New York – The state agency that oversees all Mitchell-Lama apartments failed to monitor the program, allowing some residents to get subsidized housing although they earned several times the income limit and to leap up the waiting lists.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The state Inspector General's Office conducted a "broad-based investigation" after it received numerous complaints about lapses, said State Inspector General Kristine Hamann.
"Unfortunately, wherever we looked, we found evidence that DHCR had failed in its responsibility to ensure that [the] Mitchell-Lama housing program operated on a sound, effective and fair basis," Hamann said.
The DHCR let tenants skirt the income limits, Hamann added. "In one case, the maximum income allowed to be eligible for an apartment was $83,000," she said. "However, the income affidavit submitted by the tenant listed an income in excess of $300,000, that tenant pays a monthly rent of $1,068.36."
As a result of the investigation, two DHCR workers were convicted on federal charges related to unlawful occupancy and transfer of apartments at Manhattan's Southbridge Towers.
Some tenants who improperly got apartments and aren't qualified to live there could be evicted.
They need to Check out Co-op City for Bribery to obtain Town Houses for friends and family to people that were not on a waiting list.