Ex-SDNY Prosecutor Bart Schwartz Is Named NYC Housing Authority Monitor
Bart M Schwartz.
Guidepost Solutions LLC chairman Bart Schwartz, a former federal prosecutor who served under Rudy Giuliani in the Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney's Office, has been selected as the monitor to oversee the settlement agreement over conditions in the New York City Housing Authority.
Schwartz’s selection was announced by U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson on Friday.
"We've found the person with the perfect experience to work with the nation's largest public housing authority under our agreement to reverse the chronic housing problems that for far too long have plagued hundreds of thousands of families," said Carson. "With Mr. Schwartz's appointment, NYCHA can move full steam ahead on an action plan to improve the deplorable housing conditions being endured by its residents."
Schwartz will step in to oversee the implementation of the settlement announced in January between the City of New York, HUD and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Under the agreement, Schwartz will have the power to reorganize the management structure of the troubled housing authority, as well as implement the remediation plans for a host of issues affecting some of the nearly 400,000 residents, including the removal of lead paint and mold, and physical repairs to elevators and apartments.
As part of the agreement, the city will continue to invest billions in improving conditions in the housing complexes. Left out of the equation is any additional federal funding from HUD or elsewhere, despite federal commitments to NYCHA falling by nearly $3 billion since 2001, according to NYCHA.
Schwartz did not respond to requests for comment, but said in a statement, “I look forward to working to achieve living conditions for NYCHA residents that are decent, safe, and sanitary.”
Schwartz’s background in oversight roles is extensive. In 2016, Schwartz was hired by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to investigate the so-called Buffalo Billion project in Western New York, after it came under investigation by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office. A final report in September found extensive problems with the funding process. The architect of the program, Alain Kaloyeros, was later found guilty of fraud in a connected bid-rigging scheme.
Additionally, Schwartz’s federal roles include monitor oversight of GM’s compliance with fixes secured by prosecutors after the ignition switch recall scandal, and as an overseer of the insider trading compliance of SAC Capital Advisors Inc.
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