Residents at the Fulton & Elliott-Chelsea Houses Face Uncertainty

The Fulton & Elliott-Chelsea Houses demolition brings fear upon many residents especially those that are old and will have trouble moving. Many of them don't know what's going to happen to their homes. Who it is affecting are the people who currently live in NYCHA buildings, which were made for the less fortunate, so moving them out will cost money many of them don't have. There are also lots of elderly people in the community and it would be very hard for them to move. The effect on the community is to raise the rent and create a new culture, taking away affordable housing from tenants because of the prime real estate.

The vacate orders at this public housing on 18th and 26th streets in Chelsea were actually already handed out to some residents, but as of February the demolition was postponed. NYCHA claims they do not have the money to be able to repair the buildings so they sold it to private real estate developers. They say the cost of knocking down the buildings and building new ones will be cheaper than to just fix them without knocking them down. This is prime real estate. It is near many place like Times Square, Penn Station, Hudson Yards, Chelsea Piers, etc.

They are redeveloping the area without getting the tenants involved which is wrong because they live there.

The private developers sent people to illegally get information from tenants in hopes of getting them to move out. They “contacted tenants’ family members, attempted to access private records including tenants’ birth certificates and social security cards, and will bring boxes to senior citizens’ apartments, demanding they move out,” according to reporting from People's World. The company has also told lies, such as that if tenants don’t sign a project-based lease, they will automatically pay market rate rent.

I have talked to residents of Elliott-Chelsea Houses and they are scared to move because they believe their house will be replaced by somebody else. 

Gentrification plays a big role in this scenario. Gentrification is when the rich decide to move into a place kicking out the less fortunate.

People have been living there for decades. You have to take care of them and the houses mean something to them so to take it away isn’t right.

If you want to help put a stop the the demolition of this public housing, you can help at https://www.savesection9.org/

You can add your name to a letter to Mayor Mamdani at https://www.savesection9.org/letter-to-zohran

You can also get involved by going to https://www.stopfecdemolition.org/