NYC public housing officials back private firm fired from Brooklyn campus

Published Apr 23, 2024 at 2:34 p.m. ET

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Published Apr 23, 2024 at 2:34 p.m. ET

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New York City public housing administrators say they have full confidence in a private company tapped to manage a pair of developments after the firm was fired from another Brooklyn complex late last year.

NYCHA Executive Vice President Jonathan Gouveia defended Pinnacle City Living during questioning last Friday from members of the City Council at a hearing on the state of public housing that’s converted to private management.

As Gothamist first reported, Pinnacle managed the Hope Gardens campus in Bushwick from 2019 until the site developer, Pennrose, fired them in late 2023. In a December letter to U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez, a Pennrose executive said Pinnacle had put funding in jeopardy and failed to implement “cost-saving measures to curb ballooning controllable operating expenses.”

Pinnacle spokesperson Meg Fitzgerald said they “vehemently deny the allegations” that Pennrose made in its letter to Velázquez.

Brooklyn Councilmember Darlene Mealy asked Gouveia about NYCHA’s continued work with Pinnacle at West Brighton Houses on Staten Island despite their termination from Hope Gardens in Brooklyn. Pinnacle was picked to manage the 634-unit Staten Island complex last April.

Gouveia said it wasn’t NYCHA’s idea to remove them as Hope Gardens’ property manager, and that housing authority officials thought they would do a good job at West Brighton. He said Pinnacle has close ties to development company BFC Partners, which was selected to run the campus through NYCHA's Rental Assistance Demonstration-Permanent Affordability Commitment Together, or RAD-PACT, program.

“They have a long-standing relationship,” he said. “It appears there is a good working relationship there and we’re confident that we can move forward.”

BFC did not respond to an email seeking comment.

NYCHA has so far converted more than 60 developments, including roughly 16,000 apartments, to RAD-PACT. The conversions change the source of federal funding for each unit and are supposed to help relieve the cash-strapped public housing agency, which has estimated it needs around $78 billion to cover repairs and renovations across its more than 177,000 apartments.

Gouveia told councilmembers that NYCHA would listen to tenants if they wanted “to cut ties” with a private management company or developer, although the agency hasn’t initiated the removal of a single firm.

“We would certainly be willing to hear from the residents, but as it relates to West Brighton, my understanding is Pinnacle has a very good relationship with West Brighton,” he said.

Pinnacle was also selected as property manager at the Rangel Houses in Harlem last October.

“We feel privileged to have collaborated with the Hope Gardens community and take pride in the achievements we accomplished during our four-and-a-half years as manager,” said Fitzgerald, Pinnacle’s spokesperson. “We are excited to join new NYCHA partnerships to continue our tradition of exceptional service to transform communities and benefit residents."

While local elected officials criticized what they said was a lack of transparency around the decision to fire Pinnacle, several supporters of the privatization program argued the move shows underperforming companies can be terminated.

Howard Slatkin, executive director of the nonprofit Citizens Housing and Planning Council, said he didn’t know the specifics of the breakdown between Pinnacle and Pennrose, but added that the ability to sever ties with a company is an important accountability measure.

“One of the features of PACT is that there’s a responsiveness that’s possible in property management because an underperforming property manager can be replaced,” Slatkin said. “The ultimate clients in PACT are the NYCHA residents, and at the end of day the results have to be improved conditions for NYCHA tenants.”

Tenants testifying at the hearing on Friday expressed different views on the privatization efforts.

Sheryl Boyce, president of Brooklyn’s Bay View Houses resident association, said the upcoming conversion at her complex seemed to be the only realistic way to address “aging and infrastructural damages.”

“If it kept going the way it was going, there wasn’t going to be a future,” she said. “The development was going to continue to have a steady downfall.”

But several other residents and advocates blasted the performance of RAD-PACT companies so far, and said they had dealt with shoddy materials, poor maintenance, aggressive staff and management companies levying additional fees.

Boulevard Houses tenant Yolanda Hall testified that her apartment failed an inspection despite recent renovations, and that she's had trouble contacting the developer and management company running her Brooklyn campus.

“The apartment is already falling apart,” she said. “It’s hard to reach anyone in this RAD-PACT program that can give you assistance.”

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David is a reporter covering housing for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 908-310-3960.

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