Puerto Rican Families in New York’s Public Housing Worry Privatization Will Cause Displacement

New York City s community housing authority has turned thousands of apartments over to private management While PACT may presently be the largest part effective way to fund renovations expeditiously several tenants are still not sold on the activity citing eviction threats and higher costs Puerto Rican flags dangle over the entrance to a Hope Gardens courtyard on Linden Street Brooklyn Adi Talwar City Limits This story was originally published by the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo Lydia D az was living in a dilapidated New York City Housing Authority NYCHA apartment in when she got the news Her building part of the Harlem River Houses would be the latest handed to private developers as part of the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together PACT plan The conversion would bring millions of dollars for renovations but also make her a Section tenant of a new private landlord Upset that they were denied a voice in the decision to join PACT and worried they would lose rights in exchange for poor-quality repairs D az and other tenants sued to stop it But it was too late The new companies took over remodeled the buildings and started managing them as they saw fit all without the outside oversight that existed under full society control Since then her new landlord Harlem River Preservation LLC with its management company C C has tried to evict her three times bulk in recent days in August for under in unpaid rent I want to feel like this is my home I only feel like I settle here I don t feel like it s my home noted D az who is and has lived in her Harlem apartment in the northern part of Manhattan for years She grew up in southern New Jersey to parents from Puerto Rico and has experienced homelessness in the past The new kitchen window in Lydia D az s apartment at the Harlem River Houses installed as part of NYCHA s PACT renovation undertaking opens only a sparse inches Adi Talwar City Limits The new kitchen window in Lydia D az s apartment at the Harlem River Houses opens only a inadequate inches The window was installed as part of NYCHA s PACT renovation venture NYCHA has handed more than units of masses housing to private developers since as part of the PACT activity which is an implementation of the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration RAD plan While NYCHA a public-benefit corporation governed by a mayor-appointed board historically manages its own properties the effort leases chosen developments to private companies if they undertake massive and long-overdue renovations Developers fund this work with loans the regime can t access They then pay them back and earn several profit by collecting rents set at standardized rates meant to mirror the region Tenants pay percent of their income towards this rent and a Section voucher covers the difference function d u ac var s d createElement 'script' s type 'text javascript' s src 'https a omappapi com app js api min js' s async true s dataset user u s dataset campaign ac d getElementsByTagName 'head' appendChild s document 'zwcugqstyjmfwec wgkn' But since renovations have been completed at countless PACT developments eviction threats against tenants have surged and eviction rates are about five times higher than NYCHA s regular buildings although actual evictions remain low For communities like Puerto Ricans whose population in New York City decreased by percent between and and who largely rely on community housing as a last holdout in gentrifying neighborhoods this reality makes PACT feel like the latest ploy to drive them out for the benefit of real estate interests window addEventListener message function a if void a input datawrapper-height var e document querySelectorAll iframe for var t in a facts datawrapper-height for var r i r e i i if r contentWindow a source var d a details datawrapper-height t px r style height d Fear and frustration circulate but PACT privatization which keeps the land under NYCHA ownership came from desperation Before D az s new developers took over the Harlem River Houses the units were estimated to need over million in repairs by They had earned a out of in their inspection from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Advancement HUD far below a passing amount of In fact before PACT began NYCHA revealed its overall portfolio required more than billion in repairs by As the need grew the amount the housing authority received from its primary funder the federal executive was reduced But through PACT developers have raised over billion to fund renovations at buildings across the boroughs These residents enjoy new parks remodeled apartments and modern HVAC systems while nearly NYCHA residents continue to sit in buildings one decade more deteriorated where constant leaks rodent infestations and broken locks are the norm Developers receive a substantial revenue stream from this partnership which comes from a combination of rents subsidies and tax credits even though countless have long histories of neglecting buildings and evicting tenants Councilmember Chris Banks who chairs the New York City Council s Committee on Constituents Housing announced a few PACT partners are apathetic to tenants wishes and manage with the notion that NYCHA residents don t deserve housing to the standard of other New Yorkers He cited Wavecrest Management which has won contracts across the city with a history of violations from before PACT began You really have to question folks and intentions as to why they would put a slumlord to manage a property he declared It leads me to question whether this is a get-rich scheme or if this is a real true outlay to really uplift the residents of inhabitants housing The playground at the Wise Towers on Manhattan s Upper West Side has been a source of disputes between residents and visitors Adi Talwar City Limits Fears of displacement Interspersed with brownstones and pre-war buildings housing a great number of of the city s wealthy and white residents the Upper West Side has long been home to a Puerto Rican population who largely reside in its NYCHA developments and Mitchell-Lama buildings another type of affordable housing built decades ago Their presence was once felt in bodegas butchers and restaurants dotting Amsterdam Avenue but businesses have closed as Puerto Ricans have gradually left the neighborhood Since about one quarter of the neighborhood s Puerto Rican population has left American Area Survey five-year estimates show The Wise Towers a NYCHA expansion converted to PACT in and now managed by Wavecrest Management still serves as a lasting foothold in the area But as eviction threats have increased over the last limited years Puerto Rican residents worry they will be the next neighborhood pushed out Tenants point to the playground which was remodeled so successfully that visitors overwhelmed the once ignored courtyard as evidence that the privatization was never primarily for their benefit Ernesto Carrera the Wise Towers tenant association president who has witnessed the neighborhood change as a resident for over years has identified the new playground as a perfect microcosm for his problems with PACT outsiders making decisions about people s homes without their input and pushing them out in the process We ve had mothers tell our children that they don t want their children to play with our children We can t have that here We never had that here but the creation of this new park has brought out a lot of feelings in people explained Carrera who successfully pushed for closing the park to the masses Signs around the children s playground at the Wise Towers warn that it is a residents-only area Adi Talwar City Limits If it s private it s private We didn t make it private he added Carrera acknowledges the park s improvements but says they are just makeup on more serious issues within the buildings like outdated plumbing broken locks and infestations While particular apartments now resemble luxury developments others have barely been updated from their neglected NYCHA state Darrell Williams lives in an apartment accessible for people with disabilities on the second floor of one of the Wise Towers Shoddy paint jobs cover damage from chronic leaks his electric fob won t open his front door and water from his wheelchair-accessible shower streams out into his hallway Wavecrest management says these types of issues should be disclosed to them online or by phone and they will resolve them within hours unless the repairs are critical or require outside contractors I tell them I have a leakage dilemma Oh here s a number You call that number nobody answers mentioned Williams who used to work for NYCHA Under NYCHA they would have did a better job In addition to physical issues residents say the Wise Towers became less affordable when they converted to private management particularly in terms of rent Residents in both PACT and traditional NYCHA buildings typically pay percent of their gross household income toward rent meaning if a family earns a year they would pay a month They are also supposed to occupy apartments fit for their family size But plenty of people had not been reassessed for income or family changes in years Parents whose adult children now earned incomes had to start reporting them Parents whose adult children left were moved to smaller apartments Higher-income residents who sometimes paid flat rates at NYCHA were forced to start paying percent of their income instead We have to fix the buildings but we also have to fix processes and the like And particular of it involves working with the residents so that they understand the expectations that genuinely invariably existed commented Jonathan Gouveia chief real estate officer and executive vice president for NYCHA Part of this process is issuing pre-eviction notices to tenants behind on rent Over percent of PACT residents received this outreach in the first half of according to NYCHA s PACT Progress and Compliance Oversight monitor Gouveia says pre-eviction notices are a tool to offer sponsorship to residents behind on rent rather than evict them This could come in the form of helping them statement income changes or enroll in social services They are also a way of protecting PACT partners from the arrear dilemma at NYCHA where percent of tenants didn t pay rent in October However material shows that so far this year about half of pre-eviction notices became eviction filings the first legal step toward an eviction NYCHA says developers often pursue filings so tenants can qualify for New York City s one-shot deal which grants financial assistance to individuals dealing with acute emergencies like eviction window addEventListener message function a if void a records datawrapper-height var e document querySelectorAll iframe for var t in a evidence datawrapper-height for var r i r e i i if r contentWindow a source var d a figures datawrapper-height t px r style height d While only three households of the -unit Wise Towers have been evicted this year memories of past displacement and broken governing body promises leave residents fearful that others are in line Long term we ain t gonna be here mentioned Domingo Rom n who grew up in the buildings and now comes to visit friends and family We re gonna have to move all the way up to the Bronx because that s what they re trying to do get all the Puerto Ricans and Blacks out of here and moved up to the Bronx Particular Wise Towers residents previously lived in nearby brownstones that were seized and demolished for the growth s construction as part of urban renewal programs spearheaded by Robert Moses former New York City planning commissioner according to Councilmember Gale Brewer The destruction of brownstones to construct the Wise Towers mirrored the advance of the Amsterdam Houses the neighborhood s first NYCHA growth which was built on top of a once-thriving Puerto Rican neighborhood called San Juan Hill These are residents that I ve known since so they mean everything to me stated Brewer who has represented the neighborhood since eight years of which as Manhattan borough president I would like to assume I hope I m correct that the eviction rate at Wise Towers would be very very low I will have a fit if somebody s evicted without cause PACT developers have little to gain short-term from evicting tenants though When vacancies arise they get filled from NYCHA s Section waitlist in a process PACT partners don t have control over And developers receive a standard rent regardless of how much the tenant pays since the Section voucher pays the difference Wavecrest Management stated that they have no intention of increasing eviction rates I m very proud of the PACT venture I think it has changed a multitude of lives I think when you re dealing with that countless households at any one time one person may not be happy reported Susan Camerata one of the three Cameratas who make up Wavecrest s executive board Harlem River II apartment building located on Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Manhattan Adi Talwar City Limits Repairs over tenants wishes The Harlem River Houses were completed in as the first enhancement NYCHA constructed after its founding three years earlier The buildings stand as a monument to the political vision of NYCHA s pioneer Mayor Fiorello La Guardia who thought city ruling body should be responsible for providing New Yorkers with the infrastructure they need to thrive such as housing schools and hospitals The vision was enabled by funding from President Franklin D Roosevelt s New Deal operation Not only was the progress to be functional but it was also intended to be a dignified place to raise a family specifically a Black family La Guardia personnel touted this vision for the complex as they laid its first bricks in journalists broadcasted Besides apartments the Harlem River Houses also featured cobblestone-lined paths encircling playgrounds sculptures from a range of artists and an amphitheater overlooking the river NYCHA s Harlem River Houses in June Adi Talwar City Limits The campus which now includes another nearby building constructed later was restored to its former beauty over the last four years by the Harlem River Preservation with the use of million It looks like you re in a movie scene It s surreal disclosed JeRome Dunbar director of society relations at the Harlem River Preservation Especially for it being affordable housing low-income housing you can t beat it I would live here But the historically authentic fa ades of these landmarked buildings obscure apartments with mold-dotted walls that feel squeezed in by a layer of drywall added during renovations In one apartment a lightly humming HVAC system emits the ripe odor of a decaying rat And throughout the buildings faux wood floors peel at the edges of where they were hastily laid down revealing a layer underneath coated with dust that residents say they constantly need to sweep Visible mold conditions inside Celena Soto s apartment at the Harlem River Houses Soto is one of several residents who have communicated ongoing maintenance problems Adi Talwar City Limits They didn t even bother to flatten out the walls and level the walls or even file the walls down before they painted They just painted over the cracks commented April Washington whose family has lived in the expansion since Washington has refused to abide by the terms of the lease that grant the Harlem River Preservation access to her apartment which means her apartment has not been renovated In response they filed a holdover circumstance against her in February Developers created forums for residents to provide feedback to the design choices before the renovations began but with the upgrades standardized across the advance chosen residents were bound to have choices imposed on them NYCHA received criticisms for overlooking residents viewpoints in their first PACT conversions and say they have strived to include them more actively since In doing so they in recent days offered residents of the Jacob Riis Houses a chance to vote on if they demanded to join PACT which tenants rejected NYCHA says these votes won t necessarily happen going forward Typically residents only vote when there is a third option to convert to the Masses Housing Preservation Trust which switches tenants to Section but keeps their buildings under regime management In the seven votes hosted with these three options Randall Avenue-Balcom Avenue became the first to choose PACT in April They re saying whether you like it or not this is what s best for you revealed Lydia D az speaking of the gray wood laminate cabinets installed in her apartment as well as the overall changes with PACT Residents say they became skeptical about moving their apartments under the control of the private sector after hearing stories from other conversions In part they fear they will lose transparency and outside oversight over their homes NYCHA has come a long way when it comes to transparency but I think the PACT project is still notoriously not transparent noted Iziah Thompson senior plan analyst at the District Provision Society of New York CSS NYCHA knows these issues exist A few of these buildings are super old and sometimes the scope of work for the projects doesn t cover everything Among other transparency gaps PACT developments don t receive inspection scores from HUD or the same oversight from a federal monitor imposed on NYCHA in PACT as gentrification Robert Camacho is the chair of Brooklyn Region Board where he represents the residents of the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Bushwick Throughout his years there the Puerto Rican neighborhood has slowly been pushed out by surging rents At the Hope Gardens massive local NYCHA campus though those born on the island still make up percent of residents while the majority of the rest come from either the Dominican Republic or Brooklyn window addEventListener message function a if void a content datawrapper-height var e document querySelectorAll iframe for var t in a information datawrapper-height for var r i r e i i if r contentWindow a source var d a statistics datawrapper-height t px r style height d The expansion was switched to PACT in and after a disastrous scarce years under Pinnacle City Living management is now controlled by Wavecrest Pinnacle has since earned contracts at other PACT sites As Camacho walks around the advance between hugs with grateful tenants and rants on local issues from bike lanes to dog owners he details how PACT developers have ignored local voices and instilled fear in tenants with constant eviction threats To him the privatization is a continuation of the harmful policies that have displaced Puerto Rican families from the neighborhood Elected personnel are too busy telling us what we want and what we need instead of listening to us and what we need and what we want noted Camacho I don t live in NYCHA but the people that are there are my family You know why Because if they go to my store and they re paying and they re hurt then we re hurt Between the Hope Gardens three-story buildings on Wilson Avenue playgrounds barbecues and picnic tables were removed where now sit adult gym equipment and empty grass shaded by a new -floor building a separate project between NYCHA and other developers Blanca Gardana with her husband Heriberto Echevarr a standing and her brother-in-law Julio Echevarr a in a courtyard at Hope Gardens Adi Talwar City Limits Long-time Puerto Rican neighbors Blanca Gardana and Blanca Izquierdo say they are relieved their children reached adulthood before the conversions as developers stripped the population of spaces where children used to congregate The kids don t have enough space to play for entertainment mentioned Izquierdo who moved to New York from Aguadilla as a child and has lived in Hope Gardens for years Everybody almost everybody says that NYCHA was better Wavecrest Management reported they would not comment on the courtyard renovation decisions because they were made before they assumed control The space has also been used less by residents because when it rains hard a puddle overtakes the lawn that streams into Gardana s ground-floor apartment Wavecrest Management provided tenants with hydrobarriers to stop the water but NYCHA alleges the trouble is due to city infrastructure outside its control Blanca Izquierdo and her husband pose inside their second-floor apartment at the Hope Gardens housing complex in Brooklyn Adi Talwar City Limits Due to the flooding management decided to relocate the boilers from the basement to the roof For Izquierdo s second-floor apartment this meant seizing one of her closets to put pipes through In addition to physical changes that happened without residents input residents say their relationship with the space has changed due to widely issued fines for violating rules people didn t know existed like smoking in stairways or forgetting keys Particular say these fines add financial challenges and a feeling of increased surveillance as they are partially enforced through new cameras installed across the buildings While specific residents are happy with the crackdown others say it mirrors broader correlations between increased policing of low-level offenses and gentrification Fines are only charged for offenses prohibited across developments and cannot exceed NYCHA s PACT partners have just been more adamant about enforcing them According to Wavecrest these fines are just used to influence behavior not collect revenue We don t enforce it mentioned Joseph Figueroa Wavecrest property manager at Hope Gardens We re going to bill them for it but it s not something that we re taking them to court for and saying they have to pay Flood damage inside Gardana s apartment Adi Talwar City Limits Caught in a bind Masses housing advocates see PACT as the end of an era of city regime that provided low-income New Yorkers with necessities like housing without an outside profit-motivated party involved But federal funding makes up percent of NYCHA s revenue and President Donald Trump s proposed budget would cut about percent of that a account from the New York City Independent Budget Office located This federal disinvestment has plagued NYCHA since President Richard Nixon suspended subsidies to construct society housing in laying the groundwork for the creation of Section With New York City concurrently enduring its own financial problem in the s NYCHA fell into disrepair Corruption thrived in this neglected state further draining the authority of its limited funds Caught in this predicament where NYCHA totally could not fund needed repairs as traditional inhabitants housing they decided to sacrifice particular control to access private loans and a voucher that would ensure steadier revenue While NYCHA residents continue living in deteriorating homes where strength safety and comfort are mere aspirations thousands of residents moved to PACT now live in buildings free from lead with new kitchen appliances bathrooms and playgrounds We should not be in the business of selling general assets noted U S Representative Nydia Vel zquez whose district includes Hope Gardens But if you have a evolution like this one where you don t have the money to make the capital improvements this is going to attract the kind of violence that has been impacting this society PACT tenants could also be vulnerable Vel zquez noted as Trump proposes imposing a two-year limit on Section vouchers which could mean they would lose their rent assistance While NYCHA hopes to convert more units to PACT by it is also exploring other methods to make progress without federal funding through leveraging the private sector They are at the moment seeking proposals from developers for new projects Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has also committed to doubling city financing in NYCHA to maintain their buildings as citizens and construct new ones which could indicate less enthusiasm for PACT than there was under Mayor Eric Adams who ardently supported the venture At the same time Mamdani s appointments such as incoming First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan draw largely from former Mayor Bill de Blasio s administration which created PACT And at least for the three years of Mamdani s term that will overlap with Donald Trump s presidency the prospects of increased federal funding for NYCHA are slim In one comment to The City Mamdani commented he would build out a democratic process that ensures NYCHA residents have a voice in if their buildings convert to PACT While PACT may now be the largest part effective way to fund renovations speedily countless tenants are still not sold that the effort represents the right path Tenants fundamentally feel less respected by these private management companies an unpublished survey from the Area Facility Society revealed For Puerto Rican residents like Lydia D az constant issues with C C management and the squeezed-in drywall that surrounds her just compound the financial pressure she says makes living in New York increasingly laborious I will be homeless D az revealed Section is people coming into your home fixing your apartment saying we need assistance with our rent so they can make money off of us and saying they did a great job by converting our apartments CSS is among City Limits funders This story was made manageable by a grant from CPI s Instituto de Formaci n Period stica The post Puerto Rican Families in New York s Constituents Housing Worry Privatization Will Cause Displacement appeared first on City Limits