Trump Official Calls NYCHA Housing 'Humanitarian Crisis' On Tour

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Housing administrator Lynne Patton called living conditions horrific during a Wednesday tour of apartments at Queensbridge Houses, the country's largest public housing complex.

"It's a humanitarian crisis; nothing's getting better," said Patton, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's regional administrator for New York and New Jersey.

In one apartment, residents Lidia Rodríguez and Luis Paulino were using duct tape and plastic to cover a gaping hole above their shower head; debris had fallen into the bathtub below. Another apartment smelled so strongly of mold that a Patch reporter developed a headache.

"Just when you think you've seen the worst, you see another that makes it look palatial," Patton said of the moldy apartment. "You see something even more horrific."

In February, Patton began a series of stays in four New York City Housing Authority developments to better understand tenants' experiences. She said she will bring findings to HUD Secretary Ben Carson and Bart. M Schwartz, the new independent monitor tasked with ensuring NYCHA holds up its end of a sweeping oversight deal to address systemic problems like heating failures and lead paint hazards. Patton met with Schwartz yesterday, she said.

At Queensbridge, Patton stayed with resident April L. Simpson, president of the complex's tenant association and the one who helped choose the apartments for the tour. Simpson said the complex's system for filing work orders is flawed, with maintenance workers closing cases without showing up to do the work. Residents of the apartments Patton toured have open work orders dating back to last year, they said.

"My true hope is that we come up with a solution for a better system," Simpson said.

Jannett Taylor, who's lived in Queensbridge Houses for 48 years, said she has open work order tickets going back to July 2018. There are leaks and peeling plaster in her kitchen and bathroom. A single lightbulb hangs precariously above Taylor's bathroom sink, held up only by stripes of silver duct tape.

"I'm scared there'll be a fire any minute," she said. "We pay rent! Do the repairs. That's all."

Patton's team collected from residents the numbers of incomplete work orders to follow up and ensure they're completed, as well as bring the findings to Schwartz, the independent monitor. Patton also toured local social service facilities, like the Queensbridge/Riis Senior Center and offices of Urban Upbound, which helps public housing residents break the cycle of poverty.

"The goal of this move-in is to make NYCHA very aware of what is happening, to make the monitor very aware of what is happening, to make my boss, the secretary, very aware of what is happening, to make, quite frankly, the president of the United States very aware of what is happening here in his own hometown," Patton said at a February news conference.