The fiscal and operational issues that plague the New York City Housing Authority have been receiving growing attention lately, as have the frustrations of so many NYCHA residents who feel that their persistent complaints of poor living conditions are routinely ignored. Some of those complaints— which include lack of heat and hot water, mold, lead paint, and rodent infestation—were spotlighted at a special town hall meeting that was held right here at Riis Settlement this past September.
The town hall was organized by NY1 and aired as a special edition of the network’s political news show Inside City Hall. NYCHA residents were invited to share their concerns and hear from NYCHA and elected officials. The meeting gave frustrated residents a platform to publicly share their personal stories and gave NYCHA the opportunity to respond to allegations of perceived mismanagement and neglect. The meeting was well attended by NYCHA residents from all over the city, including many from the Queensbridge and Ravenswood Houses, who packed the Riis Settlement gymnasium. Inside City Hall host Errol Lewis moderated the event and gave tenants, NYCHA officials, elected officials, union leaders, and community advocates equal opportunity to have their say. According to NY1, “it was a rare chance for residents to directly confront those in charge, and their message was that the agency wasn’t getting the job done. Tenants painted the picture of an agency that’s indifferent and unresponsive”.
As a longstanding community-based organization that is headquartered in a NYCHA development and serves a high number of public housing residents, Riis Settlement is very familiar with the challenges that both NYCHA tenants and NYCHA face. We are grateful to NY1 for highlighting these issues and for helping to initiate important dialogue that we hope will contribute to positive change.
