Mold/Leak Extends Protections to 62,000 More Families

SBC Leaders Fr, Bertram Bennett and Bernard Smith, and Rep Ritchie Torres

Celebrate Success of the Mold and Leak Ombudsperson’s office. 

On December 23, Metro IAF affiliates Manhattan Together (MT) and South Bronx Churches (SBC) reached an agreement with The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) to extend robust legal protections against mold, leaks and other excess moisture to tenants in Buildings that are part of NYCHA’s Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program. Roughly 62,000 units will be converted to private management through PACT, NYCHA’s conduit to include developments in the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program. These protections are part of the Consent Decree reached in our Baez V NYCHA Federal lawsuit. This deal was then approved by the Court on December 28th, 2021.

The agreement states, amongst other things, that:

• NYCHA will require those managers to address all open mold and excessive moisture repair requests within 60 days after they officially enter RAD/PACT.
• After they’re in RAD/PACT, NYCHA will require private managers to clean up all mold and excessive moisture complaints going forward within 30 days.
• Building managers must submit monthly reports identifying all unresolved mold complaints, and a plan to resolve them, to NYCHA as well as an independent data analyst and the special master who are already part of the court agreement. If the plan is inadequate, the Special Master can order stronger action.
• RAD/PACT tenants will regain their ability to register mold complaints with the independent mold and leak Ombudsman hired under the consent decree. This Ombudsman’s office has already gotten NYCHA to make almost 7,000 repairs. They will look into every mold case in a RAD/PACT building that hasn’t been resolved by the required 30-day deadline.

This victory came from the hard work by leaders from MT, SBC and East Brooklyn Congregations, as well as the pro-bono legal team from Proskauer Rose, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice. Metro IAF’s clergy, tenant and community leaders are working to make sure that tenants in RAD/PACT buildings exercise their rights, and will work with NYCHA and developers to ensure the agreement can be executed.

PRESS

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PIX 11 (12/23/22) NYCHA agrees to extend mold, leak protections to privately managed buildings