PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Metin N Sarci, Public Housing Expert, on NYCHA Rent Arrears and Evictions
1:31:04
·
3 min
Metin N Sarci, a public housing expert with 12 years of experience, testified about the rent arrears and eviction situation in NYCHA. He criticized the state's handling of the ERAP program and NYCHA's lack of a clear plan to address the crisis. Sarci emphasized the need for better information sharing, resource allocation, and partnership utilization within NYCHA.
- Highlighted the state's failure in initially excluding NYCHA residents from ERAP eligibility
- Pointed out NYCHA's lack of a comprehensive plan to address rent arrears and evictions
- Suggested that NYCHA could better leverage its existing partnerships and centralize services to improve resident outreach and assistance
Metin N Sarci
1:31:04
Thank you, Chairbanks.
1:31:06
My name is Matin Sarsi.
1:31:07
I'm a public housing expert with 12 years of experience serving at your residence both as a civil servant and a political organizer.
1:31:16
The opinions shared in this testimony are based upon my own experience, and they do not represent the views of the housing authority as a current employee.
1:31:24
That being said, I really want to thank this body for its leadership into looking into the oversight of rent arrears and evictions in this agency.
1:31:33
Part of me is slightly confused only because this was a problem that the state created, which pretty much left our residents being told that they were not a priority, and this was the only state to do it in.
1:31:46
Not only that, when residents were told that they were not a priority, they were not able to be afforded other resources such as the one shot deal, because of a pending ERAP.
1:31:56
And and so in at least in this sense, I'm kind of a little bit confused why NICE is involved in in the ERAP process, but that's a different story.
1:32:04
I think that's a failure of the state.
1:32:06
In terms of NICE, I think one thing that was kind of disappointing that was brought up was the fact that you all asked for a plan, and I didn't really hear one.
1:32:15
I heard the same practices that has been told over and over, the same, you know, the same onus that's placed upon the housing assistance.
1:32:24
And the management office who on top of their current jobs essentially also have to be constituent liaisons and figure out where possible resources may exist if they even know that those exist because the authority does not share information, did not centralize.
1:32:40
The information that can be given to residents.
1:32:43
And quite frankly, at a July 31st meeting, the night shift board actually spoke a little bit about this topic, and it was very concerning to me that the fact the CEO seemed to think that, you know, major residents need to be more proactive and seek these services on their own.
1:32:57
When in fact, internally, we could actually show that night residents seek these services a lot more often than the referrals that are being done within in house.
1:33:07
So it's quite concerning in that sense.
Chris Banks
1:33:09
Okay.
1:33:09
You have 30 seconds to run.
Metin N Sarci
1:33:11
Thank you kindly.
1:33:12
So what I what I was gonna say was because there is no plan, you know, any sort of offer that's extended by the council that actually partner with NICEA, can't really happen because there is no plan in place.
1:33:23
Part of the problem is nature does not understand the fact that institutional giving, which is something that's done within professional development, is a thing that happens, that could be something that could help.
1:33:35
But in addition to that, We don't have the ability or we don't seem to have the want to look at our external partners and bring them into our fold.
1:33:44
We work with partners.
1:33:46
We work with over 200 partners throughout the city.
1:33:49
And the fact that Nietcha has to be the one that send out referrals when in fact we could work with other folks
Chris Banks
1:33:55
Right.
Metin N Sarci
1:33:56
To use the things that we've built up, to actually increase that network, and actually centralize everything that we do from health, economic development, to working with residents outreach.
1:34:07
You name it.
1:34:07
There's an entire department that's based on this whose number is shrinking, but that's a different story.
1:34:13
Other than that, I I thank you for letting me speak a little bit longer and have
Chris Banks
1:34:16
a good day.
