A judge deciding whether to approve a settlement of lawsuits citing horrid conditions in the nation's largest public housing system heard some of the 400,000 residents emotionally describe what living there is like.
One said she has so many roaches that some live in her refrigerator. Another said unlocked doors and malfunctioning elevators make the buildings dangerous. Others spoke of bedbugs, mice, mold and frequent water and heat outages.
"I cry in my bed every night," said tenant Cheryl Fowler, who's been living in New York City public housing for 54 years and says it's the worst they've ever been. "I'm ashamed to have company, ashamed."
She was among the more than 100 NYCHA tenants who shared their stories in federal court Wednesday in hopes of convincing a judge to move forward with a settlement that calls for the city to pump $2 billion into NYCHA repairs after years of neglect.
"There needs to be a strong and heavy compensation," said tenant Oliver Briscoe.
Many tenants also complained about being mistreated by management: "I'd like to be treated with a little more dignity, a little more respect."
U.S. District Judge William Pauley III did not immediately rule whether the deal was fair, reasonable and adequate, though he cautioned that "problems of this magnitude cannot be fixed overnight."
According to a consent decree, the city agreed to pay $1 billion over four years and an additional $200 million annually for the following six years.
The litigation came after investigators learned that widespread mismanagement at NYCHA had failed to respond properly to thousands of annual complaints by residents about lead paint, broken elevators and locks, insufficient heat, mold and an infestation of rats, cockroaches and bedbugs.
Various speakers Wednesday recalled deceptive practices within the housing authority that prevented inspectors from finding dangerous or unsanitary conditions and enabled NYCHA employees to dodge ensuring that problems were fixed.
Nicole Gueron, a lawyer for At-Risk Community Services Inc., urged Pauley to reject the settlement, saying it would leave in place managers and employees who'd lied to authorities before.
"The consent decree is just not enough," she said. "It is doomed to fail."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Yalen said scrapping the deal would create uncertainty and possibly litigation with no settlement.
"We believe this is the best deal we could have negotiated," he said.
Even the judge suggested at one point that placing NYCHA in receivership might be a possibility.
Yalen said the federal government believed that was not the right course.
"This is ultimately an institution that has to stand on its own two feet," he said.
Attorney Debo Adegbile, speaking for NYCHA, said creating a receivership would be like having the federal government "taking over a city and running the whole city."
"There is no easy path, only difficult paths," he said.
At the outset of the hearing, Pauley seemed to acknowledge as much, citing "decades-long failures at all levels of government to provide safe, sanitary and decent housing."
"Problems of this magnitude cannot be fixed overnight," he said.
NYCHA said in a statement, "We taken residents' testimony seriously as we transform the Housing Authority. We are working every day to fix problems and put new resources to work to improve public housing."
