For years, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) has been plagued with problems—all of which can be tied to decades of disinvestment. The crippling lack of adequate funding has resulted in the widespread neglect of the aging housing stock and has left many tenants to grapple with inhospitable living conditions. In 2015, Mayor de Blasio and NYCHA launched NextGeneration NYCHA, “a 10-year strategic plan to preserve and protect public housing”. As part of that plan, in 2016 Queensbridge Houses had all of its deteriorating roofs replaced for the first time in 30 years! However, in spite of these improvements tenants continue to face persistent issues such as mold, lead paint, broken elevators, etc. Our Immigrant Services case manager, Kayla Almanzar, has worked with a large number of those tenants to help them get the assistance they need. In doing so, she noticed that a lack of communication between housing management and tenants was exasperating problems. And so in April—with generous funding from FPWA in support of Riis’s ongoing project to promote greater civic engagement within the community— Ms. Almanzar, and Riis’s MAP Engagement Coordinator, Gwen Wilson, organized the agency’s very first housing forum.
The forum, which included a panel of representatives from NYCHA management, was designed to give tenants the opportunity to voice their concerns and to give management the opportunity to share their perspective. The forum focused on two key issues that residents wanted addressed by NYCHA: apartment repairs and greater interpretation services for tenants who are speakers of languages other than English. Moderated by President of the Queensbridge Residents’ Association, April Simpson, the event attracted over 130 community members. Personal stories of housing problems were read aloud to inform officials about the problems faced by tenants and NYCHA officials shared important advice and insight with the attendees. Translation services were available to help our Asian and Hispanic residents articulate their concerns.
Overall the forum was a huge success – sparking a much-needed conversation between tenants and NYCHA representatives and serving as the first step of many in a continuing effort to help residents improve their quality of living and use their voice for change. We were happy to be able to facilitate such a constructive gathering and look forward to hosting future forums that highlight the needs of our community.
