Three Upper East Side projects run by the scandal-scarred New York City Housing Authority were given the system’s worst quality ratings in years — and even were ranked among the most troubled in the nation — after recent federal inspections, The Post has learned.
The Holmes Towers, Isaacs Houses and Robbins Plaza — each run by the same managers — notched a dismal 25 points out of a possible 100, according to data compiled by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
That’s far below the 60 points needed to pass and the lowest score handed out to any NYCHA management team since January 2015, records show.
The projects also tied for 13th worst among more than 3,800 scores tallied nationwide by HUD inspectors last year.
Residents said the findings were no surprise, with tenants at the Isaacs Houses — which has 1,263 apartments in three 24-story buildings — complaining that they’ve been forced to make repairs on their own.
Evette Beasley, 52, said NYCHA workers “wait until things are really bad before they finally fix it. And they never do a good job.
“We’ve given up,” she fumed. “We decided we’re going to pay our own contractors to fix stuff.”
At the Holmes Towers, a pair of 25-story buildings with 634 apartments, Angeles Torres says she’s been waiting more than a year for bathroom repairs.
“There’s a leak in the bathroom above mine, and that’s what’s doing this,” the frustrated 82-year-old said. “I go to the management office and they just say, ‘You’re in the system. Just wait for the painters.’ ”
Tenant Meleney Leneras said she and her daughter suffer from asthma caused by mold in their bathroom. When she called
NYCHA to fix the problem, “They said, ‘Just spray it with bleach,’ ” said Leneras, 39, who works at a JC Penney store.
“So that’s what I keep doing and the mold keeps coming back,” she added. “It’s disgusting.”
The HUD inspections determine whether NYCHA buildings meet federal standards for “decent, safe, sanitary housing in good repair.”
They’re also part of an annual review that determines whether the troubled agency — which receives more than $2 billion a year in federal funds — is fit to oversee the city’s 326 taxpayer-subsidized projects.
The online HUD data don’t detail the individual failings at the Holmes Towers, Isaacs Houses and Robbins Plaza, a 150-unit building for senior citizens.
But public-housing expert Susan Popkin of the nonprofit Urban Institute said they likely involved “major structural problems,” such as elevators, boilers and roofs that need replacement.
In March 2015, the three developments scored 86 points, high enough to exempt them from annual inspections.
But a suit filed in June by the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office alleged that scores since at least 2010 were suspect because
NYCHA “trained its staff on how to deceive HUD inspectors” by using tricks that included hiding defects with painted plywood, spray foam or even cardboard.
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The city settled the complaint and agreed to spend up to $2.2 billion on the public housing over the next decade and to add a NYCHA federal court-appointed monitor, who has not yet been selected.
The lawsuit and settlement came as scandal consumed NYCHA’s management after the authority revealed it lied for years about conducting required lead inspections.
Both the authority’s chairwoman, Shola Olatoye, and its general manager, Michael Kelly, resigned. Mayor Bill de Blasio named two City Hall veterans — Stanley Brezenoff and Vito Mustaciuolo — to replace them.
Since their appointment, Brezenoff and Mustaciuolo have been forced to confront a $31.8 billion price tag to fix NYCHA’s crumbling buildings and allegations that staff at the Throggs Neck Houses in The Bronx organized on-the-clock orgies.
NYCHA copped to the problems at the three buildings and pinned the failures on its ongoing financial difficulties.
“This development score demonstrates the work ahead for our new leadership team, and our new General Manager is already addressing staffing and operations issues portfolio-wide,” said NYCHA spokeswoman Jasmine Blake.
Additional reporting by Kevin Sheehan
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