Queens Residents Living In Flooded Homes As They Wait For NYCHA Repairs

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Some residents at a Queens apartment building say they've been complaining to their landlord for months about water, bugs and mold.

Their landlord? It's the city.

Erycka de Jesus showed CBS 2's Dave Carlin her flooded second-floor apartment at the Ravenswood Houses in Astoria. She has moved her four children to her bother's house an hour away because she fears for their health at her home, which has attracted insects and mold because of standing water.

"My asthmatic son definitely cannot stay in this environment," de Jesus said.

She said a crew with the New York City Housing Authority, which manages the property, patched the wall in a way that did no good. De Jesus is now taking NYCHA to court.

She also contacted City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Queens), who had some choice worlds for the Housing Authority.

"When there are situations like this calling for immediate response, there is no excuse," Van Bramer told Carlin.

CBS 2 repeatedly pressed NYCHA for an explanation, but the agency said only that it was "looking into it."

De Jesus is not alone. Her downstairs neighbor, Alisha Williams, told Carlin she has a leak in her dining room and mold in her cabinet.

"It's a hardship," she said. "I can't continue to live like this. I don't have nowhere to go. I have to stay here and suffer this."

Williams and de Jesus said they want NYCHA to transfer them to other apartments. Van Bramer has sent a letter urging NYCHA to place the residents in clean apartments, but he has not yet received a response.

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