Tenant organizers La Keesha Taylor, left, Jose Guevara, and Saundrea Coleman. Photo: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
Dec. 13, 2019
Tenants who helped derail development at two aging Yorkville public housing complexes are suing to demand decent living conditions — as the city Housing Authority considers a new way to raise money for repairs.
Dozens of residents of Holmes Towers and the Stanley M. Isaacs Houses plan to file petitions Friday in Manhattan Housing Court, calling on NYCHA to eradicate pests, fix faulty heat and hot water systems.
The suit from the Holmes-Isaacs Coalition aims to “correct years of NYCHA’s neglect,” a draft of the petition says — by tackling woes that include leaks, mold and broken elevators.
[…]
Attorneys at TakeRoot Justice say the ideal outcome of the Housing Court suits is a court order forcing NYCHA to fix up the complexes — similar to the result of a 2013 case at the Smith Houses in the Lower East Side. There, NYCHA was forced to dispatch workers to address a backlog of repairs after a judge sided with tenants.
Read the full story. Also covered on Dec. 13, 2019 by New York Daily News, New York Post, Curbed, Patch, and Harlem World.