Res. No. 543
Resolution calling on the New York City Housing Authority to improve its public database of awarded contracts through the addition of new search features and inclusion of more contract information in search results.
By Council Members Avilés, Richardson Jordan, Marte, Hudson, Hanif and Ung
Whereas, The New York City Housing Authority (“NYCHA") is a public housing authority with 335 developments, and 177,611 units that are home to 547,891 authorized residents, through public housing, section 8, and NYCHA’s implementation of the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration (“RAD”) program; and
Whereas, in fiscal year 2022, NYCHA awarded $489 million in contracts to service providers, which accounted for 18 percent of NYCHA’s Other Than Personal Services expenditures in that fiscal year; and
Whereas, NYCHA makes information about these contracts publicly available through an Awarded Contracts database (the “Database”) that may be searched through the NYCHA website; and
Whereas, Save Section 9, a national public housing advocacy organization, has noted that they cannot effectively use the Database due to its lack of search features, such as a search by keyword or search by impacted property, and its lack of certain useful information about contracts, such as the names of subcontractors and whether a contract pertains to a property that has been converted from section 9-funded housing into section 8-funded housing through the RAD program; and
Whereas, The addition of new search features, which should include, at minimum, the ability to conduct a keyword search and a search, or sort, by impacted property and the inclusion of more contract information in search results would increase the transparency and public accountability of NYCHA operations; and
Whereas, The Council of the City of New York declared in its findings for the Open Data Law, Local Law 11 of 2012, that it is in the best interest of the City of New York that its agencies and departments make their data available online; and
Whereas, On September 1, 2022, a NYCHA contractor erroneously detected the presence of arsenic levels beyond safety thresholds in the water supply at Jacob Riis Houses, which led NYCHA to advise that residents not consume drinking water between September 2 and September 9, 2022; and
Whereas, Information about the contractor that conducted arsenic testing at Jacob Riis Houses was not available through the Database because the contractor was a subcontractor; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls on the New York City Housing Authority to improve its public database of awarded contracts through the addition of new search features and inclusion of more contract information in search results.
LS #9553
2/15/2023
AB