New York City’s public housing is coming under fire in more ways than one. 

An entire chunk of a 20-story public housing building in the Bronx crumbled away on Wednesday morning due to a gas explosion. 

A chimney linked to the building’s boiler system suffered damage due to the explosion, causing a 20-story gap along the side of the apartment as the shaft, which extended up the building, collapsed.

This striking incident occurred at the New York City Housing Authority’s (NYCHA) Mitchel Houses, located at 205 Alexander Avenue near East 137th Street in the Mott Haven area.

While there were thankfully no reports of injuries, the incident left locals feeling concerned and vulnerable.  

New Yorkers are left wondering if their building is next, and some experts warn that it very well could be.  

Grant Cardone, CEO of property investment firm Cardone Capital, informed the Daily Mail that approximately 300 to 500 buildings might be at risk, with a potential need for investment in 3,000 to 5,000 buildings.

‘The Bronx collapse is another painful wake-up call to New York that its priorities have forgotten the people. The market has almost as many aging buildings as illegal immigrants,’ he said.

Experts are concerned that new York City’s iconic skyline is at risk of tumbling down 

The blast caused the incinerator shaft to collapse inside 205 Alexander Ave in the Bronx borough of the city

‘These buildings need hundreds of billions of dollars invested to make them safe but investors can’t do that because the leadership regulates owners from raising rents, collecting rents, excessive regulation and over taxing.’

According to Cardone, tenants, landlords, investors, lenders, property owners and the future of New York City are all at risk: ‘The problem is owners can’t reinvest in what they have.’

Cardone says this will end with a contagion of foreclosures and failures resulting in lower property values, higher insurance, failed investments, and bank failures.

This will push people out of New York City and into younger cities like Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Naples, Austin, Nashville, and Raleigh — which have modern infrastructure, according to the investor.

In order to fix the issue, Cardone says New Yorkers need to, ‘quit electing politicians and put business people in charge of New York City’ to reduce regulations and provide tax incentives for infrastructure rebuild and new housing.

Meanwhile, Michael Horgan, press secretary for the New York City Housing Authority, insisted the collapse was an ‘isolated incident’.

‘The collapse at Mitchel Houses was a very unfortunate, isolated incident. This continues to be an active, multi-agency investigation,’ he said. 

‘NYCHA has over 1,000 boilers across its 335 developments that operate year-round to provide hot water service to residents. NYCHA’s heating technicians check and monitor all heating plants daily and perform regular maintenance throughout the year.’

Grant Cardone (pictured with his wife), CEO of property investment company Cardone Capital, estimated that anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 buildings in New York City could be at risk 

The entire corner of the multi-story building collapsed on Wednesday morning

However, despite the department’s claims that heating plants are well looked-after, experts say this can’t be the case, given Wednesday’s collapse. 

Huiming Yin, a civil engineering professor at Columbia University, told the Mail that the explosion suggests that staff at the high-rise may not have been strictly following the established rules put in place to keep residents safe.

‘Gas leakage is not unusual but it was rare to make such a big damage to a tall building, which was a miracle without a human loss,’ Yin said. 

‘The public including residents, neighbors and kids are at risk, as their life safety is jeopardized and normal life routine is disturbed,’ he added.  

This public housing high-rise collapse was reminiscent of the Grenfell Tower Fire in London in 2017, when a fire broke out in a kitchen and rapidly engulfed the 24-story public housing tower, leaving 72 dead.

There was also the Pruitt-Igoe Housing Project in St Louis, MO, that had to be demolished in 1976 less than 20 years after being built because the living conditions were so awful for residents. 

These scenarios call into question how buildings that are supposedly thoroughly regulated and highly monitored by governments are seeing such frightening disasters.

According to the city’s Department of Buildings, inspections are done according to schedules set by the city: facades must be inspected every five years, parking garages every six years, retaining walls every five years, gas piping every four years, boilers annually, and elevators twice a year. 

There were thankfully no reports of injuries, but the incident left locals feeling concerned

Inspectors with the city’s Department of Buildings are on the scene alongside crews from Con Edison

But nonetheless, in New York City, things have been bad for those living in public housing for quite some time. 

Residents of the city’s public housing face freezing winters without heat, mold, pests, and long wait times for basic repairs. 

In fact, back in 2015, a comptroller’s audit found that over 50,000 repair requests were backlogged, including thousands outstanding for over a year.

A Department of Investigation report found in 2016 that NYCHA maintenance workers frequently ignored inspections or falsified documents. In one tragic case, smoke detectors were non‑operational in a fire that killed two children. 

Then, in a 2019 audit, it was revealed that 88 percent of sampled roofs (35 roofs across 13 developments) had visible defects (pooling water, damaged masonry, blisters/cracks) despite being under warranty.