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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Noam Cohen, Member of VOCAL-NY
2:48:10
ยท
3 min
Noam Cohen, a member of VOCAL-NY and currently living in a homeless shelter, testified about NYCHA's failure to deliver on promises regarding Section 8 vouchers and the poor living conditions in both NYCHA housing and homeless shelters. He called for increased oversight of NYCHA by the City Council.
- Cohen criticized NYCHA for only distributing 2,400 vouchers over eight months, despite promising 1,000 per month.
- He described poor conditions in both shelters and NYCHA housing, including issues with rats, rodents, and lack of basic repairs.
- Cohen advocated for legislation allowing council members to inspect NYCHA facilities and shelters at any time.
Noam Cohen
2:48:10
Thank you, Chair Banks and members of the committee.
2:48:14
I'm here to really talk about how NYCHA's false promises have directly affected folks like me.
2:48:21
I live in a homeless shelter right now in Brooklyn and a lot of our residents, applied through NYCHA for section eight vouchers back in June.
2:48:32
The wait list was open for six days, and they had a record amount of applications.
2:48:39
Over 600,000 people applied for section eight through through NYCHA.
2:48:45
200,000 were approved for the wait list.
2:48:48
NYCHA promised that they were going to give out over a thousand vouchers per month.
2:48:55
Guess how many?
2:48:56
Eight months later, eight months after, after, these applications were received, what do we have now?
2:49:04
They have given out, they have doled out 2,400 vouchers.
2:49:08
They promised, a thousand a month.
2:49:13
That is unacceptable.
2:49:14
And right now, we have folks languishing in shelters like my own with with rats, with rodents, with gnats flying all over, with them not making basic repairs.
2:49:25
And you know what?
2:49:26
Folks languishing in NYCHA housing are experiencing a lot of the same conditions.
2:49:31
My name is Noam Cohen.
2:49:33
I am a member of a grassroots organization, for those who don't know, called Vocal New York.
2:49:39
And we advocate for folks that are directly experiencing issues like homelessness.
2:49:44
And, when it comes to NYCHA residents, we have NYCHA residents who are members of our organization who, the who the conditions were so awful in NYCHA housing.
2:49:57
They were dealing with, you know, mold on the ceiling with basic repairs not being made, all the stuff that we've been talking about during this hearing.
2:50:05
And, I actually know a member personally who ended up moving into a homeless shelter because they figured that the conditions would, one, not be as awful as NYCHA housing, and two, they'd at least have a shot at getting a voucher.
2:50:19
Unfortunately, that's not the case.
2:50:20
We have people waiting for very long periods of Understood.
2:50:23
Yeah.
2:50:24
We have people waiting for very long periods of times just to get a voucher, just to get housing.
2:50:29
And we are basically prolonging people's stay in the shelter system by doing what we're doing now.
2:50:35
We really need robust oversight of NYCHA.
2:50:38
We really need I would really like a somebody to introduce a bill that would allow council members the authority to walk into a NYCHA facility at any time twenty four seven to inspect the conditions, to talk directly to residents.
2:50:54
Same thing with the shelter system.
2:50:55
I would like, them to have that kind of authority as well.
2:50:58
I would encourage the council to use their oversight authority and to expand their oversight authority to inspect the conditions in inspect the conditions in NYCHA housing, and stand up for our residents who are really hurting right now, and who and people should not have to live like this.
2:51:16
People should not have to live in in in in a place that is unsafe.
2:51:21
They should not have to live in a place where there are rats and rodents and Thank you for your testimony.
2:51:28
Gnats all over.
2:51:29
You know, they shouldn't have to live in a place that isn't providing basic repairs and continues to, you know, increase their executive salaries, their CEO salaries, their board members' salaries.
2:51:39
Thank you.
2:51:39
It's unacceptable.
Chris Banks
2:51:40
Thank you for your advocacy and your Thank you.
Noam Cohen
2:51:43
Thank you, chair Banks.