Elliott-Chelsea Houses NYCHA Evictions Blocked by Judge

A judge has prevented New York City Housing Authority from evicting two tenants from the Elliott-Chelsea Houses, which could delay the housing agency’s controversial $2-billion plans to demolish the complex.

Prior to the judge’s order, the demolition was slated to kick off by the rapidly approaching end of the year, and still yet may.

NYCHA is seeking to rebuild the 2,100-unit public housing project after tearing it down, and has promised displaced residents they’ll be granted modernized apartments in a refashioned development; it would shrink the current 24-building campus into a 15-building one.

The overhaul would also introduce some market-rate housing into the campus, which is centered around providing low-income housing. NYCHA has partnered with Related Co. and Essence, two powerful private developers, to pursue the demolition.

Officials have put forward estimates that repairing the existing campus would cost nearly $80 billion, which would involve matters such as remediating lead paint and fixing boilers. Some tenants have expressed outrage over the plans, believing that they will lead to their permanent displacement.

The latest court order may be quite vindicating for a few of these residents, namely those who have refused to accept a temporary apartment off-site, some of whom are senior citizens.

On Nov. 14, New York Supreme Court Judge Emily Morales-Minerva ruled that Xiao Yi Tan and Jin Gui Tan cannot be immediately relocated from their apartments, so that NYCHA “may demolish and replace the current aging buildings in the Fulton, Elliott-Chelsea, and Chelsea Addition developments with new replacement housing.”

Judge Morales-Minerva included a handwritten note on the order, which elaborated on her rationale. NYCHA “cites no authority [emphasis hers] for the emergency relief requested, which includes forcing a NYCHA tenant to relocate for purposes of updating an apartment with ‘modern amenities,’ ” she wrote.

She also appeared to call the way that NYCHA has pursued the eviction request “unsupported,” instead suggesting that the housing agency pursue such a matter in housing court. As Crain’s New York Business first noted, this could delay the demolition by allowing the tenants to lawyer up, a right they don’t have in regular state court.

The run-up to the demolition’s sign-off generated significant controversy as well, which Chelsea News has extensively reported. An array of tenants who spoke only Spanish said they had been duped into telling NYCHA employees, who were conducting a survey back in the summer of 2023, that they supported the demolition.

“The people sign without reading and without knowing what the paper says,” 70-year-old Dominican American resident Maria Moneira told Chelsea News at the time. Another petition, conducted by a group of residents who opposed the demolition, garnered over 900 signatures.

Nonetheless, NYCHA approved the overhaul by October of last year, with board chair Jamie Rubin saying that “the only way to restore NYCHA to the status that it once had, which is the glory of the United States public housing system, is to reinvest in the buildings at scale.”

This January, a vocal opponent of the demolition plans—Renee Keitt—was elected president of the Elliott-Chelsea Houses tenants association.

A spokesperson for NYCHA did not respond by press time.