Brown water, broken elevators and the smell of overflowing trash has plagued one Brooklyn apartment building.

“Everyone who got these apartments are grateful and excited to live here and they’re not making it easy for us to raise our children,” Samantha, who asked that we not use her real name out of fear of retaliation, said.

She lives with her partner and three-year-old daughter in a two-bedroom apartment at 40 Oak Street/23 West Street in Greenpoint. Samantha said winning the housing lottery was a dream come true. That is, until the elevator broke down.

“I was stuck in the elevator by myself, so I wasn’t panicking too much, but living on the ninth floor and walking up nine flights of stairs is not easy. Especially with a toddler,” Samantha said.

40 Oak/23 West is a housing lottery building with 216 units spanning 14 floors. Tenants must earn within a limited income bracket and rents range from $1,528 for a studio and $1,955 for a two bedroom. Problems in the building were first reported by Greenpointers, a local North Brooklyn news outlet.

Another resident, who asked NY1 to only refer to her as Kirsty, says she noticed problems with the building almost immediately.

“We started getting a lot of brown water, we had green water. I noticed green water in my building pretty much right away in my tub. You’d fill it up and the water would just be green,” Kirsty, who lives in a studio apartment in the building, said.

A spokesperson for Halcyon Management Group, which manages the building, says water is supplied directly from the city water main and a rush of sudden brown water is out of their control. A group of residents started a tenants’ association last November in an effort to get answers from management.

“Everybody is sort of left to speculate instead of getting any response from management. It then comes down to us to figure out why this is happening. It was really disappointing,” Kirsty said.

According to the Department of Buildings, there have been more than 40 311 complaints regarding elevators at 40 Oak/23 West since February 2022. A spokesperson for Halycon says elevator malfunctions have since been resolved.

“This is the end of May 2024. They’ve only been responsive in the past week, whereas these issues have been going on for over a year. So only because we are now in the press are they responding,” Kirsty said.

Tenants also say the live-in super only works for the building next door, not theirs. Apartment buildings with nine or more units must have a live-in super or one who lives within 200 feet, according to the Rent Guidelines Board.

“A few months back, I got locked out of my apartment with my toddler and she’s not potty trained. So I’m calling management, asking someone to come and open my door. It took two and a half hours,” Samantha said.

A spokesperson for Halcyon said in a statement, “The live-in super does not address issues for 40 Oak/23 West lottery winner tenants, only the neighboring market-rate building. 40 Oak/23 West is staffed around the clock and the live-in resident manager is readily available to provide service when required, 24/7.”

For many tenants, it’s not easy for them to relocate, nor do they want to give up their rent-stabilized housing. Samantha said she wants management to be held accountable.

“A formal apology and making sure they give us a full rundown of what is going to change, a timeline of when it’s going to change and then let us know updates. Just update us,” Samantha said.