HARLEM — Akiba Bailey was waiting for Mayor Bill de Blasio as he toured a building that is part of a $70 million project meant to rehab 28 buildings in Central Harlem and make them affordable for the next 30 years.
De Blasio was on 127th Street between Lenox Avenue and Adam Clayton Power Jr. Monday afternoon to tout the project by Genesis Companies as an example of his rezoning proposals and his plan to build or preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing by 2024.
"We wanted to show you all of what you're going to see a lot more of — affordable housing preserved in our communities, helping people stay in the neighborhoods they love and where they can afford," the mayor said during his press conference.
But Bailey and other residents said their apartments have been infested with bed bugs for two years, and the renovations being made are shabby.
"The city gave them a lot of money to do the renovations. The elevator is always out. There are people disabled that can't get out," said Bailey who spoke with the mayor about problems at the building.
"I'm still having problems with leaks in the bathroom and the kitchen sink leaks," said Noel Clink, 62, a retired health worker on disability who has lived in the building for more than 20 years. "The radiators are leaking and also they put in new windows but around the new windows is cracking. They built it cheap."
The city heavily subsidized the effort to rehab the 358 apartments with $10 million in taxpayer funds as well as $33 million in tax exempt bond financing.
"I think we have to be serious about the fact that this is tough work to take a dilapidated building and make it good for people again," de Blasio said.
The financially troubled and cash-strapped Abyssinian Development Corporation, headed by the Rev. Calvin Butts, owned the portfolio of buildings before Genesis took it over in 2014.
Butts has been selling off pieces of the development corporation's portfolio, including a Pathmark on East 125th Street and Lexington Avenue that closed last year.
City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who represents East Harlem, said Abyssinian threw the Harlem community "under the bus" over the Pathmark sale.
Karim Hutson, founder and managing partner of Genesis, said the portfolio of buildings had "thousands of violations" the company is still in the process of trying to address with renovations.
"This was not a situation where we walked in and said, 'Let's fix one or two things,'" Hutson said. "This bed bug issue did not start when we took over the building but we are going to make sure these issues get addressed."
Hutson added there have been multiple fumigations to address the bed bug problem, and contractors were still on site to address any issues with work that has been done.
Department of Buildings records show several open violations at the building de Blasio visited dating back to before Genesis owned the properties. Abyssinian did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The episode demonstrates the difficulty of dealing with affordable housing. De Blasio's affordable housing plans actually call for preserving more units — 120,000 — than it creates, so tenant-in-place renovations like this one may become more common.
Affordable housing is the top issue for many New Yorkers. A recent NY1/Baruch College poll showed that 20 percent of those surveyed rank it above crime, jobs and the economy.
The poll also found that even people who make $100,000 annually were worried about being priced out of their neighborhoods.
De Blasio's zoning proposals are currently being negotiated with the City Council, which is expected to vote by the end of the month.
De Blasio's Mandatory Inclusionary Housing zoning change would require some new construction to include a certain amount of permanently affordable housing. Zoning for Quality and Affordability would increase building heights, among other changes, to spur construction of affordable and senior housing.
Council members and advocacy groups are fighting for deeper levels of affordable housing in the plan and de Blasio received a victory over the weekend when a leading critic of the proposals, Real Affordability for All, agreed to endorse the plan in exchange for a study to determine ways to make the proposals more affordable. The City Council also announced Monday it now supports de Blasio's rezoning plans, based on alterations that address affordability and parking.
De Blasio said Monday that the difficulty of preserving affordable housing shouldn't "discourage" developers like Genesis.
"It's not easy. We have to get it right and when tenants have valid concerns we have to find a way to address them. That's our obligation," the mayor said.
De Blasio spokesman Austin Finan said the buildings had a "litany of problems" before the new owner took over and that the Department of Housing Preservation and Development will send an "enforcement team" Tuesday to "follow up on the complaint."
Gaston Lago, who has lived in the building for 20 years and who has two young children, said he just found out his apartment may have lead paint and that he's dealing with bed bug issues.
Still, the new owners are an improvement over the old ones, he said.
"They're trying hard but there are a lot of problems here," Lago said. "It's the same problems going on and we don't know when they will end."
