Retired seniors at Mitchel Houses demand Congress fund NYCHA repairs

Retired seniors of the Mitchel Houses in Mott Haven are writing to members of Congress asking for tens of billions of dollars needed to fix issues within NYCHA.

News 12 Staff

Dec 24, 2019, 1:00 AM

Updated 1,608 days ago

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Retired seniors of the Mitchel Houses in Mott Haven are writing to members of Congress asking for tens of billions of dollars needed to fix issues within NYCHA.
The tenants are also sending a 2020 calendar featuring themselves with their life stories to show that they are real people. They have been working on this for a year.
Residents will also share what they did for work before retirement, how they've contributed to their communities and what Mitchel Houses means to them.
Many of the tenants have lived there for decades and say the living conditions weren't like this when they first moved in. They say they have witnessed the deterioration over time.
They are sending individual thank you letters to 17 members of Congress, including Rep. Nydia Velazquez, for being on board with House Resolution 4546.
The resolution asks for $70 billion in funding for housing across the country. Of that, $34 billion would go to NYCHA.
Teresa Guzman says she has lived at the Mitchel Houses since 1984 and has worked as a social worker. She says she feels connected to her home.
"This is my first house when I came from South America, Ecuador. My first job, my first community, I feel very safe over here, only thing is a few issues from housing, especially, we have a lot of problems with rats," said Guzman.
Residents also say the elevators do not work the majority of the week. They've decided that addressing each individual issue one by one isn't working.
They hope receiving the $34 billion will make it easier to fix all the problems at once.


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