Real Estate
Skin-crawling report: 60K NYCHA bug complaints
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
New data shows that there was
a huge number of work orders
were sent to the New York City
Housing Authority (NYCHA) to take
care of the creepy-crawly bugs that
were infesting their homes.
According to the new information released
by the Legal Aid Society, within
the fi rst nine months of 2019 NYCHA
residents fi led over 59,770 work orders
to handle cockroach and bedbug infestations.
The Legal Aid Society released
this information as a response to the
Freedom of Information Law.
“The high number of work orders
fi led by NYCHA residents to remediate
insect infestation within their homes
is indeed troubling,” said Judith Goldiner,
Attorney-In-Charge of the Civil
Law Reform Unit. “But it is telling that
NYCHA has been able to fully close the
majority of these complaints without
signifi cant delay.”
According to data, residents at the
Grant Houses in Manhattan fi led the
most work orders. With 981 in total,
877 of those reports were specifi cally
roach complaints. Following close
behind with the second and third
most reports were the Linden Houses
(Brooklyn) and the Edenwald Houses
(Bronx), with 862 reports and 860 reports,
respectively. The pair also had
the second and third highest number of
roach complaints, with 823 complaints
from the Linden Houses and 814 from
the Edenwald Houses.
While the Grant Houses led the way
in roach complaints, they had the second
highest number of bedbug complaints
with 104 in total. The highest
number of bedbug complaints came
The Grant Houses were the leaders in roach complaints in 2019.
from the Pomonok Houses in Queens
with 116 reports.
It was reported that it took the Housing
Authority an average of 9.5 days to
address.
“This is a clear byproduct of more
staff on the ground and resources,”
said Goldiner. “With the Legislature
now in session, we again call for increased
funding for public housing authorities
PHOTO VIA WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
to address these problems and
others facing tenants. Public housing is
critical to so many New Yorkers and we
must ensure that residents live safely
and with dignity.”
NYC ranks 10 in affordability among U.S. cities: study
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
A new study sought to fi gure out
where New York City stands
compared to other cities in terms
of affordability.
A new report released by the Citizens
Budget Commission sought to fi nd out
which cities across the country were the
most affordable, not just through housing
costs but also factoring in transportation
costs. According to their fi ndings from
data in 2016, New York City is the tenth
most affordable among the 20 cities that
were examined for the study.
New York City as a whole was the fi fth
most expensive in housing costs when compared
to peer cities. While residents of the
city have a median income of $69,211, the
eighth-highest compared to the other cities
examined, they are spending $1778 a
month, or 30.8% of their salary, on housing
alone.
CBC noted that the high demand for
housing in New York City puts the city at
high risk for less affordability in the future.
Despite the high cost of housing, New
York City proved to be more inexpensive
than other cities in terms of transportation
costs. According to the data, city residents
are only paying $832 a month, or 14.4%
of their income, on transportation. When
factoring this cost, the affordability of New
York City compared to the others in this
study increases.
To read the full report, visit the CBC
website, cbc.ny.gov. PHOTO VIA PIXABAY
22 January 16, 2020 Schneps Media
/cbc.ny.gov
