This week, Assemblyman Charles D. Fall (D-Staten Island, Manhattan, Brooklyn) introduced legislation for the upcoming Legislative Session that would require the New York City Housing Authority to address repairs within a thirty-day window after receipt of a written notice to management.

Lengthy unfinished work orders are a challenge for NYCHA residents and employees alike throughout New York City, especially in Staten Island. Residents are often frustrated with the delays and lack of visibility when scheduling necessary skilled trades, while employees have faced limited staff resources, lengthy travel time, and challenges with accessing residents’ homes and sequencing trades in the right order.

NYCHA in 2021 rolled out the Work Order Reform Pilot Project, beginning with Queens and Staten Island. The change was supposed to enable them to deliver improved service to residents by bringing more coordination and responsiveness closer to NYCHA developments, where the work is performed. However in the past year, there have been countless issues with major repair rectification, including the cooking gas problems that affected approximately 100 families living at the Stapleton Houses-NYCHA, heating problems in February at the Cassidy-Lafayette Houses-NYCHA, where several seniors were impacted and just recently in September 2022, where cooking gas was turned off at a location in a building in the Mariners Harbor Houses- NYCHA for an extended period of time. There have been countless other incidents ranging from bad and leaking water pipes, hazardous paint and other structural problems, all leading to quality of life issues.

“No one wants their grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, sister, brother, or child living in the horrendous conditions that are described by NYCHA residents, nor should we as elected officials want this for our constituents. That is exactly why in 2019 we passed an historic $250 million investment in NYCHA to increase opportunities for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers by providing safe, affordable housing and facilitating access to social and community services.

My colleagues and I here in the State Legislature have given financial support to NYCHA, now it’s time to truly see the results that the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who reside in NYCHA’s 316 public housing developments deserve. NYCHA needs to be held accountable; meaning all funds must be allocated sensibly and utilized to dramatically transform the shameful living conditions residents continue to describe within a 30-day period.”