Senior citizens living in NY City Housing Authority buildings continue to worry about the ongoing safety concerns where they live. The concerns including broken locks on entry doors, broken surveillance cameras, as well as peeling paint and fire hazards.
In April 2024, a federal monitor issued a 100 page report condemning NYCHA’s supervision and maintenance of its buildings as incompetent. The report cites numerous and widespread concerns with lead paint exposure, vermin infestations, safety concerns with doors, elevators, and poorly lit stairs and hallways.
NYCHA’s problems continue unabated in spite of millions of dollars allocated by federal and state authorities to address these issues. At this point, many of NYCHA’s residences within the five boroughs remain tenuous at best and uninhabitable at worst.
At the Jacob Riis Houses in the East Village, residents complained to NYCHA authorities that the water was discolored and dirty. The housing authority received over 600 complaints from residents. When NYCHA finally took action and tested the water via a subcontractor who was not certified to test for certain contaminants in the water, the results came back positive for arsenic. Understandably, this caused panic for the residents. But on August 29, 2022, NYCHA received results that incorrectly showed high levels of arsenic in the water, according to the report. The residents were understandably skeptical.
This is just one example of NYCHA’s handling of residents’ concerns. These residents, including many senior citizens, deserve better from our public officials. After years of neglect, NYCHA needs to get its act together.
