PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Annie Wilson, Cofounder of 544 East 13th Street, HDFC
3:12:16
·
3 min
Annie Wilson, cofounder of 544 East 13th Street HDFC, shared her challenging experience with the HDFC conversion process and subsequent issues that prevented her from returning to her home. She described a situation involving mismanagement, forced relocation, and potential fraud by developers and property managers.
- Wilson helped structure her building towards HDFC status in 2002, but encountered numerous obstacles including disrepair, unauthorized loans, and a dramatic increase in renovation costs from $260,000 to $6 million.
- She was relocated from her apartment and has been unable to return, facing eviction from her temporary housing and struggling to find legal representation.
- Wilson expressed willingness to cooperate with any investigation into her situation and requested assistance as a senior citizen trying to return to her home.
Annie Wilson
3:12:16
Okay.
3:12:17
Hi.
3:12:17
I'm Annie Wilson.
3:12:18
I was cofounder of 544 East 13th Street, HDFC.
3:12:23
I lived there in 1984 and helped structure the building towards an HDFC with Uhab and supported the transfer of the properties along with Margarita Lopez, who was the city council person at the time in 2002, with what was a land disposition agreement, whereby there would be 2 years to complete the conversion of the building to an HDFC.
3:12:47
There were 11 properties.
3:12:49
Our building of the 11 properties had the least amount of work to do, and our scope of work was around a $160,000 plus about a 100,000 in weatherization through the Manhattan revitalization program with Dan Reber.
3:13:05
Well, it was very promising, and I was looking forward to the completion of the building as soon as possible.
3:13:12
And unfortunately, the sponsor developer instead of helping us forced us into a situation of disrepair, kept insurance money after a fire, removed our gas system and our heat, then took a loan without telling us, feigned a foreclosure, forced us into foreclosure, negotiations, and a sponsorship, a co sponsorship with local developer, Don Capocea, And so the renovation went from $260,000 to $6,000,000, and I was the first person to sign.
3:13:54
To a temporary relocation apartment, I encourage my other neighbors to do so as well because we'd had a baking order on half the building.
3:14:01
We've made the repairs, and you have refused to remove the vacate order after the repairs were made.
3:14:07
So I was looking forward to beautiful apartments to return to.
3:14:11
It's around 750 square feet, around $800 a month.
3:14:15
And within 2 years, I learned that actually there were plans for an occupant to be in my apartment from Texas, a nonresident of New York.
3:14:26
So I obliged and agreed to negotiate for alternatives.
3:14:30
Per the relocation contract, and that actually became fodder for harassment, bullying.
3:14:37
And I agreed to 5 or 6 different offers, and you have was dead set on not gonna let me back to the building or to 10th Street or to a building in Bushwick because I spoke up and I had requested accounting.
3:14:51
And that was not something they would want to address, and I was the coordinator for 15 years.
3:14:58
And I have been unable to return.
3:15:00
I'm still in the relocation department.
3:15:01
I'm being evicted from there now.
3:15:03
My next court date is on the 22nd of the trial.
3:15:07
I've gone through all of these trying to get representation through a dozen different legal service providers.
3:15:14
I'm a long come person, and a long come person shouldn't have to have enough money for
Kim Darga
3:15:19
a high
Annie Wilson
3:15:19
income lawyer to defend my situation.
3:15:24
I'm a senior citizen, and I was looking forward to returning to my home.
3:15:28
I would be happy to work with any type of investigation in this matter.
3:15:31
There's a lot more information than what I've provided today, and thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak.
