NYCHA Retaliates Against Tenants Who Complain, Advocates Say

NEW YORK, NY — New York City Housing Authority retaliates against residents who complain about squalid conditions in their homes, tenants and lawmakers charged Monday.

The City Council plans to investigate reports of NYCHA retaliating against tenants at the Riis Houses on Manhattan's Lower East Side, where one resident says she was threatened with possible eviction after showing her apartment to a TV news reporter.

"After everything that they've been through, they also have to deal with retaliation from management," said Councilwoman Carlina Rivera (D-Manhattan), who represents the area.

Keshia Benjamin has struggled with mold in the Riis Houses apartment where she's lived for about three years. She's tried to get NYCHA to fix the problem, which creates a health risk for her and her daughter because they have asthma, she said.

But the workers who come have only closed the repair ticket prematurely or applied paint or plaster without fixing the root problem, she said.

Benjamin showed her apartment to PIX 11. A few days after the station's story aired in early April, she said, she got a letter saying NYCHA was pursuing "termination of tenancy" because of unpaid rent, which she interpreted as retaliation. She had paid her rent through February, she said.

"I want to get my story out so that other tenants aren't treated this way," Benjamin said at a Monday afternoon press conference outside City Hall.

NYCHA contests Benjamin's account. But lawmakers and advocates said she's not alone — NYCHA tenants have reported retaliation and harassment for years with little accountability from the housing authority.

Property managers threaten tenants they view as troublesome, who then face NYCHA hearings that are "not just," Rivera said. Residents who want to report retaliation often turn to community organizations or elected officails because they have little recourse through NYCHA, she said.

Rivera said NYCHA tried to suppress the problem by asking her to cancel Monday's press conference and bring Benjamin to a meeting about her case instead. The councilwoman said she refused.

The Council's Committee on Oversight and Investigations will examine how NYCHA handles retaliation and harassment complaints in addition to the allegations at Riis Houses, said Councilman Ritchie Torres, the committee's chairman.

Lawmakers also want performance evaluations for on-the-ground housing workers and a stronger grievance process for tenants, Rivera said.

"Residents should have the ability to be their own advocates, to demand improved living conditions without fear of harassment or retaliation," Torres (D-Bronx) said.

NYCHA spokeswoman Robin Levine did not comment on the council's investigation or Rivera's claim that NYCHA tried to muffle the press conference, except to say the housing authority "does not retaliate against residents for any reason."

But NYCHA did dispute Benjamin's telling of her case. The housing authority sent her a letter in early March saying it was investigating her failure to follow its rules after she was late on her rent payments for 10 of the last 12 months, NYCHA spokespeople said.

In all, four letters about the late payments were delivered to Benjamin's apartment by early March, well before PIX 11 got involed, a NYCHA spokeswoman said. One sent on Feb. 6 requested a Feb. 13 meeting to which Benjamin did not show up, the housing authority said.

A letter dated March 5 outlined all her delinquent payments and said her records were being forwarded to NYCHA's office for possible termination of tenancy, a spokeswoman said.

"Ms. Benjamin has since paid her rent and there is no pending action against this resident," Levine said in a statement Monday. "We continue to work with her on the repairs she has requested."

But Jeremy Unger, a spokesman for Rivera's office, said Benjamin didn't receive any communications about her rent until after the PIX 11 story aired in early April. The letter was dated for March but seemed to have been delivered late, he said.

At least some of her payments were late because of a snafu with the city's Human Resources Administration, which pays her rent to NYCHA directly, Unger said.

(Lead image: Housing advocates protest retaliation against NYCHA tenants at City Hall on Monday. Photo by Noah Manskar/Patch)