NYCHA Continued Mold Problem Putting Tenants at Risk Years after Hurricane Sandy
- December 6, 2016
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- Bob Krell
- Posted in FeaturedMold/Microbial
Tenants of public housing that is a part of the NYCHA are still plagued by toxic mold four years after Hurricane Sandy, according to a survey released October of 2016. According to a survey taken by the Red Hook Initiative, 40% of the 280 who responded currently claim to have mold. To make it worse, 94% have said to have had mold and leaks in the past.
The survey was conducted by the nonprofit after receiving multiple complaints from residents of the beleaguered housing complex. Jill Eisenhard, found of the Red Hook Initiative has been quoted saying, “It is completely unacceptable … It is at the sage to become a public health crisis. We need to hold people accountable.”
Residents say that the NYCHA’s staff at one building only scrape off the mold and paint over it. A few weeks later the mold reappears requiring the tenants to complain again. Due to this pattern, some tenants seem to have given up home and have stopped filing request. NYCHA says that it is working on handling mold complaints better.
“Over the past year, NYCHA has been making systematic changes to the way we identify, respond and prevent mold by working closely with experts — including the Special Master, a certified industrial hygienist, and a building engineer specialist,” said Jackie Primeau , a NYCHA spokeswoman. She went onto say, “While the Authority is making considerable progress, we remain committed to further improving our methods in identifying and addressing the root causes of mold, drastically reducing reoccurrence rates.”
Some residents are brought to extreme situations before making another call. For one tenant that was having to bring her 18-month-old to the hospital for treatment. Others are becoming ill as well. City officials said, at the time of this survey, that there were 25 open cases of mold at Red Hook.
Read Reuven Blau’s full article about this serious and ongoing issue.