A state watchdog found a number of issues when it investigated three massive affordable housing complexes overseen by New York City's HPD.
From moldy apartments to financial mismanagement to construction that lasts years — a state watchdog found all of that and more when it investigated three massive affordable housing complexes overseen by the City of New York.
CBS News New York investigative reporter Tim McNicholas found tenants desperate for a fix, and the Mamdani administration hopes to deliver one.Comptroller's years-long investigationState Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's investigation began in 2019 and lasted through April 2025, focusing on Evergreen Gardens in the Bronx, Clinton Towers in Manhattan, and Tivoli Towers in Brooklyn. All three are known as Mitchell-Lama buildings, a unique kind of affordable housing geared toward working families.They're privately managed, but the city's Department of Housing and Preservation oversees them, although, according to the report published this year, not well enough.'Vacant apartments would be vacant for months and, I think in some cases, for years,' he said. 'If it's a vacant apartment, you're not collecting any income from them, so we estimated just for these three developments that we looked at it, it was well over $300,000 in lost rental income.'His investigation cites 'questionable spending' at the buildings and accuses Tivoli Towers of paying vendors without HPD approval or evidence of competitive bidding.At Clinton Towers, DiNapoli says the building operates at a financial loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. The comptroller also says management violated city policy by reimbursing $9,551 to a superintendent who said he'd bought supplies with his own credit card.See more CBS New York InvestigationsCity oversight at Mitchell-Lama buildingsAlicka Ampry-Samuel, HPD's deputy commissioner of asset and property management, says the city plans to improve oversight at Mitchell-Lama buildings.'We're looking at the financials to see, what do we need to look at now? What are the red flags for discrepancies?' she said. 'How can we ensure that when the property management organizations are contracting with vendors, how do we ensure that we see what's happening before they make a bad decision?'One recommendation from the audit is for HPD to make sure management is quickly filling any vacancies.'Over the years, the cost of operating dollars have clearly outpaced the money that's been coming in, and so now we're at a point with these audit reports coming in looking at what can we do more?' Ampry-Samuel said.Tenants fed up with conditionsAt Tivoli Towers, the comptroller's probe found broken fire doors, leaks and facade work that's dragged on for years.Tivoli Towers Tenants Association President Alicia Cardenas-Solano pointed out a broken smoke detector that she says has been hanging in a hallway for months and mold in her bathroom. She says management isn't doing enough.'It makes me angry, and I call and I have had meetings with them, but the issues are still the same. They have not improved,' she said.Clinton Towers Tenants Association President Mary Somoza says residents are fed up with construction in the lobby and on the facade that's dragged on for three years.The comptroller's report says the lobby work at one point stopped 'due to a contractor not being paid.'Somoza is looking to the city's new leadership for solutions.'I am very optimistic and very hopeful that this new mayor, he will do something about these situations,' she said.HPD oversees 92 Mitchell-Lama buildings and encourages anyone facing issues in any of them to attend the mayor's rental ripoff hearings. The city says that will help shape policies to improve housing. The first hearing was Thursday, but you can register online for additional hearings coming up in the next few weeks. Do you have a story that needs investigating? Let us know.Management company alleges inaccuraciesThe private managers of Evergreen Gardens, Clinton Towers and Tivoli Towers would not agree to interviews for this story.A Nelson Management spokesperson sent CBS News New York the following statement regarding Evergreen Gardens:'Working in cooperation with The city's Housing agency's HPD and HDC, we are committed to fully reviving Evergreen Gardens and continue to address any issues that exist in the common spaces and individual units as needed on an ongoing basis. At the time it was acquired at the beginning of 2022, Evergreen Gardens had fallen into ill repair due to decades of mismanagement, disinvestment, and neglect by the prior owners. It was overrun by drug dealers, had no security to speak of, permitted non-residents to enter at will, and required extensive physical repairs and upgrades. We have since invested more than $6.5 million in capital improvements, including a new roof, new boiler, extensive facade and brick work, brand new lobbies, installed numerous security cameras, and created new brand parking lots to make them secure against theft.'Meanwhile, the comptroller's office actual onsite inspection of the property took place nearly 16 months ago and does not accurately reflect current building conditions, with many of the report's finding factually inaccurate. While we acknowledge there are still problems at the property, it's important to note that HPD — the City's key housing agency — refuted most of the auditor's assessment . Furthermore, HDC, after inspecting the property two times over the last two years, has graded both the physical status of Evergreen Gardens as 'Above Average' and the maintenance of the building as 'Above Average'. More capital improvements still need to be done. However, they cannot all be done at once, as that would be a logistical impossibility. But Evergreen Gardens is in significantly better condition than it was under the prior ownership, and we are currently awaiting review by HPD of a funding application to begin the next round of upgrades.'Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, who requested an audit of Clinton Towers, sent CBS News New York the following statement:'After sounding the alarm for years to HPD regarding the fiscal and physical condition of Clinton Towers, a Mitchell-Lama development in my Manhattan Assembly district, I urged Comptroller DiNapoli to audit the building. The results, while alarming, are not shocking to me or building residents -- we have long believed that chronic mismanagement and a lack of effective oversight at the city level have contributed to current state of affairs at Clinton Towers. I will continue fighting for the preservation of Mitchell-Lamas at the state level, and I am hopeful that newly appointed HPD Commissioner Dina Levy and this mayoral Administration will be partners in addressing and transforming Clinton Towers and the many other Mitchell-Lama developments under its purview.'
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