The probe is the third done at the request of public housing tenants who serve on the comptroller’s NYCHA Resident Audit Committee, in response to “complaints of a lack of transparency” about how funds are being doled out.

An out-of-service elevator at NYCHA’s Mitchel Houses in 2023. (Photo by Adi Talwar)

The NYC Comptroller’s Office will investigate how city funding for NYCHA is being doled out on capital projects—at the request of tenants who complained about “a lack of transparency” in how such funding is allocated, officials announced Thursday.

The probe is the third selected by public housing tenants who serve on the comptroller’s NYCHA Resident Audit Committee, and will examine the $3.18 billion in city money included the housing authority’s capital plan for fiscal years 2024-2028, which funds infrastructure upgrades and major repairs.

The audit will focus on what projects get earmarked for city funds, how NYCHA determined those allocations and what has been spent so far, Comptroller Brad Lander said in a press release.

“With delayed repairs and services comes increased scrutiny of how NYCHA is allocating and spending their money. Fortunately, NYCHA put forth a very detailed four-year Capital Plan that my office can dig into and assess if NYCHA is delivering for their tenants,” Lander, who is currently running for mayor, said in a statement.

The housing authority says it needs more than $78 billion to address outstanding repair needs across its developments over the next two decades.

Rev. Carmen Hernandez, a longtime tenant at NYCHA’s 1471-73 Watson Ave. who heads the resident council there and serves on the comptroller’s audit committee, said they want more clarity around how city funds are spent.

“We want to have transparency,” Hernandez said. “Each development should know where the money that’s coming to their development [is] and [what’s to] be fixed.”

She described filing work order tickets for repairs that get closed without fixes at her development, which she said has deteriorating brick work as well as mold and leaks.

Officials are currently negotiating the city’s budget for the next fiscal year that starts July 1, including resources for NYCHA, which is facing the possibility of dramatic federal funding cuts from the Trump administration.

At a City Council budget hearing last week, Shaan Mavani, NYCHA’s chief asset and capital management officer, said the housing authority weighs a number of factors when deciding how to allocate funds, including whether the money might be earmarked for specific purposes or programs. NYCHA is also under a federal monitorship that requires improvements in specific areas like heating, elevators, mold, leaks, and lead abatement.

“As we allocate funding, we look at a number of different data sources,” Mavani said. “The conditions of each site, the physical conditions, but also how much repairs we’re doing, how many work tickets residents are putting in, the type of repairs.”

The comptroller’s office said the findings of the upcoming audit should be complete by mid-to-late 2026.

Earlier investigations selected by the Comptroller’s NYCHA Resident Audit Committee looked into the housing authority’s repair processes, as well as how evictions are being carried out.

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By ALEX VEIGA, Associated Press Business Writer

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in April, as elevated mortgage rates and rising prices discouraged prospective home buyers during what’s traditionally the busiest time of the year for the housing market.

Existing home sales dropped 0.5% last month from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. The sales decline marks the slowest sales pace for the month of April going back to 2009. March’s sales pace was also the slowest for that month going back to 2009.

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Sales fell 2% compared with April last year. The latest home sales fell slightly short of the 4.10 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.

Home prices increased on an annual basis for the 22nd consecutive month, although at a slower rate. The national median sales price rose 1.8% in April from a year earlier to $414,000, an all-time high for the month of April.

“The affordability condition is clearly hurting the market, particularly higher mortgage rates,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.

The U.S. housing market has been in a sales slump since 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell last year to their lowest level in nearly 30 years.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage has remained relatively close to its high so far this year of just above 7%, which it set in mid-January. The average rate’s low point so far was five weeks ago, when it briefly dropped to 6.62%.

The elevated mortgage rates, which can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, have kept frozen out many would-be homebuyers, even as the inventory of homes on the market has risen sharply from last year.

There were 1.45 million unsold homes at the end of last month, a 9% increase from March, and 20.8% higher than April last year, NAR said.

That translates to a 4.4-month supply at the current sales pace, up from a 3.5-month pace at the end of April last year. Traditionally, a 5- to 6-month supply is considered a balanced market between buyers and sellers.

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday effectively ended a publicly funded Catholic charter school in Oklahoma, dividing 4-4.

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The outcome keeps in place an Oklahoma court decision that invalidated a vote by a state charter school board to approve the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which would have been the nation’s first religious charter school. But it leaves the issue unresolved nationally.

The one-sentence notice from the court provides an unsatisfying end to one of the term’s most closely watched cases.

The Catholic Church in Oklahoma had wanted taxpayers to fund the online charter school “faithful to the teachings of Jesus Christ.” Opponents warned that allowing it would blur the separation between church and state, sap money from public schools and possibly upend the rules governing charter schools in almost every state.

Only eight of the nine justices took part in the case. Justice Amy Coney Barrett didn’t explain her absence, but she is good friends and used to teach with Notre Dame law professor Nicole Garnett, who has been an adviser to the school.

The issue could return to the high court in the future, with the prospect that all nine justices could participate.

The court, following its custom, did not provide a breakdown of the votes. But during arguments last month, four conservative justices seemed likely to side with the school, while the three liberals seemed just as firmly on the other side.

That left Chief Justice John Roberts appearing to hold the key vote, and suggests he went with the liberals to make the outcome 4-4.

The case came to the court amid efforts, mainly in conservative-led states, to insert religion into public schools. Those include a challenged Louisiana requirement that the Ten Commandments be posted in classrooms and a mandate from Oklahoma’s state schools superintendent that the Bible be placed in public school classrooms.

St. Isidore, a K-12 online school, had planned to start classes for its first 200 enrollees last fall, with part of its mission to evangelize its students in the Catholic faith.

A key unresolved issue is whether the school is public or private. Charter schools are deemed public in Oklahoma and the other 45 states and the District of Columbia where they operate. North Dakota recently enacted legislation allowing for charter schools.

They are free and open to all, receive state funding, abide by antidiscrimination laws and submit to oversight of curriculum and testing. But they also are run by independent boards that are not part of local public school systems.

Minnesota United’s path in the U.S. Open Cup will run through St. Paul. If the Loons win out, they won’t have to leave Allianz Field for the national tournament.

The draw Thursday determined the Loons will host Chicago Fire for the quarterfinals on May 8 or 9. If MNUFC wins, they will host the San Jose/Austin winner in the semifinals on Sept. 16 or 17.

If Minnesota wins again, they would hold the final at home on Oct. 1 against the club to come out of the East side of the bracket. Philadelphia Union, DC United, Nashville SC and New York Red Bulls are on the other side of the bracket.

MNUFC, which lost the Open Cup final to Atlanta in 2019, went on the road to beat Louisville City of the USL Championship in the Round of 32 in early May.

On Wednesday, the Loons returned home and came back to beat St. Louis City 3-2 at Allianz Field. Kelvin Yeboah gave Minnesota a first-half lead and Anthony Markanich scored two late goals to propel the win.