NYCHA repair bill estimated to reach $31.8 billion
The repair bill for New York City’s embattled Housing Authority is now estimated to reach an astonishing $31.8 billion, according to new figures set to be released Monday.
That’s nearly double the $16.6 billion estimate from the authority’s last top-to-bottom assessment of its 326 housing developments across the five boroughs, which are now 60 years old on average.
More than 400,000 New Yorkers live in NYCHA housing.
The Housing Authority said the repair bill has ballooned because of its aging stock; the fact that repairs requested as part of a previous assessment in 2011 were never funded; inflation, and growing labor costs.
The new, subway-size repair bill comes as the lead scandal that has engulfed NYCHA continues to grow.
City Hall quietly admitted late Saturday that the Department of Health found levels of lead that exceeded federal guidelines in 820 blood tests on children who live in Housing Authority apartments.
Officials said the Health Department did not launch investigations into the source of the lead exposures found in those tests, because it did not meet the city’s threshold for home inspections — which was double the federal level of 5 micrograms per deciliter.
Instead, parents received a letter informing them of their child’s elevated lead count.
Outraged city Comptroller Scott Stringer said Sunday he was ordering a top-to-bottom investigation over the latest failure.
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