“Do you know what it is like to not be able to breathe?” Nicole Moore, a resident of the Tompkins Houses in Brooklyn, asked a judge in a federal courtroom in Manhattan on Wednesday.
NEW YORK — One mother cried as she spoke of the pain of not knowing who killed her teenage son last year because the cameras at her Brooklyn public housing complex were broken. Another resident discussed feeling unsafe and losing sleep because the front door of her building does not lock properly. A third described an intolerable stench in her home from pervasive mold that triggers her asthma.
“Do you know what it is like to not be able to breathe?” Nicole Moore, a resident of the Tompkins Houses in Brooklyn, asked a judge in a federal courtroom in Manhattan on Wednesday. “People don’t know what I’m going through unless I express it.”
Those were some of the emotional testimonies shared by dozens of public housing residents during an extraordinary hearing in U.S. District Court on whether an independent monitor should oversee the beleaguered New York City Housing Authority, also known as NYCHA.
The hearing quickly became an emotional town-hall forum for residents, who vented their anger and frustration with the mismanagement of the housing authority and budget cuts that have left them with a litany of problems, including broken elevators, busted locks, leaky plumbing and unhealthy conditions created by mold and lead paint.
Judge William Pauley III must still decide whether to approve a federal monitor, a key part of a consent decree struck between the city, the housing authority and federal prosecutors in June. The settlement was the culmination of a yearslong federal investigation into NYCHA, which has admitted to covering up its actions and lying to the federal government about lead paint inspections and other matters.
Pauley held the unusual public hearing Wednesday to give public housing residents an opportunity to share their opinions about the appointment of a monitor. It quickly became clear, however, that most residents were not there to weigh in on legal minutiae. They came in droves to voice years of grievances, denounce dilapidated living conditions and pounce on their landlord, the country’s largest public housing authority, which houses 400,000 New Yorkers.
“We demand that NYCHA be held accountable on all issues and please stop dehumanizing the tenants,” said Monica Underwood, a resident of Wyckoff Gardens in Brooklyn.
Underwood complained about a leak in her apartment bathroom that lasted 15 years and the broken front doors of her development, issues echoed by many others at the hearing.
“We cannot live safely and happily in these terrible conditions,” Underwood said.
Scores of residents traveled from across the city, from the Morris Houses in the Bronx and the Polo Grounds in Manhattan, for their day in court. About 60 residents, advocates and elected officials took turns testifying, and many more packed the glossy wooden benches.
Each resident testified for about two minutes under the vaulted ceiling of courtroom 9C. Many residents had heard about the hearing through the mail, while others were mobilized by tenant advocates.
“More than 700 written public comments underscore the concrete and human element of this case,” Pauley said in his opening remarks. “The impact of NYCHA dysfunction radiates beyond the government entities in these lawsuits.”
Some of the residents said only a federal monitor could turn the housing authority around. Others called for more funding, stricter oversight and the inclusion of tenants in decision-making at NYCHA.
Residents also expressed their fears of being exposed to lead paint after it came to light that NYCHA had failed to inspect for lead-paint hazards in its 176,000 apartments for at least five years. The lead-paint controversy has engulfed Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration. Officials revealed last month that 1,160 children living in public housing have been found to have elevated lead levels since 2012.
Robin Levine, a spokeswoman for the housing authority, said its top managers have taken the outpouring of emotional testimony seriously. “We are working every day to fix problems and put new resources to work to improve public housing,” she said.
Many residents nervously read handwritten speeches from crumpled pieces of paper, while other spoke from the heart. Emotions ran high. Applause and cheers interrupted testimony at times, forcing the judge to remind the courtroom “this is not a sports arena.”
Dionne Boyd told how her 16-year-old son, Clayton Hemingway, was shot and killed in November outside the Linden Houses in Brooklyn. Police have been unable to identify his killer, she said, because most of the cameras at the development were down.
“I come out of that building traumatized every single day,” Boyd said. “It hurts.”
Boyd said she has asked NYCHA officials to transfer her to another development, to no avail. Her testimony prompted a scathing rebuke from the judge, who said housing officials should address her situation.
“Whether I have the authority or not, I’m going to order it,” Pauley said. “The fact that it came to light in this courtroom means it deserves immediate attention. Anyone who is a parent would understand that.”
Pauley did not issue a decision on the approval of the consent decree Wednesday. Among other things, he must decide if the federal monitor’s work will interfere with another court-mandated entity that will oversee efforts to rid public housing of mold, under a settlement reached after a 2013 lawsuit.
NYCHA is waiting for an infusion of at least $2 billion in city funds as part of the consent decree, although even that might be a drop in the bucket next to the estimated $32 billion in unmet capital needs in the system’s 325 housing developments.
“You guys are blessed,” Eric Lewis, a resident, told the judge and lawyers. “You are not living in the projects.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.