Groups, Residents Grading NYCHA Services
Posted on NYCinFocus.org / 29 December 2010.
By Joe Danielewicz
Throughout the city, public-housing residents are being encouraged to rate their landlord on the safety, cleanliness and upkeep of the buildings they live in.
The campaign is being organized by GOLES, short for “Good Old Lower East Side,” a housing rights organization in Lower Manhattan. The group launched the report card campaign in July and has expanded the program with the help of other community organizations in Harlem and Brooklyn in recent months.
“If residents are forced to pay rent in a timely manner, or face eviction, it’s only right that they ask that NYCHA gives them the quality of life that they signed up for,” said Marquis Jenkins, a community organizer with GOLES.
To date, about 500 report cards have been collected by GOLES. The group wants input from at least 1,000 residents, which will be compiled into a report of New York City Housing Authority’s strengths and weaknesses as seen through the eyes of its residents.
Residents also see the need to catalogue maintenance problems.
“The maintenance is not up to par,” said Maria Inez Quinones, co-chairperson for the resident-run grievance committee at Alfred E. Smith Houses. “People need to grade the main performance in their community,”
“It’s not like you’re getting the quality service that you deserve as tenant,” Quinones continued, “especially with the amount of rent that you pay.” Residents are expected to pay 30 percent of their gross income in rent.
A common complaint from residents involves dealing with the NYCHA’s centralized Customer Contact Center which handles maintenance calls for all NYCHA properties. Before the call center was created in 2005, maintenance requests were handled at the individual complexes.
Residents like Quinones often express problems about the informing the call center of a repair and actually having it done. “There is a lack of communication,” she said. “It doesn’t seem like [the call center] is working hand-in-hand with the development.”
Each day, the Housing Authority’s call center receives over 10,000 maintenance inquires. And over the course a year, more than 2 million calls flow through the center, according to NYCHA.
NYCHA acknowledges residents’ dissatisfaction.
“The Authority respects and understands our residents’ frustration over the current backlog of repair and maintenance work,” Brent Grier, a NYCHA public relations assistant, said in an email.
Grier also states that despite the task of dealing with over 2,600 buildings, many of which are between 40 and 70 years old, NYCHA “will not allow that to deter us in seeking a solution” to resolve maintenance issues.
The authority is currently working on a “comprehensive Five Year plan” to address repair issues, he said.
And as the city’s largest landlord, NYCHA regularly solicits feedback from residents. After repair work in a home, someone from the call center contacts the resident for a review of the service. Residents are also able to provide input at regular meetings throughout the city and with public forums regarding the next year’s Annual Plan.
The input Quinones is giving in her report card isn’t all bad news. She has high regard for her development’s staff, both office management and repair workers.
“They do a hell of a job,” she said.
GOLES officials hasn’t announced when they expect to reach their goal of collecting 1,000 report cards and produce the results of the survey.
