Comptroller Scott Stringer Blasts NYCHA For Squandering Funding Opportunities

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The city comptroller released a blistering report Wednesday on the New York City Housing Authority, accusing the agency of squandering the opportunity to collect hundreds of millions in federal aid that could have gone to much-needed repairs and safety improvements.

Comptroller Scott Stringer announced that an audit by his office found mismanagement and bureaucratic paralysis caused NYCHA to miss out on nearly $700 million in revenue and savings, WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reported.

Among the findings, the audit found that "NYCHA failed to secure $353 million in federal funds that could have been used to fund energy-efficient lighting in stairwells," Stringer told reporters outside the Farragut Houses in Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn.

In November, Akai Gurley, 28, was shot dead by rookie police officer Peter Liang in a dark stairwell at the Pink Houses in East New York, Brooklyn, in what police have called a tragic accident.

Liang and his partner were patrolling the stairwell between the seventh and eighth floors, according to police. The officers walked down the stairs onto an eighth-floor landing when Gurley and his girlfriend opened a stairwell door one floor down after giving up on waiting for an elevator, police said.

MORE: Read The Full Audit

Liang fired apparently by accident, striking Gurley in the chest from a distance of about 10 feet, police said.

"We want to see a real structural change at NYCHA," Stringer said.

NYCHA Chairwoman Shola Olatoye testified Tuesday before the City Council that 9,000 repairs are made in public housing each day, and millions of dollars are being spent on improvements.

She also said to make public housing truly safer the agency needs additional funding, starting with $18 billion just to fix what's wrong.

The New York City Council Committee on Public Housing is investigating the relationship between lighting and safety.

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