Public housing residents clamored to join Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first “rental ripoff” hearing in Brooklyn Thursday – decrying the “inhumane” conditions at their city-run apartments.
Tenants of the New York City Housing Authority — who were banned from testifying at the landlord-bashing sessions — told The Post they hoped officials still took seriously the myriad issues they endure, including slow repairs, horrible pest control and weak security.
“The city is our landlord, the mayor is our landlord, we are his tenants so why are we not included?” Shavoya Cicero, 38, said while pointing out the various problems inside of her Walt Whitman Houses apartment unit.
“I feel like it’s completely unrealistic and it’s unfair to have us live in this inhumane condition and we are not invited,” said the mother of four, who lives less than a mile from where the first “rental ripoff” hearings took place Thursday night in Downtown Brooklyn.
Cicero, a cosmetologist, said she’s essentially been forced to become a DIY expert because repairs come at a snail’s pace.
She’s painted over bathroom ceiling to cover brown spots from a leak and thrown contact paper over cracked tiles. She also covered a hole in her children’s room with black tape and put a poster over it.
“I put in tickets for everything. They’ll come and say they’ll have to get a supervisor or they are short-staffed … but things never get done pretty much,” she fumed. “I’m tired of waiting.”
Asked what her message to the mayor would be, she said: “Please remember us. Let us come. We have problems, too.”
The “rental ripoff” hearings — the first of which were taking place at K605 George Westinghouse High School — only allow testimony from tenants of privately-owned buildings, excluding public statements from the half a million NYCHA residents.
The mayor’s office has said NYCHA tenants can still attend the forums and speak individually with city officials in attendance about repairs, heat or hot water issues and other worries.
“In the coming months, our administration will release a housing plan focused on improving housing quality for all New Yorkers, including those in public housing,” City Hall has said.
Carmen Hernandez, a disabled senior also living at the Walt Whitman Houses, said she struggles to get heat on a daily basis.
“I have to be constantly calling for heat,” said Hernandez, who voted for Mamdani.
“They come but the next day there is no heat so I’m constantly calling. I have called so many times that I can’t remember how many times. I stay on their backs but I’m tired of calling. I shouldn’t have to call.”
Adorn DuBose, the head of the Sumner Houses Tenant Association, said she was disappointed NYCHA residents won’t be allowed to air their grievances publicly during the series of hearings.
“This landlord needs to get better. NYCHA needs to get better,” she said.
Repairs need to be timelier and the city must tackle the unnerving number of rats crawling around the public housing developments, DuBose said.
“My words today would be if I could talk to the mayor: can we make NYCHA better and how can we make NYCHA better? What’s taking so long?”
Eloisa Rowe, of the Borinquen Plaza Houses, also told The Post that NYCHA needs to provide better services – stressing public housing tenants pay rent, too.
Security needs to be improved to keep the wrong people out of buildings and protect tenants’ quality of life, Rowe said.
Lucas Greer, president of the Williamsburg Houses Tenant Association, was more understanding of the limited public participation at Mamdani’s hearings – and believed NYCHA conditions could improve under the Democratic socialist mayor.
“I understand why he doesn’t want a million people coming in complain about the NYCHA problems when that’s not his focus with the rental ripoff hearings,” he said.