A wrong approach to NYCHA

To get an idea of how misguided Mayor Bill De Blasio's plan to rescue public housing is, consider the MyNYCHA app. Alongside revenue-raising proposals like higher parking space costs, the mayor's plan says NYCHA will improve customer service by launching an app for tenants to file and reveiw complaints.

Telling members of households that earn an average of $23,000 per year to use expensive smartphones to solve their problems is downright insulting. 

The rest of Mr. de Blasio's plan shows the same lack of compassion for NYCHA tenants. One of the main strategies, leasing so-called "under-utilized" land like lawns and parking spaces to developers, would suffocate the projects. Another proposal, to be stricter on rent collection, ignores the fact that many residents imply cannot afford to pay their bills. 

Instead of making conditions even worse for long-suffering tenants, the city and state should reform the notoriously dysfunctional authority model that NYCHA is founded on. 

Even if the mayor's plan succeeds in raising the hundreds of millions of dollars it promises, it is foolish to keep sending money to an institution that is incapable of responsibly handling it. It is easy to find examples, like NYCHA's failure to install new stoves and refrigerators at the Ft. Independence Houses over a year after Bronx Councilman Fernando Cabrera allocated the funds. There's also the city comptroller's finding that NYCHA recently missed chances to receive nearly $700 million from the federal government due to a "culture of incompetence" at the public housing authority.

This kind of dysfunction is built into the authorities that have mushroomed all over the state since the 1930s. These public-private institutions were designed to hide costs and, in some known cases, facilitate corruption in sectors ranging from ports to racetracks. 

The mayor's plan essentially maintains the status quo from previous generations, albeit adding private housing developers to the groups profiting from public resources. Instead of picking on NYCHA tenants, Mr. de Blasio should spearhead an effort to reform how all authorities are run. He should demand greater oversight of those institutions and adherence to basic practices like competitive bidding and records of lobbyists efforts. That would create the kind of savings NYCHA and other authorities need to stay afloat in the years ahead. 

Starting reform from the top is the best way to improve day-to-day life for residents of the Ft. Independence Houses, the Marble Hill Houses, and the rest of the NYCHA developments. And no, there isn't an app for that.