Audit Report of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development's Enforcement of the Housing Maintenance Code

The City of New York
Office of the Comptroller
Bureau of Audit

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

Introduction

• Background
• Objectives
• Scope and Methodology

Findings and Recommendations

• HPD Does Not Know Whether It Is Effectively Enforcing the Housing Code
  • "Violations Removed" Does Not Mean "Violations Corrected"
  • Other Cities Have a Formal Process to Determine Whether Violations Have Been Corrected
  • Recommendations

• According to Our Measurement of HPD Effectiveness: Forty-three Percent of Immediately Hazardous Violations Still Existed An Average of One Year After They Were Identified By HPD Inspectors

• New York City Is Less Effective Than Other Cities in Correcting Housing Code Violations
  • Multiple Inspections and Repeated NOVs Do Not Necessarily Achieve Any Results
  • When Owners Correct Violations, 39 Percent Do Not Notify HPD; When They Do Notify HPD, 27 Percent Are False
  • There Are 66,000 Lead Paint Violations Listed on HPD's Database
  • HPD Should Inform Tenants of Their Rights in Getting Violations Corrected

Conclusions

Recommendations

Discussion of HPD's Response

Summary of the Three Classes of Housing Code Violations

Summary of Uncorrected Housing Code Violations