NYCHA claims top spot on annual list of NYC’s worst landlords

Public Advocate and soon-to-be New York State Attorney General Letitia James has placed the New York City Housing Authority in the top slot of her annual “Landlord Watchlist.”

The watchlist is normally populated with landlords for private properties, however, after analyzing NYCHA’s mounting issues and the extensive backlog of open repair requests across the authority’s many properties, James found it befitting to include the agency. It is the first time that public housing has made James’s list, says the New York Daily News.

“The conditions of NYCHA buildings are among the worst in the city and the response from management has been inadequate,” said James in a statement. By placing NYCHA at the top of her list, James says she is “making it plain what New Yorkers have known for years.”

According to the landlord overview for NYCHA, the are currently 174,488 units with 240,120 open work orders. These amount to more than $25 billion in necessary repairs. Among the developments with the biggest number of outstanding work orders were NYCHA’s Red Hook East, Red Hook West, Mill Brook Houses, Albany Houses, and Sedgwick Houses.

As for private landlords, Eric Silverstein currently tops the watchlist with 356 units in four buildings on the list and 1,449 HPD violations; followed by Jeffery Dunston, who has 15 properties under watch and 1,345 HPD violations.

• NYCHA tops Tish James ‘worst landlords’ — first time it’s made public advocate’s annual list [New York Daily News]
• Landlord Watchlist [Official]