Nearly half of sampled purchase orders lacked evidence that the work was performed. For apartment repairs under $50,000, NYCHA does not formally evaluate vendors, and 93% of the time residents were not asked to rate the vendor.
Comptroller proposes real-time resident feedback tool – on the model of Yelp reviews – to generate vendor scorecards and hold contractors accountable.
In a new audit, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander found that the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is sorely lacking mechanisms for oversight and monitoring of contractors who perform repairs in its buildings. In 2022 and 2023, NYCHA spent $135.6 million on apartment repairs costing less than $50,000, yet it does not evaluate the work of these vendors, and auditors found inadequate controls over payments. Nearly half of sampled purchase orders lacked evidence that the contracted work was performed.
NYCHA currently lacks a mechanism for residents to provide feedback on vendor performance, as has become standard in other customer service fields. In response to surveys conducted by the Comptroller’s Office, 93% of residents who were asked about vendor performance stated that they were never asked by NYCHA to rate their satisfaction with work performed in their apartment. Furthermore, NYCHA’s vetting processes for these contracts do not require agency officials to formally consider a vendor’s prior performance with NYCHA before a new contract is awarded.
In a report accompanying the audit, Repairs, Reviews, and Resident Voice, Comptroller Lander proposes a new resident feedback tool on repairs in their units, on the model of Yelp reviews, that would generate vendor scorecards to hold contractors accountable. Public housing authorities, non-profit, and for-profit property owners around the globe are increasingly embracing resident engagement and innovative technology tools to more effectively manage their properties.
“NYCHA spends hundreds of millions of dollars on repair vendors every year, but is failing to make sure those contractors actually do the work we’re paying them for,” said NYC Comptroller Brad Lander. “So here’s a simple recommendation: let residents rate the vendors who perform work in their unit – like Yelp or countless other apps – and use tenant feedback to generate vendor scorecards to hold contractor accountable.”
The audit and policy report were recommended by the Comptroller’s NYCHA Resident Audit Committee, which was established in 2022. As part of the process, the Comptroller’s staff engaged NYCHA residents in all five boroughs, including a survey conducted to garner resident feedback and input in the audit process. Direct resident engagement included a series of roundtables and listening sessions, surveys of more than 1,000 residents across 44 developments, and the establishment of the first-ever resident audit committee convened by Comptroller Lander which has steered the Comptroller’s resident-powered audit process and selected this audit topic. The committee was created with the goal of incorporating resident voices and experiences into the oversight and accountability process to deliver change at NYCHA.
In light of tenants’ own poor experiences with repairs, as well as corruption charges by the U.S. Attorney in which 70 NYCHA officials pled guilty to accepting cash payments in exchange for contract approvals, especially on small and micro purchases, the Comptroller’s office launched the audit in 2023. Findings of the audit include:
Controls that are in place to prevent inappropriate micro purchases are easily circumvented
Gaps in the control process include purchases appearing to have been artificially divided to keep projects below the $10,000 bidding threshold. Numerous vendors were also assigned more than one unique vendor identification numbers, risking NYCHA’s ability to ensure these are not larger expenditures under the guise of micro purchases, which have far less contractual oversight.
Records related to work requests and completion are disorganized and often incomplete
At all 10 of the developments that Comptroller’s Office auditors visited, staff needed several hours to find requested paperwork and at most, documents were stored haphazardly. Shockingly, at one development, documents were covered in mold resulting from water damage.
NYCHA does not evaluate the work performed by micro and small purchase vendors
NYCHA staff told Comptroller’s Office auditors that the “expectation is that developments where work was done unsatisfactorily will not use the same vendors in the future and that this mitigates repeat unsatisfactory repair and maintenance work,” but there is no formal rating system or repository for this information to be recorded which can lead to sub-standard work at one development being replicated at another.
More oversight needed on large-scale vendors
While residents were generally more satisfied with large-scale work and many controls are in place, the Comptroller’s audit highlighted important concerns including the need for strengthening vetting and vendor evaluations that lack standardization. Record keeping and documentation was another issue for large-scale vendor contracts. Unfortunately, NYCHA leaves it to the discretion of individual departments to determine the level of evidence that should be retained and has no standardized requirement. Respondents to the Comptroller’s survey raised concerns with large-scale work and many indicated that while NYCHA does communicate with them regarding planned capital works, they were not satisfied with NYCHA’s overall responsiveness to related issues.
Auditors acknowledge that NYCHA has taken some important steps to implement recommendations for improvements in vendor oversight issued by the Department of Investigation in February 2024. However, residents are still almost entirely missing from the process.
NYCHA has no means to formally collect resident feedback on work performed by contractors. Officials stated that feedback may be noted on the hardcopy work order that residents are asked to sign, but this information is not recorded in a manner that would facilitate formal tracking of resident satisfaction with repairs or vendors. In its response to the audit, NYCHA claimed that tenants could give feedback in the general comments fields of the MyNYCHA app, or in an annual general survey. However, these options are not tied to specific repair vendors, comments are not solicited when work is done, and feedback provided in this way has no bearing on vendor evaluations or whether those vendors are given additional work.
As detailed in Repairs, Reviews, and Resident Voice, technology can play a critical role in enhancing government operations and is increasingly used by governments – including in housing operations – to reach and empower broader populations, strengthen community engagement practices, and deliver services more effectively. Many multifamily affordable housing providers are integrating resident feedback into their management practices in innovative ways that leverage the power of digital technology.
The report recommends that NYCHA provide residents with an opportunity to rate their vendors through an easy-to-use, accessible, and multi-lingual Yelp-like contractor evaluation tool at the completion of every work order and before the vendor gets paid. This feedback should be integrated into a public, accessible, real-time Vendor Scorecard that would be utilized in decisions about which vendors get future work.
By allowing NYCHA residents to rate their vendors, integrating their feedback into vendor scorecards, and utilizing the results to determine which contractors receive future contracts, NYCHA could ensure that repairs actually get done, rebuild resident trust, make far better use of taxpayer dollars, and improve living conditions for the half-million residents who call NYCHA home.
“As a member of the NYCHA Resident Audit Committee, I see the difference that resident involvement makes in holding NYCHA accountable,” said Taft Houses Resident Association President Beverly MacFarlane. “For years I’ve been ringing the alarm on issues in my development and across NYCHA’s operations, including the lack of accountability over vendors. It’s no secret that NYCHA has left apartments crumbling, but now is the time to make sure the agency steps up and make sure all contractors actually do the work they’re hired to do.”
“I’ve asked NYCHA over and over to listen to the voices of residents when we flag issues with vendors and through our resident audit committee and the Comptroller’s Office they are finally being held accountable,” said Alfred E. Smith Houses Resident Association President Aixa Torres. “Residents have been dealing with broken elevators, mold, lack of heat, and shoddy repair work for far too long. We know our homes best. We’ve been expressing our frustration but it’s not leading to any change. Allowing residents to give direct feedback to NYCHA through a Vendor Scorecard would make a big difference in making sure we don’t see the same problems surface over and over again.”
“NYCHA apartments are falling apart and all we’re seeing are bandage solutions,” said Coney Island Houses Resident and Community Voices Heard Member Ann Valdez. “I’ve seen repairs in my development take 17 years with no real oversight and accountability. The NYCHA Resident Audit Committee voted on this audit because we’re seeing the same pattern of broken promises across the city. We want to make sure NYCHA keeps listening and implement a simple solution to make sure residents can give their feedback on the issues that impact us most.”
