Broken Locks, Elevators: Council Probes Safety Concerns for Older Adults at NYCHA
Across the city’s public housing system, 77,074 residents are aged 62 or older—making up 25 percent of the NYCHA population, according to the housing authority.
The City Council’s committees on Public Housing and Aging joined together Thursday for a combined hearing about the safety of NYCHA tenants, particularly its senior residents. Concerns ranged from the functionality of security cameras at developments to broken locks and entryway doors, as well as how elevator breakdowns impact tenants with mobility issues.
“It makes our residents, especially our senior residents, feel very unsafe,” Julie Sharpton, the tenant association president of Brooklyn’s Whitman Houses, said of her development, where broken doors and locks have led to vandalism of mailboxes and non-residents occupying stairwells. “They’re afraid to go to their appointments because they have to step over or encounter people who don’t live in our buildings.”
