Manhattan lead paint confusion casts new doubts
on moving public housing to private management
BY GREG B. SMITH
THE CITY
When the New York City
Housing Authority
turned over hundreds
of public housing apartments in
Manhattan to a private management
company last fall, the new
managers were required to clean
up any lead paint hazards lingering
on the walls.
In June, the managers sent tenants
notices that Harley Plumbing
& Heating LLC would soon arrive
to repair leaky water pipes — and
that Harley’s owner, Steven Kofsky,
was qualifi ed to supervise
any lead paint remediation if
necessary.
To make sure the residents
knew they were on top of their
game, the company, Monadnock
Development, provided tenants
with Kofsky’s offi cial documentation
certifying that he’d been
properly trained and registered as
qualifi ed to deal with lead paint by
the federal Environmental Protection
Administration (EPA).
There was only one problem:
Kofsky’s EPA certifi cation had
expired in 2011 — 10 years earlier,
according to federal offi cials.
This is just one of several behind
the-scenes problems recently
surfaced in NYCHA’s controversial
effort to fi x up its aging portfolio
by turning over management of
buildings to the private sector, via
an Obama-era program known as
Rental Assistance Demonstration
(RAD).
Under the city’s version of RAD,
NYCHA retains ownership of the
buildings but transfers management
over to the private sector — a necessity,
supporters of the program
say, to repair the crumbling public
housing system. The new managers
are required to certify that living
conditions will continue to meet all
city, state and federal requirements.
But as THE CITY recently
reported, that isn’t happening in
all cases.
Last fall, investigators working
for the federal monitor who oversees
NYCHA found toxic mold
Life outside of the NYCHA Housing complex at 344 E. 28th St on Thursday morning, Aug. 19, 2021.
hidden behind newly installed
drywall as Monadnock last summer
sought to bring one of its Manhattan
developments up to regulatory
par, according to the monitor and
records obtained by THE CITY.
Alleged Mold Coverup Stains
Public Housing Move to Private
Management
That was at Washington
Heights Rehab, one of a group
of developments transferred into
RAD in December known as the
Manhattan bundle. After the
monitor let NYCHA know about
the mold issue, the authority
promised increased oversight at
all RAD properties going forward.
But THE CITY has found that
problems at the Manhattan bundle
go beyond mold — and include the
uncertifi ed lead paint supervisor
and use of an asbestos contractor
with a track record of violations.
That raises serious questions about
whether NYCHA has been on top
of the situation there and is only
now beginning to crack down as
problems emerge.
A ‘Life-or-Death’
Coverup
Several Brooklyn elected offi
cials, all Democrats, recently
demanded that NYCHA pause its
next round of RAD transfers in
their districts.
State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, Assemblymember
Latrice Walker
and City Councilmember Alicka
PHOTOS BY HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN/ THE CITY
Ampry-Samuel want NYCHA
management to document how
they’ve informed tenants about
RAD’s effects — and disclose
what, if anything, they’ve been
telling them about the problems
with the Manhattan bundle.
“Your investigation revealing
a coverup of really a life-or-death
proportion completely eliminates
the credibility they have on the issue
— completely invalidates their
explanation on this issue,” Myrie
told THE CITY.
“That is unacceptable. The
whole premise of RAD is that the
private developers are supposed to
be able to deliver repairs in a more
effi cient way than NYCHA. If your
position is you didn’t know and
then you covered up, that eliminates
the entire premise of why we
should use this (RAD) protocol in
the fi rst place.”
“It is so contradictory to the
presentation that is given to the
community and the elected offi
cials,” he added.
This contradiction is particularly
evident with the Manhattan
bundle, a group of developments
containing more than 1,700
apartments.
The developments, scattered
from Kips Bay to Upper Manhattan,
were turned over in December
to a joint venture of Monadnock
and non-profi t fi nanciers called
PACT Renaissance.
One of these developments is a
26-story residential tower on East
28th Street.
The 225-unit building opened
in 1971, when lead paint was still
in use. But NYCHA put the tower
on a list of developments deemed
“clear” of lead paint after random
sampling of some apartments.
In 2018, however, federal prosecutors
revealed that NYCHA
managers had for years falsely
claimed that they were inspecting
and cleaning up lead paint as
required by city law and federal
regulations. In response, Mayor
Bill de Blasio ordered reinspection
of 134,000 units — including
those on East 28th St.
Last year, ACL Environmental,
a vendor hired by NYCHA, detected
the presence of lead paint
inside some apartments there and
in common areas. Thirteen of
2,171 tests on multiple surfaces
in 27 apartments registered lead,
along with 61 of 993 tests in common
areas, such as the lobby.
Out of Date
PACT Renaissance/Monadnock
took over the building in December,
and in June it announced that
“emergency” work on two water
lines was necessary.
The job required breaking into
ceilings and walls to get access to the
bathtub trap and waste line in up to 52
apartments. Because this would disturb
existing lead paint, EPA-certifi ed
workers had to supervise the job.
The documents sent to tenants
about the project state that Kofsky
was last certifi ed by the EPA as a
lead paint supervisor in 2005, and
that he took a refresher course as
required in 2007. However, John
Senn, an EPA spokesperson, told
THE CITY refresher certifi cate
expired on Feb. 16, 2011.
“That is the most recent information
regarding Mr. Kofsky’s
certifi cation status in our records,”
Senn said.
Kofsky did not return a call from
THE CITY regarding the expiration
of his EPA certifi cation.
Tom Corsillo, a spokesperson for
PACT Renaissance/Monadnock,
wrote in an emailed response to THE
CITY that Kofsky did not supervise
the work at E. 28th Street, although
he confi rmed that Kofsky’s fi rm,
Harley, did the plumbing work there.
Corsillo at fi rst contended that
PACT Renaissance did not “convey
to any resident that he would be supervising
lead abatement work.” But
when shown the EPA certifi cates for
Kofsky sent to tenants, he wrote, “If
Mr. Kofsky’s certifi cates were sent to
residents, that was done erroneously.”
Though the letters to tenants
included a pamphlet about the hazards
of lead and noted that a contractor
would be performing dust
wipe sampling for lead, Corsillo
wrote that “the work in question
was not and did not involve lead
abatement.”
He stated that the lead paint
work performed there was strictly
precautionary, noting, “Any activity
that disturbs more than two square
feet of paint in pre-1978 housing,
including opening ceilings, requires
that contractors performing such
work have in place” be EPA approved
to do the work.
He said two other fi rms, Sarahana
LLC and JoGo Enterprises,
handled opening and resealing the
walls, and both had up-to-date EPA
certifi cates, although neither had
supervisory certifi cates, according
to the records sent to tenants.
This article was originally
published on Aug. 22 at 6:57
p.m. EDT by THE CITY, an independent,
nonprofi t news outlet
dedicated to hard-hitting reporting
that serves the people of New
York. Read more at THECITY.nyc.
4 August 26, 2021 Schneps Media