Running the New York City Housing Authority is not for the faint of heart — in fact, Mayor de Blasio called it a “dangerous mission,” the incoming chair said Wednesday.
Kathryn Garcia, the city’s sanitation-commissioner-turned-lead-czar-turned-interim-NYCHA-chair, said it took a little selling from de Blasio to get her to take over the beleaguered authority, even just on a temporary basis.
“I think it was something along the lines, like, ‘I have a dangerous mission for you,’” Garcia told reporters at City Hall.
Hizzoner has repeatedly turned to Garcia to take on extra responsibilities — including coming up with a plan announced last month to rid the city of lead. But she said she was still shocked by the request to run the authority while it searches, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, for a permanent chair.
“A little stunned, I have to say, but he really cast it as, you know, this is an opportunity for you to really help the residents of NYCHA, and it’s super important to him that things continue to improve there,” she said.
The shake-up at NYCHA is the result of the settlement of a federal lawsuit against the authority for substandard living conditions — including vermin, lead paint and mold. The agreement, reached last week, required the removal of the authority’s previous temporary honcho, Stanley Brezenoff. Garcia expects to run the show for about 90 days, beginning after Feb. 15, until a permanent chair is found. That permanent chair will have to be chosen from a list of candidates approved by the feds.
But NYCHA has considerable work to do in the meantime — under its agreement with HUD, it must remediate lead hazards in 5,799 apartments within 30 days of having found the lead. NYCHA says it has so far remediated 2,006 of them — that leaves 3,793 to go.
“The absolute immediate thing is to ensure that we are doing the remediation that are required to be done by the end of this month, and then from there it’s really about the things that are most important to NYCHA residents — which is going to be heat, hot water and mold,” she said.
Despite the big number, Garcia said she and NYCHA General Manager Vito Mustaciuolo can get it done, even if they have to lean on other city agencies involved with construction.
“I am committed to making sure with Vito that we get it done, the mayor has been pretty clear that if we need help from other agencies we can get it,” she said.
The city also did not immediately say whether Garcia would get a raise. Her current salary is $236,088, the mayor’s office said, which is slightly higher than Brezenoff and his predecessor, NYCHA Chair Shola Olatoye, earned.
Garcia left open the possibility that she may make staffing changes at NYCHA, though only if needed.
“My plan is not to go in there and shake everything up unless I think it really needs to be shaken up,” she said.
She has experience working with a federal monitor before — Garcia worked at the Department of Environmental Protection under Mayor Bloomberg, when the agency was overseen by a federal monitor.
“You don’t mind being watched if you’re not doing anything wrong,” she said.
