NYCHA’s Grotesque Transformation From Public Steward to Shifty Real Estate Agent

NYCHA bureaucrats shut down a public meeting in Manhattan this week after FEC tenants opposed to the demolition of their communities turned out en masse to fight the scheme. Above: FEC tenants and allies march on then-Council Member Erik Bottcher’s residence last fall. Photo/Joe Maniscalco

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By Joe Maniscalco

The New York City Housing Authority is tripping all over itself in a mad dash to demolish the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea [FEC] houses on Manhattan’s West Side as quickly as possible—and the last thing they want is anybody questioning what they’re doing.

FEC public housing tenants opposed to the privatization and demolition scheme slated to raze 18 existing buildings between 9th and 10th avenues spoke out en masse at NYCHA’s monthly board meeting held at 90 Church Street on Wedensday, and it proved to be too much for the bureaucrats to bear—so they shut down the meeting and left.

“When every public speaker opposes your proposal, leadership has a choice: listen to the people or walk away,” District Leader Layla Law-Gisiko said in a statement following the aborted meeting. “Today, NYCHA walked away.”

Work-Bites made several attempts to reach NYCHA for comment on this story—but those efforts, too, have all been ignored.

NYCHA’s stated mission is to provide “decent, affordable housing for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers.” But FEC tenants charge that NYCHA’s behavior backing privatization and demolition in Chelsea over the community’s vociferous objections represents a real crisis in leadership—and that what New Yorkers are witnessing is the agency’s grotesque transformation from public steward to shifty "real-estate agent.”

Everybody knows it’s a land grab: Chelsea resident Tito Delgado was one of 14 people who testified this week against NYCHA’s plan to demolish the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses on Manhattan’s West Side.

Nevertheless, the New York State Court’s 1st Appellate Division earlier this month saw fit to effectively clear the way for NYCHA to restart its campaign to strip FEC tenants of their Section 9 public housing protections and drive them out of their existing apartments in preparation for demolition.

It’s all being done through a so-called “public-private” partnership program absurdly dubbed “PACT” or “Permanent Affordability Commitment Together.”

NYCHA is giddy over its 99-year leasing deal with Related Companies and Essence Development—masterminds of the glitzy Hudson Yards development located nearby the FEC Houses—because the agency stands to increase its annual rent rolls to a reported $115 million, while also relieving itself of more than $900 million in maintenance and repair costs.

Related and Essence like the deal because it will allow them to construct 2,500 market rate luxury housing units, along with another 1,000 so-called “affordable” ones—all on top of prime, publicly-owned land.

What is not talked about or widely reported is the inescapable fact that, despite bold claims of what will be, the existing tree-lined communities of Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea are being wiped out and destroyed.

FEC tenants vowing to continue the fight against demolition insist their voices have been consistently and methodically marginalized throughout the entire march to privatization.

Their repeated calls for a democratic vote on the demolition project continually fell on deaf ears. So did their appeals to seated elected officials who ignored them outright. Community Board 3 voted down the project, too, but was of no consequence.

And despite NYCHA claims to the contrary, FEC tenants opposed to privatization and demolition insist that 250 existing bedrooms in Chelsea will be erased in the first phase of “redevelopment” alone.

They also point to NYCHA’s own draft plan that concedes privatization and demolition will likely result in increased rent and utilities. But whatever, NYCHA is gonna make bank.

"I am not moving,” disabled Chelsea resident Theresa Thornton said after this week’s NYCHA meeting. “Life is already difficult for me, having to be in a wheelchair, with a home aide 24 hours a day. The one saving grace is my apartment. And I intend to keep it.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani—just like the private developers and his predecessor Eric Adams—couldn’t be happier about the demolition scheme.

“The Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses will be rebuilt with new buildings, modern apartments, and improved community spaces based on years of resident engagement and feedback,” the equally absurdly-named Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants erroneously declares. “There are different perspectives in the community about the project, but the Mamdani administration is committed to transparency and upholding the rights of tenants undergoing PACT conversions.”

Before they shut down the meeting, NYCHA board members reportedly voted to pass every one of the real-estate items on its agenda moving 1,756 apartments towards privatization.

Watch this week’s NYCHA board meeting below: