Subject to Deplorable Conditions: NYCHA Exposed

I have been a resident of NYCHA's Queensbridge North houses since 2003. Prior to that I resided, with my two children and their father, in a shelter in Harlem. A studio apartment for four people, 13ft x 18ft in size, fully functional. A bunk bed, cot, kitchen table, refrigerator, stove, sink, one dresser of 4 drawers and complete bathroom. It was home, for lack of a better term, for 16 months of our lives. It was not the best, but it was clean, fully functional and better than being on the street. We had heat, hot water, a place to cook, sleep, shower and be relatively safe.

When I was told that an apartment had come through for us I was excited. To learn it was in Long Island City made me even happier as it was closer to the neighborhood we had grown up in...Ridgewood. Seeing the apartment was uplifting. I was overwhelmed by the amount of space and how clean the apartment actually was. I had project phobia I guess. But, to my surprise, my phobias were wrong, for the moment anyway. I went to the management office to sign my lease. Low and behold one of the housing assistants had to ruin my day, putting me in tears and utter devastation when she uttered those infamous words that will stay with me till the day I die, "Hey, did anyone get the police report from that shooting last night?" I wanted to turn away and never look back. I wanted to walk out of that office and demand something better. The little studio was better than putting my children in harms way...shooting...who got shot?...why did he/she get shot?...where did the shooting occur? Unfortunately, had I not accepted the apartment I would have lost my public assistance as a result of turning down something we were in desperate need of...housing. Needless to say, I signed the lease and moved in about a month or two later.

We did a lot of work on the apartment prior to moving in, making sure to caulk every crack and crevice to ensure no bugs would get in, releasing bug bombs, and cleaning everywhere. My kids were happy to each have their own room. We were all happy to be back in Queens.

Well, here I sit, 9 years later, knowing my phobias were not very far fetched. The stereotypes affiliated with "the projects" are not completely wrong. Getting any maintenance done in NYCHA is a nightmare. Drugs are bought and sold every day. Residents smoke marijuana in my hallway almost every day. And yes, gun shots are still heard on occasion, even after the major arrests and community clean up that happened back in 2004 and 2005. What I can't subject myself to is the overall condition hard working people, like myself and many of my neighbors, have to be subject to because we reside in NYCHA houses.

"As the city’s largest public-housing development, Queensbridge officially houses 6,842 people, but the Rev. Mitchell G. Taylor, who grew up in Queensbridge and runs economic-development projects there, estimates the real population at more than 18,000. Average income in the complex is $22,970; just over half of the 3,102 families include an adult with a job, and 14 percent receive some form of welfare assistance, according to the New York City Housing Authority."
(http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/03/delayed-impact-at-queensbridge-houses/).

With Queensbridge being one of the oldest and largest public-housing developments in New York City you can imagine that much repair is needed. My apartment had a bathroom leak problem for over 3 years. Maintenance crews would come in, scrape away, cement, plaster and leave. The paint was never done thus causing the plaster to blister and return in a matter of a few months. We would scrape away the blistering plaster, make another complaint, and the same work was done again. In 2010 I called in another maintenance ticket for bathroom plaster and was given a date of May 20, 2013.

About a month ago I was reading an article on NYCHA's website boasting about all the wonderful progress the maintenance crews were making and all the wonderful repairs that were being completed. In my mind I thought, "Really? Not in my housing development." I decided to make one last attempt at getting my repairs done. I clicked on "Contact Us" and submitted my claim. About two or three weeks later I got a call concerning my complaint. A gentleman said someone would be calling me to make an appointment to come do the repair work needed. I was relieved but still had to see it to believe it.

Two weeks later a maintenance worker appeared at my apartment door claiming he was here to see what needed to be done in the bathroom. I escorted him to my bathroom. He said, "Oh no, you don't need paint, you need plaster." I said, "That was what I told them." He said, "well, there is nothing I can do. I will turn in this ticket explaining that you need plaster, not paint. You then have to call the Call Center in 24 hours to make an appointment for plaster." I was so done but no surprised. I decided enough was enough. I was calling the Borough Office and sending an email to Council Speaker Christine Quinn, for it was her name that was mentioned in that article I read on NYCHA's website. I needed as much help as I could get.

Well I managed to get the date for plaster moved from May 20, 2013 to March 11, 2013. Not surprising. But, because of my correspondence to Council Speaker Quinn's office, I was referred to Council Member Van Bramer's office, and connected to an amazing woman who made things happen. My connection (not including her name for security purposes) at Council Member Van Bramer's office was incredible. She got in touch with someone in my building management office and the next day there were three crews in my apartment to survey the damage and get the work done. One crew came to take my bathroom apart, one crew to break down walls, and one more to fix a broken window in my bedroom (FYI, that window was broken for 2 years - even though I made numerous calls to the Call Center to have it repaired). Repairs started happening. I am pleased to announce my bathroom, 1 week later, is complete. Demolished, repaired, put back in place and painted.

Finally, now I can get to the real reason for this blog. After all this excessive begging, pleading, pulling people's cards, calling people out, blowing up their spot, my downsize transfer came through. How convenient, right? Yeah, right? Someone got mad that I called them out and put a rush on my transfer.

The apartment I was shown was disgusting. Never mind it was not even the amount of bedrooms I needed, the bigger picture here was the condition the apartment was in and the fact that I was expected to accept it based solely on the size and layout of the apartment. The housing assistant who showed me the apartment said, "the apartment will be in living condition by the time you are ready to move in." How could I look past all the mess? I could not see the size of the apartment beyond the deplorable conditions. Was I really expected to say "yes, where do I sign?" Is this what living in NYCHA housing means?  When we reside in NYCHA apartments we are subject to having to consider apartments in deplorable condition. You will otherwise be homeless so take it or you have nothing. See the video for more clarification. I would not offer this apartment to my worst enemy. The apartment needed a paint job, the walls were bright orange. The flooring was ripped and not even swept. The kitchen walls were an inch thick with grease over the stove. The floor in the kitchen was full of garbage. Oh, wait, there was a brand new refrigerator. Should I be grateful?

I think I need to mention that this is not the first time these deplorable conditions were revealed to me in a transfer. About two years ago I was shown an apartment in the Ravenswood Projects and it was just as bad, if not worse.

I called the housing manager of Queensbridge to ask her if she sees the apartments before showing them to possible tenants. She claimed that she was aware of my situation and the condition the apartment was in and apologized but shared her insight. The management office has 20 days to get the apartment into living condition and 30 days to get it rented, otherwise they start to lose money. Management will show these apartments in the condition they are in because they need to get them rented quickly, they need the money. I guess my next question would be, what is the money being used for? Clearly not for getting apartments even up to par prior to showing them to possible tenants. She tried to rationalize to me by saying that some tenants leave the apartments in this deplorable condition, and I have been witness to such a claim. But I can't believe that I would ever be that desparate. I can't imagine myself ever needing something so bad that I would subject myself to these types of conditions. What options do I have? This is a wealthy country, not to mention a very wealthy state, New York City, how does stuff like this happen?

So now for the real truth. If money is the real issue here, why is there a double apartment in my building that has been vacant for over 6 months if money is the issue? I am confident that there is a very large family out there somewhere in the shelter system that could benefit from the vacant apartment in my building. I am even more confident that the apartment I was shown, had it been ready, would be accepted by a willing applicant. I am not that willing applicant.

My current apartment is not the best. As I mentioned earlier, it needed lots of repair work. But, for the most part it is done. In my personal opinion, someone got pissed at me for getting officials involved and making people do the job they were hired to do, that hap hazardly and without critical thought the letter was sent to me stating my transfer had gone through. I am lucky I guess that the apartment was not the size I needed.

The NYCHA system is severly broken and needs repair. Never mind the apartments that need repair, the entire system is in an awful and shameful state. Paperwork and protocol are part of the problem. We have paper pushers, not social workers in our management office. We have incompetant workers who are there to "do their job" just to get a pay check. Most of them have no concern for any of the residents and really could care less about their well being but yet they are called housing assistants. Maintenance workers have to fill out a different work order for each nail the hammer and every screw they replace that they are more concerned with getting the paper work filled out than actually doing the job. These protocol are put in place by people who have no clue what the conditions are like in housing. Then the website only reveals to good part of NYCHA, leaving the bad part for the tenants and media.

Don't get me wrong, NYCHA offered me a place to stay when my family and I had none. NYCHA gave us a roof over our heads, heat, a place to cook, shower, sleep and be relatively safe. I have met some wonderful people and made some friends along the way. I have been able to save some money, return to work and go back to school for my bachelor's degree. Should my son see fit, he can remain on the lease and continue to reside in NYCHA if he wishes. I, however, don't want to stay in public housing for the rest of my life. This does not mean that my circumstances will allow me to move away, but the desire is there. NYCHA has served a purpose in my life and the lives of hundreds of thousands of other residents over the years. This experience has made me a better person. It has taught me a bigger lesson in the end; don't let the system keep you down; speak up for what you want regardless of who doesn't like what you are saying; don't let the system dictate who you are...you dictate how the system needs to work for you. It is a social service program meant to serve the public. Make it work for you and be willing to make sacrifices along the way.