FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 15, 2020

Contact: Loretta Kane (917-410-7242 or loretta@caminopr.com) 

NYCHA tenants move forward with lawsuits against Housing Authority and City after court hearing

NYCHA agrees to maintain Holmes-Isaacs campus to standards required by law

NEW YORK — Tenants of Holmes Tower and Isaacs Houses of the Upper East Side appeared in Civil Court today in their suit against the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), which was filed in December 2019, for its failure to maintain safe and livable conditions. 

At today’s hearing before Civil Court Judge Daniele Chinea, NYCHA agreed to maintain the building’s systems to the standards required by law including elevator service, heat, hot and cold water, garbage collection, pest management and extermination, front door locks and cleanliness maintenance and lighting of public areas on the Holmes-Isaacs campus. If NYCHA does not follow through on that agreement, residents will be able to take the Housing Authority back to court to ask the court to hold them in contempt. NYCHA did not admit that the buildings have the problems residents listed in their December petition to the court; the judge explained that the court may decide to schedule a full trial to decide the question.

Residents, represented by TakeRoot Justice, held a press conference outside of 111 Centre Street, prior to the hearing, to express the frustrations that led to filing this case. Residents of the two developments have been organizing since 2015.

“The only recourse residents have is through the court system to sue for decent and timely repairs,” said La Keesha Taylor, co-founder of the Holmes-Isaacs Coalition and resident of Holmes Towers. “This is still frustrating because it takes great courage for residents to sue and not fear retaliation from NYCHA. Residents must now put forth effort and fight for what is guaranteed to them by federal law but denied to them by the disinvestment of city bureaucracy.”

“We know the funding is present in the city, state and federal government to preserve all public housing in this city,” said Saundrea Coleman, co-founder of the Holmes-Isaacs Coalition and resident of Isaacs Houses. “We have marched, held a resident-led town hall, numerous press conferences and filed a much-needed lawsuit against NYCHA to let the city know they cannot keep ignoring our decaying, unsafe living conditions. All we desire is to reside in healthy dwellings without the threat of privatization. We pay our rent, we demand to live in humane conditions."

"The entire community is standing together with NYCHA residents fighting to get the repairs they deserve," said Michaela Warnsley, an organizer with the Justice Center en El Barrio, which has supported organizing efforts of the coalition. "People act like full public funding for NYCHA to cover repairs and maintenance is a pipe dream, yet Congress just signed off on an $800 billion military budget. For just a small fraction of the military budget, we could fix everything in NYCHA and invest in people's basic needs like housing, education and healthcare, instead of wasting trillions on wars. This lawsuit is a statement that NYCHA residents deserve repairs without privatization because housing is a human right."

“NYCHA’s officers — from the chairperson to the housing managers — cannot avoid their responsibility for poor conditions at the developments they manage,” said Michael Leonard, senior staff attorney at TakeRoot Justice. “We are proud to stand with the Holmes and Isaacs residents who are fighting for safe, habitable and dignified living conditions.”

"Nobody likes to go to court, but NYCHA is abandoning its responsibilities to the residents of Holmes Towers and Stanley Isaacs Houses and this is the only way we can get them to listen," said Council Member Ben Kallos. "These residents are being subjected to vermin infestation, lack of heat and broken equipment throughout the buildings, making their lives difficult and less safe. If this were any other landlord in the City of New York, it would not be tolerated. I stand proudly with the residents of Holmes Towers and Stanley Isaacs Houses on this lawsuit demanding that NYCHA fulfill the responsibilities to its tenants."

The tenants of Holmes Towers and Isaacs Houses are not alone in this fight. Years of disinvestment, bureaucratic mismanagement and neglect have led to the decline of NYCHA developments citywide and residents are banning together to make their frustrations heard. From petitions to protest, NYCHA has ignored resident complaints and allowed building conditions to decline. A larger overall movement among citywide NYCHA residents demanding truly affordable public housing has been gaining momentum in the past year.

Residents have criticized de Blasio’s NYCHA 2.0 plan that seeks to privatize various housing developments and possibly demolish certain developments, claiming that NYCHA has abandoned their obligations to all NYCHA residents and has jumped onto privatization plans, without exploring opportunities to sustain existing public housing units. Residents are demanding full funding for repairs, an end to privatization and consistent maintenance of NYCHA buildings. This lawsuit is the beginning of a very bumpy road for NYCHA, as more and more residents are reaching the tipping point of living in unlivable homes. 

Residents, NYCHA and the City are scheduled to return to court on February 6, 2020. The City will argue then that it has no role in regulating or maintaining public housing conditions and that its agencies — the Department of Buildings, Housing and Health and the Department of Mental Hygiene — are therefore not proper parties to this case. Judge Chinea did not accept this assertion by the City as true during today’s appearance. Before February 6, City attorneys will make the assertion again, via a written motion, and return to court that day to argue it. Contrary to New York City law, the City will claim that NYCHA, as a landlord, is exempt from standards and regulatory systems that apply to all owners of rental housing in New York.

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The Holmes-Isaacs Coalition was formed to combat the public housing crisis that has plagued all of NYCHA campuses and fights for adequate funding and timely repairs for all NYCHA residents.

 The Justice Center en el Barrio is an East Harlem based hub for social justice and community organization, committed to building the people’s movements. It supports organizing against racism, war, gentrification and abuses on the job.

TakeRoot Justice provides legal, participatory research and policy support to strengthen the work of grassroots and community groups in New York City to support community-based partners to dismantle racial, economic and social oppression.