The Bronx Borough President's Office is coming to the defense of NYCHA tenants.
President Ruben Diaz Jr. showed his support behind a recent lawsuit filed on behalf of struggling tenants.
The suit, filed by the Legal Aid Society, demands NYCHA issue rent abatements and enforce immediate boiler repairs for tenants who were without heat and hot water this past winter.
In the letter, Diaz's office claims in part that "NYCHA is a landlord, just like any other landlord, and the agency's commitment to its tenants is clear in the law. When housing is not habitable, there should be consequences."
"I am a tenant, I don't own my own home," Diaz told News 12. "But if I don't have heat or electricity for weeks at a time, or in some cases a month at a time, months at a time, I should be able to be reimbursed in some way or have some type of credit on my rent for the things that were damaged, the food that was damaged, for the hardship."
The Housing Authority told News 12 that ultimately what their residents need is money spent on repairs, not rent abatement.