Feds Name Monitor To Ensure NYCHA Makes Fixes

NEW YORK — There's a new sheriff in town for New York City's public housing agency. The Trump administration on Friday named Bart M. Schwartz, a former prosecutor who leads a global consulting firm, as the New York City Housing Authority's new independent monitor.

Schwartz will be tasked with ensuring NYCHA holds up its end of the sweeping oversight deal it and the city reached with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last month. The agreement includes strict benchmarks for the housing authority to address problems with lead paint, mold, heating failures, elevator breakdowns and pests.

"We’ve found the person with the perfect experience to work with the nation’s largest public housing authority under our agreement to reverse the chronic housing problems that for far too long have plagued hundreds of thousands of families," HUD Secretary Ben Carson said in a statement.

Schwartz was a high-ranking federal prosecutor under then-U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani. He's now the chairman of Guidepost Solutions, a New York-based firm specializing in investigations, monitoring, compliance and security.

Schwartz does not have a public housing background, but this is not his first gig as a federal monitor. Officials previously appointed him as a watchdog for large corporations such as General Motors, BP and Deutsche Bank. Gov. Andrew Cuomo also tapped Schwartz in 2016 to review his Buffalo Billion economic development initiative for wrongdoing.

Mayor Bill de Blasio's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the pick Friday. But the mayor spoke positively of Schwartz on Thursday after his selection was first reported.

"From what I’ve seen he is an impressive guy with a lot very pertinent experience," de Blasio, a Democrat, said at an unrelated news conference.

The Jan. 31 agreement between HUD, NYCHA and the city gave HUD and the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office the authority to choose the monitor. If he ultimately starts the job, Schwartz will submit quarterly reports tracking the housing authority's progress toward making the fixes outlined in the deal.

While he would not be responsible for NYCHA's day-to-day operations, Schwartz would have access to the agency's documents, data and staff and could engage experts to help with his work, according to the agreement.

Schwartz was named to the job amid HUD Regional Administrator Lynne Patton's four-week tour of NYCHA complexes. On Thursday Patton traveled to the White House with Carmen Quiñones, a tenant leader at Manhattan's Douglass Houses who got to meet briefly with President Donald Trump.

Patton said she is "thrilled" with Schwartz's selection as the monitor. She has said she plans to bring the findings of her public housing residency to whoever holds the post.

"I’ve already met w/him twice, including this week where he & I began to develop a plan for systematic work order failures, the immediate need for more maintenance workers, permanent boilers & compactors," Patton said Friday on Twitter.