Comptroller: NYC Public Housing Ill-Prepared For Emergencies

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Comptroller Scott Stringer is warning that New York City's public housing system is not ready to handle emergencies.

Stringer released an audit of the New York City Housing Authority on Tuesday that said the agency does not have a clear chain of command in a disaster.

"During this audit, NYCHA executives acknowledged that their emergency preparedness plan is deficient," Stringer told reporters, including WCBS 880's Marla Diamond.

Stringer said the agency has new disaster plans that will be rolled out over the next five years.

"I do not have to tell you storms don't take five-year vacations," he said.

He also said NYCHA does not maintain accurate databases of generators needed in a power failure or of disabled residents who may need extra help to evacuate.

"The great irony is that NYCHA actually has plenty of generators, but their central office doesn't have any idea where they are," Stringer said.

More than 80,000 NYCHA residents lost essential services when Superstorm Sandy struck three years ago.

The audit was troubling to Darlene Frederick, who lives in the Lower East Side's Alfred E. Smith Houses, one of the complexes severely impacted by Sandy.

"I just feel that there's more that needs to be done, especially for the disabled," she said.

"I have an excellent manager and superintendent, but if they don't have the supplies to help my residents, then they can't do it," said Aixa Torres, president of the tenants association at the Smith Houses.

A NYCHA spokesman criticized the report, accusing Stringer of "cherry picking data" and "painting an outdated picture" of the public housing system. He also said Stringer failed to review the agency's response to any major emergency since Sandy.

More than 400,000 New Yorkers reside in NYCHA's 328 housing developments.

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