T
o say that real estate without evictions is like Christianity without Hell might be an exaggeration, but zealots do use evictions to paint the industry as the Devil. Activists will cherry-pick from Comptroller Brad Lander's audit of private operators of New York City Housing Authority developments to legitimize their apocalyptic predictions of "privatization." This matters because NYCHA tenants have the power to reject the program, which taps private firms to rescue their developments from public housing's own version of Hell. The program, called PACT, moves NYCHA developments from unreliable Section 9 funding to reliable Section 8 rent vouchers, allowing private firms to borrow against future rent revenue for desperately needed renovations.

    PACT has been a success, bringing as many as 63,000 of NYCHA's 177,000 apartments from purgatory into something closer to Heaven. Units get repairs and modern appliances, and campuses get new roofs, facades, lighting, lobbies, windows, and landscaping. The audit found large percentage increases in eviction filings and actual evictions under PACT from fiscal 2022 to 2023, but context matters. NYCHA's eviction rate had been 0.01 percent, and it had nowhere to go but up.

    The private firms' eviction rates were actually lower than expected. Their eviction rate last fiscal year was 0.57 percent, fewer than 6 of every 1,000 households. Meanwhile, at properties still operated by NYCHA, the eviction rate went from 0.01 percent to 0.12 percent. Lander's audit spotlighted C&C Management's 1.11 percent eviction rate, but their eviction rate was 0 percent the year before, suggesting that 2023 represents two years' worth of evictions.

    The comptroller's office says it did the audit at the request of a NYCHA residents committee, but few tenants will read the report or put it into context. Their takeaway will be, "If I vote for PACT, I risk being evicted." An audit that causes tenants to reject public housing's most successful program does them a grave disservice. Lander has not taken a position on PACT, but if elected mayor, he would likely support it, just as the last two administrations did.