent or food law
you want subsidised housing clean the streets weed the planting beds along the highways or in the parks

Jim
Upper West Side

I WAS RAISED IN THE GOWANUS HOUSES IN BROOKLYN FROM 195Os UNTIL 1964. THE HOUSING COMPLEX WAS NEAT AND CLEAN TO A FAULT. THE ONLY THING THE TENANTS GOT EXCITED ABOUT, WAS WHO WON THE PRIZE FOR KEEPING THE CLEANEST BUILDING AMONG THE SUPERINTENDENTS.

DUE TO THE RISE IN CRIME FOR TENANTS AND OTHERS, THERE SEEMS TO BE A GROUND-SWELL OF ABUSE AND MISUSE OF THE RESOURCES PROVIDED IN KEEPING THESE COMMUNITIES VIABLE.

HOWEVER, WHEN THE TIGER IN OUR TANKS MOVED INTO IT'S APARTMENT IN THE PROJECTS. WHAT IS THE QUESTION? THIS AMOUNTS TO GROSS NEGLECT AND FRAUD THAT SEEM TO OCCUR ON A DAILY BASIS SO MUCH THAT THE CRIMINALS AIDED BY NYCHA OFFICIALS DO NOT HAVE TO ASSUME THE 'DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL' POLICY.

JOHN, I AM SORRY THAT THAT EPISODE WENT MIA AND NO ONE APPEARED TO BE CONCERNED. IT JUST GOES TO SHOW HOW OUT-OF-SIGHT IS REALLY OUT OF MIND.

THE HOUSING PERSONNEL RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS OVERSIGHT, HAD TO BE ON THE PAYROLL OF THE MISCREANTS FOR OTHER NEFARIOUS ACTIVITY WHILE THERE.

PLAN 'B': SOLUTION

SEND THE ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS TO EACH PROJECT FACILITY TO DO SOME DUE DILIGENCE IN RESOLVING THESE EPISODES THAT ARE

CARMELITA
HARLEM

Another atrocity of inept government. These tenants are treated like garbage at the hands of the government. Promises to improve and renew these facilities and make needed repair are worthless. The bureaucracy involved in getting anything done is part of the problem. But far from the greatest.

I guarantee you that if I had the job of managing the renewal of these homes and was given all the money allocated by the government for this purpose, with no strings attached, I'd have them back to a livable state in a year.

Hey Mayor Bloomberg, you wanta take me up on that? Or are you content to enable failure?

Joe
Staten Island

When I lived in NYCHA I never had any problems with repairs or maintenence. It was the sloppy tenants and the wild kids who caused all the damage.

Jimmy
The Bronx

Creating projects and concentrating the poor in them has failed, that is why HUD has moved away from the model. High crime, poor schools, bad health. These are but some of the results of concentrating, and trying to keep the poor out of sight and out of mind. I support vouchers and subsidized housing in the market.

Frank
Sunset Park

The mayor states that NYCHA is doing a good job?? When and how?? The walls are falling apart the wait time for plaster takes from one to two years.. The plumbing is a disaster as to where water is dripping from the toilet at the apartment above you. Some workers that they have don't want to work they do a sloppy job. It makes it bad for the good workers. I've lives in housing all my life and it's just getting worst.. What a travesty and condition we have to live in. Shame on them.

Nycha is doing a lousy job. There are a lot of repairs that need to be done. Waiting list for repairs is minimum of 2 years. They need a new improvement regarding nycha system. They need to also get rid of tenants who are destroying the building with selling drugs and lack of cleanliness.

Kevin
Sheepshead bay

My 92 year old mother has been constructively evicted from her apartment of 60 years by NYCHA's criminally negligent maintenance of her apartment. My mother has always been a model tenant who pays her rent timely and has never been late. Yet, beginning three years ago, her calls for maintenance of systmic water leaks on her line, which caused sever water damage to her bathroom and kitchen, which caused crumbling plaster and walls so weak that the kitchen cabinets fell off, we had to resort to hiring an outsider to repair the walls and put up kitchen cabinets . A year later the problem occurred again, and to this date, it has not been resolved. As a result of the leaks through the walls, plaster is again crumbling, there is a consistent smell of mildew, the kitchen cabinets are again about to fall. Huge roaches come through the holes in the plaster and has invaded the apartment. I had to remove my mother from the apartment to safeguard her health. However, my nieces are still there with young children who have gotten ill from the conditions. It's a shame.

Judy

I live in Richmond Terrace Houses, Staten Island. It is a blatant shame that i have to wait a year and a half to get the ceiling in the kitchen repaired. Housing comes in and inspects the issue then tells you to call it in. When i called to put in a ticket for the plasterer and painter they tell me it is going to take one and a half years!!! They say there is a back log for repairs in housing because of a limited number of plasterers! Now what sense does that make when there are sooooo many people out of work! One year when the bathroom was leaking it took a year for them to find the leak, then i hired a professional plasterer that was out of work to come in to plaster and paint the bathroom because I knew it would take housing another year before someone would come to make the repairs. Plus i could not keep taking time off from work. There are working families that live in my building and pay as much rent as i do to be experiencing these issues. Rhea and those other housing folks need to be doing better then what they are doing. Repairs should not have to be neglected while some report it being written by the BCG. It is ridiculous...the quality of life seems like it is devalued by the bureaucratic rhetoric. Every summer the folks congregate in front of the building in their wheelchairs blocking the walkway and doorway in and out of the building! To my knowledge the contract we sign to live here states No Loitering but that's all some of the tenants do to late hours of the night making the front of the building a disgusting, dirty and smelly mess! When you complain nothing gets done!

PT

Regarding the gentleman who just called in complaining about mold in his bathtub: has he ever tried taking some cleanser and scrubbing his bathtub?

Bruce
UES

Public housing in NYC is a disgrace and an eyesore!!!

I live in West Harlem and wherever you see public housing you see people living in filth and squalor. And why is that? It's because THAT'S how those tenants CHOOSE to live.

Public housing brings down the neighborhood economically, aesthetically and criminally.

I agree with HUD and the other cities who are turning their back on Public Housing. It's got to GO!

Anonymous
Harlem

The biggest problem for me with nycha is my building leaks when it rains and we have a serious mold issue.

CeCe
Arverne

My mom has lived in NYCHA since 1957 and the development continues to deteriorate year after year. I had to involve her local congresswoman to get a work order completed for a leaking ceiling. She is elderly and disabled and was expected to empty buckets of water to keep her apartment from flooding. She has been living with mice and roaches for a couple of years.(she keeps an extremely clean apartment, so that's not the problem) The intercom system does not work and don't get me started on security...

Whilst it is a known fact that Bloomberg despises the poor and that his appointees are all beholden to him puppets, it is not he or his puppets who are going into the projects housing and defecating in the stairwells, setting fires, and vandalizing the properties.

Frances
East Village

I HAVE FAMILY MEMBERS THAT WERE IN HOUSING UNTIL THEY ENDED THAT PROGRAM THEY WERE IN AND LEFT THEN HOMELESS TO THE POINT THAT SHE HAD TO LEAVE HER KIDS AT HOMES OF FRIENDS TO SURVIVE AND WENT BACK OVERSEAS TO TRY TO SURVIVE FROM THE HIGH COST OF LIVING HERSELF.

I HAVE BEEN AT THAT APARTMENT AND AT ANY GIVEN TIME SOME 8 OR MORE RATS RUNNING ABOUT CARELESSLY IF ANYONE IS PRESENT. ROACH INFESTATIONS AS IF IN THE NORMANDY INVASION OF WORLD WAR 2 ALL OVER AGAIN.

I PERSONALLY HAD APPLIED FOR HOUSING SOME 29 YEARS AGO AND NEVER RECEIVED ANY ASSISTANCE, WAS EVEN TOLD AT ONE POINT MY APLICATION WAS BURNED, BECAUSE I HAD REPORTED THAT SOMEONE HAD STATED YOU HAD TO PAY A HOUSING OFFICER TO GET INTO ANY HOUSING!

I was watching your show and have been following the news about NYCHA.

I live in a 5 story building in harlem, i pay $900 a month plus i pay coned. There many working class people in my neighborhood. I have a hole in my kitchen wall and have to wait 1 year for repairs. When you need repairs you have to loss a days work to stay home and no one shows up. You cant speak to the head manger because he's too busy. but when your late with rent you get letters mailed and visits to your home requesting payment. I dont understand they want their rent paid in full every first of the month but can't fix your apartment.

We have workers with no skills training it's unbelieveable the way they treat us.

NYCHA requires too much paper pushing and not enough people that can and want to make a difference for the tenants.

If they want to they can't because there is so much paperwork necessary for one job to get done it overwhelms the housing assistants.

I needed my bathroom fixed since 2011. I was given a date of May 20, 2013.

After reading about Christine Quinn's office getting ten million for housing repairs I had to complain to her office.

Ms. Quinn's office referred me to Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer's office.

As a result my bathroom was fixed in about one month and is wonderful now.

Why did I have to go to these lengths?

Lisa
Long Island City

I have been a NYCHA resident... sadly for too many years. There are certainly problems that need to be fixed. However a lot of these problems are a direct result of the tenants. NYCHA will continue to treat tenants like second class citizens as long as tenants continue to ACT like second class citizens. There is a constant issue of urinating in the elevators and stairways, crime and graffiti. I do fault NYCHA for not carefully scrutinizing prospective tenants. Rather than just moving in families based solely upon need, other factors should be considered such as arrest records, willingness to progress in life, job, school, outside relatives etc... overall alluding to one's ability to contribute to a safe and clean living environment. While there are constant issues such as broken elevators, no heat, no hot water etc... Ultimately a change in the type of tenants that NYCHA houses would GREATLY contribute to more amicable living environment.

John
Flushing

I think NYCHA top officials need to be forced to live in some of these conditions the residents are complaining about. There need to be more residents participating with there developments and taking care of their homes. Main subject STOP PAYING NYPD 100 PLUS MILLIONS and put that monies back to residents. The only residents paying twice for this public service to residents.

Daniel
Melrose

I am a resident of Chelsea Houses on 25th street Manhattan.

I am appalled that it took so long to finally put a spotlight on the inadequacies of NYCHA. But to put it bluntly the real source of the issues begin and end with the criminal activities in our very buildings where drugs dealing has been allowed to run rampant in our projects along with every other. There are dealers out in force every day and night scattered all over the projects in plain view for everyone to see. I walk into the lobby of my building everyday and the smell of Pot fills the air all the time. Drug addicts come and go as they please urinating and defecating in the elevators, stair wells, and hall ways. There are cops, management, and workers who come and go in the building and see all this and nothing is done. We have cameras all over the place but the criminals ignore them and go about there business. We have Coops across 9th ave that literally have their cops and and a Police security camera clearly marked that keep the criminals away from Pinwheel park and the coops entirely. Stop the crime, have a permanent police presence, NYPD cameras in the courtyards. Than we will see the quality of life improve.

Thanks for taking the time to bring attention to the woes of housing life.

I live in housing in Bushwick II, my basement smells of sewage for the last 12 years. I pay for my lights and a fee for my washing machine, front door never locked.

Nancy

We pay extra for each air conditioner and for washing machine.

I pay $25.75 extra a month, $20 for 2 air conditioners and $5.75 for my washing machine.

I guess she doesn't live in NYCHA to really know what is included and how the rent bill is broken down.

Lisa
Queensbridge, Long Island City

I have lived in NYCHA for most of my life. I live in Washington projects in Spanish Harlem. Me and my family battle mice and roaches the whole time we was living there. We lost alot of money on clothes and furnature because the mice eat through it. We even have recordings of baby mice in our closets and the rats running back and forth through the night. We also have mold in our bathrooms. We called NYCHA numerous times and they come to "fix it" but it keeps reoccuring. We even called a lawyer to get reimbursement on the items we lost but they have yet to pay us back.

$10 million for Bloomberg's friends to pocket! Spend that money on repairs to the projects, ejecting the miscreants and putting more cops on the beat. $10m can go a long way if it is spent prudently. But Bloomie wants to line the pockets of his wealthy buddies.

Frances
East Village

People in Housing do pay appliance bills $10 per appliance so I really do know what Carmen was talking about on that one.

I am a technician at a vendor that repairs nycha trucks, on average a repair order is 4,000 dollars. How can nycha have little oversight. They're trucks are in for months at a time, with no coordination or follow ups. The nycha employees hang out at the repair site under the pretense of waiting for they're car. It's disgusting.

Nycha is not going to release the complete BCG report. They took out pertinent info & comprised their own report. So many employees were laid off or demoted while the executive dept. Is bringing in outside people making 6 figure salaries with no civil service status & no housing experience. most of Nycha buildings have been sold off to citigroup & private investors.

Well I have a lot say about NYCHA I live in the Lower East Side, Manhattan site come see for your self's there alway urine in the Floor's, Elevators, Stairwells, & Etc I'm be on augury because my father has asthma & also we have a balcony on the 2nd floor it is alway dirty all day & all night because people throwing garbage out side the window's & it land's in the balcony & when we need repair's they take their sweet time on everything & every building that is associated with NYCHA here in the Lower East Side is getting worst by the day my parent's who been here for 38 year's has seen the up's & down's of NYCHA & let's make this real clear not every tented is dirty nor pee on the floors like dog's which some are, there are way more problem's that need's to come to light beside the camera's not working at all. They are doing there job have lots of lazy worker's who always on there phone who have to clean building floor's up to the 14 down to the 1 floor is it easy no its not but how much more we can take.

Kristle
Lower East Side

I'm seeing photos of apartments with washing machine.

I know people living in these buildings are afraid to take their clothing to a building laundry room, but having washers in these units causes hugh leaks and deteriorates the plumbing.

I lived in Cypress Projects in the 60's

We weren't allowed washers or A/C units.

My opinion is that NYCHA should hire pvt management companies to handle at least 2 complexes and to be responsible for it's upkeep.

One agency cannot do it alone.

The do it because they get away with it. People get distracted and talk about things that the tenants are doing and bad conditions.

$10 million would go a long way towards repairs. And the bad tenants are there because they are allowed to stay.

Renee
Clinton Hill

Why not have high school age kids go to trade school as is done in other countries? A test is given at age 16 and if the child tests high they can go to college,otherwise they go to trade school and become plasterers, electricians or electricians. Or other trades.

NYCHA should be ashamed of themselves and the horrible conditions and our tax dollars being mismanaged and they're just full of excuses as always. These buildings are supposed to be maintained properly however I will say that the tenants are also the problem they are also dirty irresponsible rude and all around ghetto people who take pride in their community dont sell drugs rob their tenants and let their animals roam or throw trash in the grounds pee or defecate in the hall ways or let their unruly brats run wild. If they had to pay market rent plus con ed and gas they would know what it really is to struggle. If they had more housing cops there would be less crime. If there is no cooperation this is the end result

I am currently looking for work as a property manager in the low income housing for over a year and a half. I worked for the low income affordable housing in Florida for several years. I passed all inspections for all my properties. Apartments were always kept clean, we did routine inspections and paid great detail to maintenance. We need to make sure we hire the proper maintenance staff and hold them accountable for the upkeep of the property and work orders. A 3 day process of completing work orders should be mandatory and number 1 customer service.

We need to take the time to listen to the tenants and help them with the paper work and assist them in all there concerns, I think NYCHA is lacking in the fact that there is no concern for the families and the surrounding they are living in, just because a person has a low income does not make them a bad person.

I am licensed as a Real Estate Salesperson and independently work with luxury rentals in NY and all I want is to work within the affordable side of Real estate and I have not had an opportunity. So why are there no opening for a person like myself? That has the desire to contribute? I think it is full of people that are to comfortable with there position and not caring for the people, the budget and the programs offered to those in need. Create programs and have the tenants involved. security should be in place and people need to be held responsible!! this is why all programs are being cut and over budget.

DR

No one has addressed the real issue surrounding the causes of black mold and leaky pipes in the housing projects. But I will tell you it is because the maintenance men who put Band Aides on the broken pipes are not and I repeat are not licensed plumbers. Thy do not know how to fix leaks or pipes or clean up mold. You need licensed qualified people and NYCHA barely ever calls them in to do the job because they have to spend more money for them to come in on a job. Basically the cleaning men go in and try to fix the pipes and toilets. Sealing up pipes need experts not cleaning maintenance NYCHA men. As long as licensed plumbers are not used on a regular basis to fix pipes, and toilets, the mold issue will continue to grow and make people deadly sick.

I have lived in Robert Fulton Houses for 27 years. My mother and Ihave been waiting all that time for new doors for the bed rooms and closets one of said doors is held on by one hinge. I fear for my sons safty with that door inthesgape it's in. This past fathers day there was a fire in my building the housing workers came to my apartment to check for flooding to see if they needed to bring the vaccum. Once they seen what was left of the flood we had they said we had it under control and left us to finish clean up. Two weeks later we had some water leaking down pipes in the dinning room, when I went to the management office to ask if they were working in the fire affected apartment. I was told that I needed a ticket number to have some one come to my aprtment. All to ask a simple question, that never got answered. All housing seems to care is that we who live on their properties shut up and pay rent for the luxury to live in manhattan.

J.Otero