Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Louis Bartot, Former Resident of Elliot Chelsea Houses
5:26:32
ยท
179 sec
Louis Bartot, a 79-year-old former resident of Elliot Chelsea Houses, testifies about his experiences with NYCHA and subsequent homelessness. He criticizes NYCHA's handling of vacant apartments and their failure to protect tenants, especially the elderly.
- Bartot was forced to leave his apartment of 50 years due to divorce, despite being a co-leaseholder
- He highlights the issue of empty apartments in NYCHA buildings and calls for an investigation into vacancy rates
- Bartot shares his personal experience of homelessness and assaults in both NYCHA housing and city shelters
Louis Bartot
5:26:32
Thank you for allowing me.
5:26:34
I lived in Elliot Chelsea Houses in Manhattan, New York, raised two families over a period of fifty years.
5:26:40
Because of state divorce laws, I was forced to give up my apartment without giving it a chance to go into any of the dozens of empty apartments here in Elliot Chelsea Houses.
5:26:53
But I I was the co lease, sir, at that moment, with my wife, and they they did not present any alternative to me except go out the door under the bus.
5:27:05
At that time, the city was reporting there was at least 6,000 empty apartments across the city of New York.
5:27:11
NYSER was not created to commit to to create homelessness.
5:27:16
They're supposed to protect tenants.
5:27:18
They're supposed to help the elderly, especially a person of my of my age, which now I just turned 79.
5:27:28
This just happened last year.
5:27:30
You have to find a way to find what the vacancy rate, which we have already said is unusual, and find out what happened to the people that left these apartments.
5:27:43
Among them, you find heads of household, women mostly, who have had to who have passed on, and their families have been left behind.
5:27:53
You'll find also elderly people who were taking care of children and grandchildren, and they passed on, and their families have been left behind.
5:28:03
And, also, you will find, of course, some residents who became eligible because they married an American citizen, and they also have been put out under the bus.
5:28:16
So you guys, you gotta find this information and find a real number of how many units are empty in the city of New York because nobody gave NYSHA the mission to create homelessness.
5:28:29
I thank you very much for your time.
5:28:31
I will send these remarks in writing to you with your permission, and I hope that you can solve the problem of our needs here.
5:28:40
And right now, I am homeless.
5:28:41
I spent
UNKNOWN
5:28:42
Your time has expired.
Louis Bartot
5:28:43
Almost a year and a half.
5:28:44
Can I get six thirty seconds more?
Chris Banks
5:28:48
You may have thirty seconds more to wrap it up.
Louis Bartot
5:28:51
Thank you.
5:28:52
So just to wrap this up in a very bad note, I was assaulted here in Elliot Chelty Houses when I moved from one building to take refuge in another.
5:29:02
I ended up going to a city shelter for over a year.
5:29:06
I was assaulted there as well and and and and and and suffered eye eye injuries that I had to have operation.
5:29:16
This is the result of what NYCHA has proposed on our people here in in public housing.
5:29:23
I I don't think I need to say anymore.
5:29:25
Thank you very much for your time, and I pray for you, and Godspeed.
5:29:30
Thank you.
Chris Banks
5:29:31
Thank you for your adequacy, and thank you for your testimony.