FEC Tenants Against Demolition, July 13, 2026

Thomas R. Davis, The Weaver Federal Building, 451 7th Street, SW, Room 6230, Washington, DC 20410

Dear HUD Officials,

We, the residents of the Fulton Houses and Elliott-Chelsea Houses, are writing to seek HUD’s intervention and assistance in holding the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) accountable for its ongoing efforts to demolish our public housing developments and transfer control of our homes to private interests through the PACT/RAD program.

For years, HUD has presented itself as the federal agency responsible for protecting public housing residents and ensuring that our rights are preserved. Today, we are asking HUD to prove that commitment by investigating the actions taking place at Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses and by ensuring that the voices of residents are not ignored in favor of private development interests.

One of our greatest concerns is HUD’s approval of a process that allows NYCHA and its private partners to pursue PACT conversion without a clear deadline for obtaining tenant signatures. As a result, residents have been subjected to ongoing pressure, intimidation, and harassment in an effort to secure signatures on Project-Based Section 8 leases.

Related Management and Housing Opportunity Unlimited (HOU), despite not having received final approval to take over our developments, have been permitted to enter our communities and aggressively pursue residents through repeated phone calls, letters, door-to-door visits, and fear-based messaging. Residents are routinely warned about potential consequences if they do not sign, creating an atmosphere of anxiety and coercion.

By allowing this process to continue indefinitely, HUD and NYCHA have effectively sanctioned a system in which residents can be pressured for as long as necessary until the desired outcome is achieved. The objective appears clear: obtain enough signatures to facilitate a transfer of public housing to private management, regardless of the emotional toll imposed upon tenants.

We also question HUD’s willingness to permit the demolition of buildings that remain structurally sound. Historically, demolition of public housing required substantial justification, including evidence that buildings were obsolete and beyond reasonable rehabilitation. What happened to the requirement for an Obsolescence Report?

Residents have repeatedly asked why developments that continue to house thousands of families can now be targeted for demolition without the same level of scrutiny that HUD 

previously required. The disappearance of this standard raises serious concerns about whether demolition has become a predetermined outcome rather than a carefully evaluated necessity.

Further, HUD has allowed misleading claims regarding rehabilitation costs to go largely unchallenged. Residents have repeatedly heard assertions that rehabilitation would cost more than demolition and redevelopment. Yet the public has not been provided with transparent, independent analyses that justify these claims. We believe residents deserve a full accounting of the numbers being used to support a proposal that would permanently destroy public housing and displace generations of families from their homes.

Equally troubling is NYCHA’s reliance on a non legally binding survey to justify demolition. This survey was not a vote. Unlike other NYCHA voting processes related to housing conversions, residents were not required to verify their identities at a designated polling location. Instead, the survey remained open for more than two months and was accessible through QR codes and online participation methods that lacked meaningful safeguards.

According to NYCHA’s own figures, only approximately 550 residents selected demolition. Nevertheless, this survey is now being presented as evidence of resident support for a plan that would permanently eliminate Section 9 public housing.

Residents were also invited to tour buildings owned by the private developer before completing the survey. These presentations highlighted the benefits of the proposed redevelopment with the purpose into enticing tenants to choose demolition while failing to adequately explain the consequences of losing traditional Section 9 public housing protections. At the same time, HOU workers and other representatives conducted extensive door-knocking campaigns while tracking survey responses and encouraging residents to select demolition.

This process cannot reasonably be characterized as a neutral assessment of resident opinion.

Meanwhile, the overwhelming opposition to demolition has been consistently documented. More than 1,000 Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea residents have signed petitions opposing demolition. Residents have attended Community Board 4 meetings, Environmental Impact Statement hearings, Public Housing Committee hearings, NYCHA meetings, rallies, demonstrations, and numerous public forums. Time and again, residents opposed to demolition have appeared in large numbers and presented detailed, substantive arguments against the proposal.

The surrounding Chelsea community has likewise expressed significant concerns regarding demolition, displacement, affordability, and the loss of public housing. Yet these voices continue to be disregarded.

Residents are left with the unavoidable impression that the outcome has already been decided and that public participation is merely being used to create the appearance of community engagement while the interests of private developers remain the true priority.

We are therefore asking HUD to:

1. Investigate the conduct of NYCHA, Related Management, and Housing Opportunity Unlimited regarding tenant outreach and lease-signing practices.
2. Establish clear limitations and deadlines on lease-signing campaigns so residents are not subjected to indefinite pressure and harassment.
3. Require full public disclosure of all analyses used to support claims that demolition is more cost-effective than rehabilitation.
4. Review the elimination or waiver of historical obsolescence requirements and explain how demolition of structurally sound public housing is being justified.
5. Investigate NYCHA’s use of a non-binding survey as support for demolition and determine whether the process met acceptable standards of fairness and integrity.
6. Consider the documented opposition of residents and the broader community before approving any action that would eliminate Section 9 public housing at Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses.

We are seeking HUD’s help because we still believe the agency has a responsibility to protect public housing residents. We ask HUD to demonstrate that it is not a participant in the dismantling of public housing, but rather a guardian of the residents it was created to serve.

The residents of Fulton Houses and Elliott-Chelsea Houses deserve transparency, accountability, and a fair process. Most importantly, we deserve to have our voices heard before decisions are made that will permanently alter our homes and our communities.

Sincerely,

FEC Tenants Against Demolition

stopfecdemolition@gmail.com