Worst NYCHA Buildings Are In Brooklyn, Public Advocate Says

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK -- NYCHA is the city's worst landlord and its worst building are in Brooklyn, according to New York City's public advocate.

Letitia James made history Wednesday when she named declared that New York City's worst landlord is the city itself and cited conditions in 12 Brooklyn NYCHA developments as proof.

Those 12 worst offenders accrued damages that will cost more than $1 billion to fix and have a total of 16,393 open work orders waiting to be filled.

The Red Hook Houses, badly in need of post-Hurricane Sandy repairs, topped James' list of the 20 worst public housing developments with 5,980 open work orders and an estimated $400 million needed in repairs.

Crown Heights has more worst-offender developments than any other neighborhood in New York City. Albany Houses I and II, Weeksville Gardens and Park Rock Rehab were all mentioned in the public advocate's report.

The report did not include data from several notorious Brooklyn developments such as the Brevoort Houses, where residents reported weeks without water last summer, or the Whitman Houses where one building is covered entirely with netting.

Both developments were named in a recently released Independent Budget Office report that estimated Brooklyn's worst NYCHA housing needs $4 billion in repairs.

"For too long, the most glaring example of this ill treatment has been at the hands of the City itself," James said in a statement Wednesday. "This year, we are finally putting NYCHA on notice."

Here is how Brooklyn's NYCHA buildings ranked.

Red Hook East - #1

Neighborhood: Red Hook
Address: 62 Mill St.
Open Work Orders: 2990
Repairs Cost: $204,760,000

Red Hook West - #2

Neighborhood: Red Hook
Address: 55 Dwight St.
Open Work Orders: 2990
Repairs Cost: $194,630,000

Albany I - #4

Neighborhood: Crown Heights
Address: 1229 Park Place
Open Work Orders: 1830
Repairs Cost: $116,860,000

Gravesend - #6

Neighborhood: Seagate
Address: 3225 Neptune Ave.
Open Work Orders: 1520
Repairs Cost: $85,450,000

Surfside Gardens - #8

Neighborhood: Seagate
Address: 2940 W. 31st St.
Open Work Orders: 1460
Repairs Cost: $72,980,000

Coney Island - #10

Neighborhood: Coney Island
Address: 3020 Surf Ave.
Open Work Orders: 1180
Repairs Cost:$71,680,000

Coney Island I - #11

Neighborhood: Coney Island
Address: 2007 Surf Ave.
Open Work Orders: 1080
Repairs Cost: $55,390,000

Weeksville Gardens - #12

Neighborhood: Crown Heights
Address: 1625 Dean St.
Open Work Orders: 1010
Repairs Cost: $33,490,000

Albany II - #13

Neighborhood: Crown Heights
Address: 1400 Bergen St.
Open Work Orders: 894
Repairs Cost: $65,040,000

Armstrong II - #16

Neighborhood: Bedford-Stuyvesant
Address: 375 Lexington Ave.
Open Work Orders: 517
Repairs Cost: $53,130,000

Tapscott Street Rehab - #18

Neighborhood: Brownsville
Address: 725 Howard Ave.
Open Work Orders: 491
Repairs Cost: $27,590,000

Park Rock Rehab - #20

Neighborhood: Crown Heights
Address: 1468 Park Place
Open Work Orders: 431
Repairs Cost: $31,460,000

Photos by Kathleen Culliton