The hinge on Carmen Cordova’s front door is still broken, even after several calls to NYCHA management.

“Look! Five years I’ve been putting in tickets and nothing yet,” Cordova, a Gowanus Houses tenant, told NY1 while showing the malfunctioning hinge.

What You Need To Know

  • The Gowanus Neighborhood Coalition for Justice are calling on the city to allocate $274 million to improve public housing

  • There are more than 4,200 residents living in the Gowanus Houses and Wyckoff Gardens across 1,800

  • The Gowanus Rezoning Plan would add about 2,500 new affordable housing units to the neighborhood

“He tells me, ‘Call me early in the morning so I can email,'" Cordova said of her super. "I call, he’s always in a meeting, he’s not there. So I just gave up. I’m tired.”

Cordova said cracks still cover her walls, "They plastered all this and inside the closet."

Cracks crisscross parts of Cordova's walls inside her NYCHA apartment. (Photo by Rebecca Greenberg.)

Cordova has lived in her apartment for 32 years and her entire life in the Gowanus Houses.

“I feel like they’re trying to get us out of here," Cordova said. “’Cause I’ve been here 61 years. I was raised in these projects and it has changed so much. They don’t do no work. They don’t care.”

We shared these complaints with NYCHA. A representative told us their staff attempted to visit Cordova's apartment, but she was not home. They said they'll continue trying to coordinate access to schedule repairs.

With the neighborhood set to potentially undergo a major transformation if City Council approves the Gowanus Rezoning Plan, some like Ijaaza El-Nuwaubun see opportunity.

“Poor people don’t wanna stay poor. They also wanna have careers, they wanna have lives,” El-Nuwaubun said.

El-Nuwaubun is a member of the Gowanus Neighborhood Coalition for Justice. The group advocates for a more equitable rezoning. Their top demand: before you rezone, fix our homes.

“We’re trying to prove that we are people, we are human," said El-Nuwaubun. "We need to get assistance and put us down on the map as working people who are trying to survive under these conditions. And it’s very difficult.”

The existing rezoning plan adds nearly 2,500 new affordable housing units and some much-needed improvements to infrastructure. 

Members of the Coalition want the city to dedicate $274 million in funding for improvements at the Gowanus Houses and Wyckoff Gardens. That money will help repair issues reported by residents like Cordova.

"We gotta work together and try to change these things and make them positive," said El-Nuwaubun. "We have to think about the people coming up behind us. Our children. We wanna make things better for them.”

Next, the proposal goes before a city council committee. Then the full council will either approve or make changes to the rezoning plan.