Meet Bronx Skilled Trades Director Ismael Martinez 

Ismael Eric Martinez has deep roots within the NYCHA community that go beyond his more than 30 years of work experience with the agency.  

Long before Mr. Martinez first began serving the Authority as an employee, several of his family members called NYCHA home. Both of his parents were raised at Bronx River Houses, where they first met as youths. 

Though he was not raised at a NYCHA home himself, Mr. Martinez learned of residents’ strong sense of community from his parents while growing up in the Bronx. His father once worked as a NYCHA Caretaker, paving the way for Mr. Martinez to eventually enter a longtime career of service to the NYCHA community. 

Coming from a family with close ties to the community, Mr. Martinez said the safety and wellbeing of residents are at the heart of his mission as the Director of Skilled Trades throughout the Bronx. The skilled trades team features workers who perform specialized repairs in apartments, including painters, plasterers, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, bricklayers, exterminators, roofers, and glaziers.     

“I take pride in serving residents, knowing that my grandparents, parents, uncles, and cousins came from housing,” said Mr. Martinez, who has managed skilled-trade services for Bronx developments for the past two years. “When something affects the residents’ quality of life, I really want to get the services back up and running for the residents. I put myself in their shoes all the time.”  

His personal journey with the NYCHA workforce began in 1995, when he started as a seasonal employee at Pelham Parkway Houses. He had initially aspired to become an NYPD officer, but after he “started loving what I was doing” at the Authority and was able to quickly rise up the ranks, he chose to stay on at NYCHA. Mr. Martinez noted how his father, a former NYCHA worker himself, approved of the career decision.  

“As I was moving up, you could see how proud he was that I was doing the right thing,” the Skilled Trades Director recalled.    

Over the past three decades, Mr. Martinez served in several different roles across Property Management, including Caretaker, Supervisor of Caretakers, Assistant Superintendent, and Superintendent. He was also a Neighborhood Administrator in the Bronx for nearly four years before transitioning to Deputy Director of Skilled Trades and, eventually, Director. Mr. Martinez believes it’s this wide range of experience that has made him well prepared to oversee the various skilled-trade needs for apartments.  

As a manager, Mr. Martinez emphasizes to his staff the importance of quality professionalism, including treating colleagues and residents with respect and providing regular communication about the progress of scheduled repairs. 

“Everyone takes pride in where they live, so it’s important that everyone is informed of everything that we’re doing at all times,” he said.  

Under the Authority’s Work Order Reform initiative, Maintenance Workers open all necessary work orders for an apartment during the first visit. Residents can then call their Neighborhood Planner to schedule all skilled trades repairs at once, making appointments for times that fit their schedule.  

“It’s helped a lot and made it a more structured and controlled process,” Mr. Martinez said of the program, adding that many residents have been pleased with the improvements.  

The skilled trades team is also closely involved with NYCHA’s Maintenance Cares program, which Mr. Martinez called an “excellent idea,” whereby Maintenance Workers may immediately report an apartment issue for a skilled trades repair if it meets one of 10 serious conditions that could impact health and safety.  

“This is another way to capture repairs that we want to get addressed for residents,” he said of Maintenance Cares.  

As the son of a family with origins in NYCHA’s resident community, Mr. Martinez said he’s been blessed to devote a career toward improving the quality of life in that same community.  

“I’m thankful that I’m here in the position that I’m in now to help the residents,” he concluded. “It gives you a good feeling and satisfaction knowing that you’ve helped somebody where they’re living.”