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NEW YORK (FOX5NY.COM) - Residents and tenant leaders filled the Seth Low Community Center Gym in Brooklyn on Monday to hear from elected leaders and officials, including U.S. Housing and Urban Development Regional Administrator Lynne Patton.
City Council Member Alicka Ampry-Samuel, who organized the event, called this the start of a new day.
Patton was there to inform residents of their options now that the mayor made a deal with the U.S. attorney to settle a lawsuit over deplorable NYCHA conditions. She made it clear that federal oversight means that it will no longer be business as usual for NYCHA.
After the town hall, Patton accepted a tenant's invitation to see the mold and broken wall with exposed open water and sewage main in her mother's apartment. Patton called this a humanitarian crisis worse than the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and that it will be fixed.
A federal judge is expected to approve the consent decree that will install a federal monitor. Patton said she plans to be involved every step of the way and promised that life will change for the better for NYCHA's 400,000 residents.