A litany of litigation seems to have slowed the proposed demolition of New York City Housing Authority’s Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses in Manhattan, but the city is pressing forward with plans. A group of housing activists is still undeterred.
“Public housing needs to be protected. You’re not going to see affordable housing like this built again,” said City Councilmember Chris Banks, who chairs the public housing committee, at the council’s Black media roundtable on July 21 at City Hall.
Eighteen public housing buildings in Chelsea collectively make up Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses, which were built between 1947 and 1968. After decades of disinvestment, the infrastructure is crumbling, similar to other developments across the city that were placed under a federal monitorship by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This led to talks of razing two 36-unit buildings and starting from scratch in 2019. The city and NYCHA have formally created a working group to discuss converting the two buildings into Section 8 PACT/Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) affordable housing. The city conducted resident surveys in 2023, and adopted a development agreement in 2024.
But a contingent of housing activists refuse to cooperate, fearing that a “privatization of NYCHA,” or the reclassification of Section 9 to Section 8 leases, will mean certain displacement from their community and rent hikes as well as rapid gentrification of public housing in Chelsea — which serves primarily low-income, Black, Brown, Asian, immigrant, elderly, and disabled New Yorkers.
On July 9, the Appellate Division denied preliminary injunctions against NYCHA’s plan to tear down the FEC Houses. This lifts the temporary judicial restraint that had stopped NYCHA from advancing the project since 2025. In one case, the court determined that the challenge was filed too late.
NYCHA Chief Executive Officer Lisa Bova-Hiatt, said in a statement, “The project and engagement process will now resume as we work to deliver the new units, improved amenities, and state-of-the-art community spaces that NYCHA residents deserve.”
The housing activists were deeply disappointed with the ruling and are already coming up with ways to appeal.
“I think it’s very unfortunate that we continue to be faced with this false binary choice between tearing down the building and having tenants live in harmful conditions, when nothing else has been attempted. We can save Section 9 affordable housing,” said Layla Law-Gisiko, who ran for city council on the issue of public housing in District 3 and lost in the recent primary. “We know it’s ground zero. We know it’s the blueprint. This is the intended model they want to scale up.”
“The Appellate Division ruling was very disappointing because they didn’t rule on the merits of the case, whether this violated our health, whether this violated the ULURP (Uniform Land Use Review Procedure) process,” said Marni Halasa, who is with the FEC Tenants Against Demolition group. “There is going to be an appeal. It’s procedurally complicated but we believe protecting affordable housing is a unique situation. Basically everyone is watching what happens in Chelsea, and we can’t allow for-profit developers to squeeze thousands out of 18 buildings into six, and then give the rest away. We need the Court of Appeals to weigh in.”
The buildings must be empty before demolition begins, and some tenants continue to refuse to be removed, she said. Residents also maintain that the city and NYCHA were waging a “raging harassment campaign,” which included repeated telephone calls, threatening letters, and pressure applied particularly to elderly, disabled, immigrant, and non-English-speaking tenants. Senior residents of Chelsea Addition, a seniors-only building within the FEC complex, recently filed another lawsuit in State Supreme Court. The tenants are represented by tenants’ rights and housing attorney Thomas Hillgardner.
“This leads me to believe this is a get-rich-quick scheme, and the truth is many of the elderly may die because of the trauma and not make it through the relocation process,” said Banks.
Banks has done a walkthrough of FEC’s campus and believes that a rehab of the buildings would suffice in improving housing conditions. He worries that a demolition route will lead to future demolitions that see whole communities displaced across the city. He’s engaged House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, whose congressional district is in Brooklyn, to prioritize NYCHA funding. He also introduced a resolution calling on the state legislature and Governor Kathy Hochul to thoroughly investigate the effects of RAD/PACT program conversions on tenants’ rights.
FEC residents, joined by housing activists, confronted Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s housing officials at a “NYCHA in Your Neighborhood” event on June 17 at the Ethel Battle Velez Community Center in East Harlem.
The Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants leader Cea Weaver confirmed that the plans for demolition are going forward, despite concerns. Leila Bozorg, the city’s Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning, was also present. In response to the Appellate Division ruling, Bozorg said in a statement that this was “a meaningful milestone” for the redevelopment to deliver much-needed housing for residents.
Renee Keitt, president of the Elliott-Chelsea Tenant Association, said that the response from Mamdani and his team was “very disappointing from a democratic socialist.”
While some tenants maintain that the plan represents a land grab, other longtime tenants are happy to see the building go.
“I know what this place looked like compared to back then,” said Fulton Houses resident George Figueroa, 80, a retired transit worker who’s lived in the building since 1974. “NYCHA has become a slumlord. No elevators. No hot water this last cold spell, a pipe burst this year. These buildings are corroded.”
Figueroa added that he’d rather not suffer with construction and rehabilitation efforts that could lead to poor air quality and a disruption in quality of life as an older adult. “They have to go in the walls and rip out plumbing. These buildings were built in the 60s; there’s probably all kinds of asbestos and pests. No clear air once they start for the next 5 or 6 years versus a new building with amenities. Most of us approve,” he said.
NYCHA said that it will begin re-engaging residents who remain in Fulton Houses building 11, one of the first slated to be demolished in the complex, and senior Chelsea Addition, and work to complete the remaining lease signings and relocations. When Fulton 11 and Chelsea Addition are fully vacant, demolition of the existing buildings and construction of the new homes for NYCHA residents will begin.
The redevelopment project promises to replace all 2,056 existing NYCHA apartments at Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses with “new and permanently affordable homes,” said NYCHA. Then construction on up to 3,454 new mixed-income units will start, for a total of 5,510 units overall.
“Since 2019, residents have helped to outline a plan that addresses over $900 million in mounting physical needs at Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea while maintaining their rights and protections. The plan puts NYCHA residents first, delivering a more equitable living experience for them, inclusive of the modern amenities and accessibility features enjoyed by their neighbors in Chelsea,” said NYCHA’s office in response to an Amsterdam News query.
“A small group of activists, including some who do not live in NYCHA, are spreading misinformation about the project and attempting to disrupt the relocation process. The reality is nearly every resident — 94% of households — will be able to remain in their existing apartments until their new homes are built while just over 100 households are being temporarily relocated to refreshed units within the campuses.”
The Mayor’s Office will be holding more NYCHA in Your Neighborhood events this Fall. The office also plans to conduct more engagement between NYCHA, its partners, and residents as part of the Block by Block housing plan.
