Sanitation Chief Named Interim Chair of NYCHA
Garcia will serve as interim chair while the city begins the process of selecting a permanent head of the authority. As outlined in the agreement, the city, HUD and SDNY have a month to develop a list of candidates.
NEW YORK CITY—Several days after announcing the current Housing, Preservation and Development commissioner was leaving her post in March comes word that Kathryn Garcia, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Sanitation, will begin serving as interim chair of the New York City Housing Authority later this month, replacing Stanley Brezenoff.
Current NYCHA chair Brezenoff, who was coaxed out of retirement by Mayor Bill de Blasio last April to take on the NYCHA interim chair post, is required to be replaced by a permanent chair as part of a funding agreement announced on Feb. 1 between the city, NYCHA and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Interim chair Garcia will work closely with NYCHA’s general manager Vito Mustaciuolo to begin to reverse decades of disinvestment in public housing and implement the requirements of the city’s agreement with the federal government.
Mayor de Blasio credited Brezenoff’s work for the city and the initiatives undertaken during his time at NYCHA. He noted that under Brezenoff’s leadership, NYCHA launched a comprehensive plan to deliver $24 billion in needed repairs for 175,000 residents, achieved a historic contract agreement with Teamsters Local 237 that provides seven-day service to residents, launched weekend work order blitzes to eliminate NYCHA’s repair backlog and significantly improved heating response times.
“There is no better person to continue our turnaround effort at NYCHA than Kathryn. She is a battle-tested leader who has taken on sprawling challenges from eradicating lead exposure to overhauling the broken commercial carting industry. She is ready to fight every day for the 400,000 New Yorkers who call NYCHA home,” Mayor de Blasio said.
Garcia will serve as interim chair while the city begins the process of selecting a permanent head of the authority. As outlined in the agreement, the city, HUD and SDNY have a month to develop a list of candidates. The city will then have an additional month to select a permanent chair and CEO from that list. The city has also launched a search for a new commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development.
Appointed in 2014 as sanitation commissioner, Garcia spearheaded the development and launch of Lead FreeNYC, the city’s comprehensive plan to eradicate childhood lead exposure. The new plan will expand Local Law 1 and eliminate lead paint hazards in NYCHA apartments and family shelters, while also targeting unsafe consumer goods, providing children with dedicated nurses and link all city agencies responding to lead exposure.
Garcia also implemented strategies to reach the city’s Zero Waste goal, and has operationalized several brand-new programs, including Organics collection and curbside electronic waste. She was responsible for overhauling the city’s snow-clearing operations by changing the prioritization of plow routes, which has greatly increased DSNY’s efficiency and productivity during storms, city officials noted. Most recently, she developed a plan to overhaul private commercial carting that will reduce air pollution, asthma and traffic fatalities in low-income communities across New York City.
Previously, Garcia was COO at the city’s Department of Environmental Protection. DSNY first deputy commissioner Steven Costas will serve as acting sanitation commissioner when Garcia takes her leave of absence from the agency.