TESTIMONY
Sevina Willis, Red Hook Resident, on Mismanagement in Public Housing Finances
2:57:39
·
114 sec
Sevina Willis discusses the persistent mismanagement and corruption within public housing finances.
- Willis emphasizes that the residents of public housing are not to blame for the problems faced by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA).
- She mentions instances of exorbitant spending on basic necessities like single burner hot plates provided during gas outages, questioning the oversight of such financial decisions.
- Willis calls for an ongoing investigation into these financial practices and demands greater oversight by resident councils.
- She highlights the need for a halt in the conversion of developments until financial irregularities are resolved.
- Willis stresses the impact on working-class individuals who pay significant rents for substandard services.
Sevina Willis
2:57:39
Hello.
2:57:39
I'm Sabina Willis.
2:57:40
I'm a record resident.
2:57:41
I've lived out here for 16 years.
2:57:43
But I lived in public housing for over 40 years.
2:57:47
And I want I hope this investigation makes it clear to everybody that the public housing residents are not the problem behind the nitrile issues.
2:57:55
For years, everyone made it seem like, oh, well, the people that live in nature don't care about where they live at, and this is why this is happening.
2:58:03
No.
2:58:03
This is happening due to largely due to the fact that people who are being paid quite a bit decent salaries are basically stealing from public housing.
2:58:14
This gross negligent overspending have gone on for decades.
2:58:19
Several things have always been overpaid for, like, your the the single burner hot plates that are given to residents when they have a gas outage.
2:58:29
We were told the price of that, and it's astronomical.
2:58:32
And I'm not understanding why this was been has been allowed for years.
2:58:36
So this investigation needs to continue and needs to be ongoing, And some of this oversight needs to be given to the resident councils of each development so that the spending and what money is coming in and out of the development and that the vent what the money and the contracts and dealing with the vendors on our development, the the TA president, and the TA associations, they need to be able to have oversight of that so that all the t's across the northern i's are dotted.
2:59:07
A lot of us are working class individuals who work a lot of hours to pay 1000 of dollars in rent to receive very poor services.
2:59:16
So across the board, there should be a stop and a pause on any The igniter should not be able to convert any development until this issue with the finances is taken care of.
2:59:32
Thank you.