She’s raised a million new questions.
Regional federal housing administrator Lynne Patton claimed more than a million people actually live in the city’s public housing complexes — despite the official rent roll showing 400,000.
“Everyone keeps saying 400,000, try 1 million, try 1 million,” Patton told The Post in a recent interview, a claim she also made on her Twitter feed.
“I’ve talked to sanitary workers at NYCHA, they are convinced there are more than a million people living in NYCHA on a daily basis,” she added. “They’re putting out trash in excess of 1 million people.”
The mayor’s office said Patton, who has repeatedly attacked Mayor Bill de Blasio for his handling of NYCHA, doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
“This is absurd. There are not 600,000-plus people hiding in NYCHA,” City Hall spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie said in a terse statement.
While NYCHA officials have frequently acknowledged the official tally doesn’t count large numbers of illegal residents living in 175,000 apartments across its 325 developments, the total number of residents is nowhere near Patton’s claim.
NYCHA interim board chairman Stanley Brezenoff previously said that unofficial estimates pegged the total number of tenants at between 500,000 and 600,000.
In 2015, NYCHA estimated that its residents generated upwards of 190,000 tons of solid waste.
Assuming they produce the same amount of trash as the average New Yorker — 747 pounds — that would mean NYCHA is home to roughly 500,000 people.
It’s not the first statement of Patton’s to come under scrutiny.
“HUD literally gives NYCHA $28 million a week” in direct operating and capital support, Patton said last Thursday on NY 1.
“There are a lot of, lot of funds — almost $3 billion worth of money — going into NYCHA every year from HUD.”
In fact, NYCHA received $1 billion in direct operating subsidies, with another $1.2 billion going to landlords for Section 8 housing.
“We can’t tell who is more out of touch with NYCHA and its residents: [HUD Secretary] Ben Carson, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Bill de Blasio or Lynne Patton,” said Judith Goldiner, who is leading Legal Aid’s lawsuit over scandalous living conditions at NYCHA.
“Ms. Patton should spend less time on Twitter and more time brushing up on the basics.”
In a statement, Patton acknowledged she included Section 8 funding in her counting, but defended her population estimates.
“It’s plain common sense that more than 400K live there,” said Patton. “Several city councilmen AND also NYCHA sanitation workers have told me that the trash is NOT the normal amount of refuse generated by 400K tenants.”