Meet Robert Burgos, Deputy Director, OMAR
Robert Burgos is currently the Deputy Director of the Office of Mold Assessment and Remediation (OMAR) in NYCHA’s Healthy Homes Unit – but his NYCHA story began decades ago.
“I first came to NYCHA when I was just 9 years old,” Mr. Burgos said. “The Authority opened its doors to my family at probably the most difficult time of our lives. We had just survived a devastating fire, we had lost everything – and it was NYCHA that made the difference for us way back then.”
Mr. Burgos described the terrible day his family’s world was turned to ashes:
“My mother was literally throwing us kids out the window to the firemen below — with the flames at her back! We lost everything. The Red Cross had to move us to a shelter. It was a very difficult time – my poor mother was heartbroken. Today, in the digital age, all your family photos are backed up to the cloud somewhere. Back then, when you lost it, it was gone forever. Ours were gone forever.”
But Mr. Burgos and his family came back from the disaster with some vital help from NYCHA.
“We lived in that shelter for six months,” Mr. Burgos said. “And then, after having seen my mother at the worst moment of her life – picking through the rubble of our burnt-out home, trying to salvage whatever she could – I was there for one of her all-time best days. That was the day when NYCHA handed her the keys to a new apartment for our family! The memory of her smile at that moment… what a priceless gift. That gift came to us because of the New York City Housing Authority.”
Although Mr. Burgos did not know it then, that moment was also the beginning of what was to become a truly extraordinary career with NYCHA.
“We started living in Bushwick Houses when I was 9, in 1976.” Mr. Burgos said. “Just a few years later, I saw a flyer in our lobby inviting young residents to apply for seasonal positions at NYCHA. They were temporary, just a seasonal thing, but I said, ‘You know what? I’ll give it a chance.’ And the rest, as they say, is history.”
First Mr. Burgos worked as a Seasonal Worker. From there he moved up to a Caretaker J role. He then took advantage of an opportunity to train to become a NYCHA Heating Plant Technician (HPT) and was soon a qualified HPT. After that, and just one week before his 25th birthday, Mr. Burgos became one of the youngest Assistant Superintendents at NYCHA, at Borinquen Plaza Houses.
Since then, Burgos has served NYCHA in many places and capacities over the decades: as the Superintendent at Glenmore Plaza, Louis Armstrong Houses, and Seward Park Houses; as a Heating Superintendent with the Heating Division of Manhattan North; and then as a Heating Division Contracts Administrator. That’s where Burgos was working in the summer of 2020 when he received the call to become the Deputy Director of the newly established Office of Mold Assessment and Remediation (OMAR) within NYCHA’s Healthy Homes Unit.
For the past several years, Mr. Burgos has worked closely with OMAR Senior Director Elena Tenchikova to ensure their team is a formidable force for positive change within the Authority:
“We needed a leader with a strong maintenance background who could bring that experience and expertise in NYCHA’s operations to the table – which Robert surely did,” said Ms. Tenchikova. “But he brought so much more! He brought strong values, compassion, and dedication. He is truly mission-driven and so caring to the team. We are so fortunate to have him!”
