NYCHA Tenants Sue Over Mold, Lead Paint and Heating Outages

In recent months, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) has faced scandal after scandal, from its failure to detect and remediate lead in apartments across the city, to hundreds of thousands of residents losing heat and hot water throughout the winter. Now, sick with the agency's missteps, tenants have filed a lawsuit against their landlord in Manhattan Supreme Court.

The lawsuit does not seek monetary damages, but instead calls for a court-appointed, independent monitor to oversee the housing authority and to ensure it is following through on heating repairs and lead testing.

"The compliance officer's not working, the chairperson's not working, NYCHA's not working. Someone's gotta fix it," said attorney Jim Walden, who is representing the tenants.

The lawsuit was announced at a tenant rally on the steps of City Hall, where residents voiced their frustrations with the beleaguered housing authority and the de Blasio Administration's response. 54-year-old Charlene Nimmons,  a longtime tenant activist from the Wyckoff Gardens development in Brooklyn and founder of Public Housing Communities, Inc., said she was tired and disillusioned.

"Stop telling us that we need new policy. We don't need new policy, we need you to follow the rules," Nimmons said.

Other residents, like 58-year-old Claremont development resident Audrey Henry, said the agency has the wrong priorities when it comes to improving its buildings.

"They put the signs up for no smoking in the buildings, but y'all still ain't addressed the problems with the lead and the mold," Henry told WNYC News.

NYCHA has not yet responded to a request for comment.