Statement by Robert Bonanza Business Manager, Mason Tenders District Council on the Indictment of Assistant HPD Commissioner Wendell Walters

NEW YORK, Oct. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following statement was released today by Robert Bonanza, business manager of the 17,000 member Mason Tenders District Council:

For years we have been sounding the alarm that things are not right at the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.  Workers on HPD jobsites have come forward with stories about being forced to work under unsafe conditions, being forced to pay kickbacks to contractors, being paid in cash without proper tax withholding and without legally required benefits or any basic job protections.  These would be grave accusations at any job, but are that much more serious because they are occurring on jobs that are receiving public funding.  In other words, public money is being used to subsidize the developers' criminal activity.   It doesn't stop with the workers.  When these housing units are completed, hardworking, honest New Yorkers are purchasing HPD built homes with the hope and expectation that they have finally realized the "American Dream" of homeownership, only to discover that their dream has turned into a nightmare.  Leaking roofs, lack of  proper insulation, collapsing staircases, raw sewerage backups are all part of their nightmare.  And they have no one to turn to for help, not the developer, not HPD.

Today's indictment of Commissioner Walters and six contractors is just the tip of the iceberg.  The entire way in which HPD conducts its business must be revamped and fixed.  Using taxpayer money to exploit workers and build sub-standard housing is not an "affordable housing" plan.  It is a disgrace.

SOURCE Mason Tenders District Council