QUEENS — The New York City Housing Authority is closing its Jamaica walk-in center, forcing the tens of thousands of people who visit it requiring in-person assistance to travel to other boroughs.
The Queens Customer Contact Center, at 90-27 Sutphin Blvd., the only such location in the borough, is closing on Aug. 31, the agency said. The two remaining walk-in centers are located in Brooklyn and the Bronx.
NYCHA said the center will close because the number of people relying on its services has decreased in recent years.
“Since 2012, NYCHA has seen a 14 percent drop in visitors to the Queens Customer Contact Center,” NYCHA spokeswoman said in a statement. “With NYCHA facing the worst financial crisis in our history and customers increasingly turning to digital services, we will be closing the Queens walk-in-center at the end of the month.”
Last year, the center served about 38,700 customers, mostly Section 8 voucher holders, Section 8 landlords, and applicants for public housing, according to NYCHA.
Walk-in centers also assist people whose apartments require maintenance repairs, according to the agency's website.
“Customers are encouraged to use NYCHA’s online portal or visit our other walk-in locations with kiosks and staff available to assist,” the spokeswoman added.
NYCHA said that closing the center will save the agency $300,000 a year. It also said that there will be no layoffs as all the employees will be redeployed.
A number of NYCHA tenants who live in Jamaica said they were not aware of plans to close the center, and they were concerned that there would no longer be a Queens location.
“Not everyone has access to the internet,” said one resident of the South Jamaica Houses, who did not want her name used, adding that over the years her grandparents visited the center multiple times seeking assistance with various issues.
The Brooklyn Customer Contact Center is located at 787 Atlantic Avenue; the Bronx/Manhattan Customer Care Center is at 1 Fordham Plaza.
