Cuomo: No public housing funds for NYC until repairs are made

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday threatened to delay signing the state budget without a plan to fix conditions in New York City’s public housing, including moldy walls, broken boilers, untested lead paint and rodent infestations.

The visit — his third to a city public housing development in less than two weeks — prompted the mayor’s office to accuse the governor of “lying” and practicing political opportunism at tenants’ expense.

Likening the plight of the New York City Housing Authority’s 400,000 tenants to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, the governor renewed a demand for an independent contractor to make repairs.

“This hand will not sign the state budget unless there is a real remedy that is going to make the repairs at NYCHA — and make them in real time,” Cuomo said after touring a dilapidated unit in the Bronx’s Forest Houses. “No more talking. No more bureaucracy. No more politicians covering the rear end of other politicians.”

New York State’s fiscal year starts April 1.

Earlier this month, after Cuomo’s previous two project visits, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s deputy for housing and economic development, Alicia Glen, criticized the governor for failing to release hundreds of millions in already-allocated funds for NYCHA.

De Blasio spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie said the governor’s claims — including that NYCHA hasn’t spent the money it already has — are misleading or inaccurate.

“We understand the governor’s obsession with the mayor has prevented him from learning how NYCHA funding works, but the truth is NYCHA is spending hundreds of millions of dollars each year to fill the hole left by state and federal underinvestment,” Lapeyrolerie wrote in an email. “Instead of lying about the facts to feed his political obsession, the governor should give NYCHA tenants the money he has promised and refuses to deliver.”

On Wednesday, de Blasio faulted Cuomo for “hypocrisy,” a “photo-op” and a “political opportunistic act” — appearing at housing projects without giving money for the repairs.

Cuomo said he’s hesitant to give more money to the city because, he says, the agency’s management is incompetent.

At a hearing last month, agency officials came under scrutiny for revelations about the projects, such as 143,000 out of 175,000 units having suffered heat or hot water outages this heating season, which means 320,000 out of about 400,000 residents, or about 80 percent.

NYCHA was also criticized following the disclosure that the head of the authority, Shola Olatoye, had falsely certified that lead-paint inspections mandated by law had been conducted.

Olatoye has noted in City Council testimony that the problems have long predated her tenure and federal subsidies have dwindled, leaving localities scrambling to make up the shortfall.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.