TA PRESIDENT KAREN BLONDEL IGNORES RESIDENTS’ DEMANDS AND SIDES WITH NYCHA IN PUSHING FOR PACT AT RED HOOK WEST HOUSES

Who is Karen Blondel?

Karen Blondel, president of the Red Hook Houses West Tenants’ Association (RHWRA) is the latest TA president selling out her residents to push for a PACT conversion at Red Hook West Houses. Blondel also sits on the board for the NYC Preservation Trust, which she claims to have helped create in collaboration with disgraced former NYCHA CEO Greg Russ. SHe is also on the board of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Development Corporation Board, which is an attempt to build private residential and commercial developments on the Columbia Street waterfront, another gentrification project. In 2023 she was awarded the David Prize and received $200,000 as recognition for her work to ‘improve the lives of New Yorkers, all the while residents in Red Hook Houses continue to live in complete squalor.

Blondel has engaged in multiple interviews with the press, espousing her approval of PACT and her own personal visions for the future of Red Hook. She leads Resident Association meetings and separate PACT meetings with BFJ planning under the guise of outreach and collaboration with residents.

In reality, these meetings are designed to control the narrative and push PACT by dangling the ever-broken promise of comprehensive repairs in front of residents like a carrot stick, all while hiding and lying about the realities and testimonies of residents at developments that have already converted to PACT.

This includes increased evictions, unresponsive and neglectful management, continued disrepair and housing violations, displacement and demolition.

What goes down in these meetings?

The meetings are held in collaboration with the RHWRA, led by Karen Blondel. Residents weren’t given a vote when PACT was first introduced, but after massive outcry, some NYCHA developments were allowed to vote; however, they only required votes from 20% of heads of households. In the developments that were given the option to vote, residents voted overwhelmingly against PACT such as in Jacob Riis Houses in the LES and more recently at Isaac-Houses on the UES. NYCHA and Blondel have made it clear that the thousands of residents of Red Hook West will not have a say in whether or not their development will be converted to PACT. Instead of voting, residents are encouraged to attend these meetings which exist only to check the box of collaboration with residents. What is the point of so-called collaboration when NYCHA already confirmed to City Limits that it “anticipates moving forward with PACT for Red Hook West, and is gearing up to issue a Request for Expressions of Interest from developers this summer.”

These meetings are heavily controlled, with some residents who spoke out against PACT being locked out of virtual meetings. When residents express their concern or disapproval of PACT, they are shut down, ignores or answered with lies saying that demolition and displacement will not happen, renovations will not be disruptive, and that eviction rates do not go up – when it has been shown that they in fact continue to increase at an alarming rate. At her own RHRWA meetings, which are often announced just days before, Blondel attacks residents with vitriol and slander. When they speak out against PACT with their neighbors they are harassed by RHRWA members, called out by their names, and are threatened by the police. When Blondel is confronted with the alarming truth about PACT, she deflects by saying she is not going to “debate facts” and changes the subject entirely by bringing up irrelevant subjects like people littering or not paying their rent to manipulate the narrative. Would you care about litter or paying rent when you are living like this?

According to a recent article by City Limits, Blondel’s proposal includes demolishing two 3-story buildings and constructing a new building on top of a community farm. Recently, there was a playground built and an empty concrete area that was meant for a basketball court, that was never built. One resident said in response to the outdoor renovations and the neglect of the building’s conditions: “Why are they renovating the outside first? We don’t sleep out there!” There is an overwhelming sentiment among residents at Red Hook that PACT will not be for their benefit. The focus on outdoor renovations first and foremost is a sign that the desperately needed repairs for each unit and the buildings itself are being ignored.

Public Housing Residents are being pushed out if their homes in the name of self-sufficiency

Blondel repeated lies to residents about PACT pushing people out of their homes, but in the City Limits article, she finally reveals the truth. In her view, inviting PACT into Red Hook will help residents become self-sufficient and then states that, “we have to get off these campuses.” To Blondel, the people in public housing shouldn’t get to rely on affordable homes. She would rather see her own residents struggling to find affordable housing in the private market, than fight to repair the homes that people are currently living in. Blondel doesn’t even pretend to represent her own tenants when she tells City Limits that, “This isn’t even about us. It’s about us having a space for future residents and folks who will need food, shelter, and love.” What about the more than 3,000 residents at Red Hook who need food, shelter, and love – do they not deserve that? Why should residents care for the new people coming in and displacing them?

Blondel continues to lie to and harass residents who speak out against PACT, while telling press what we knew about it all along. It’s a scheme to displace long-time residents, allow demolitions of people’s homes, and promotes NYCHA’s neglect to then hand it over to a private management company to continue the vicious cycle.

If you live in Red Hook Houses, or NYCHA, or care about stopping the privatization of public housing, hit us up!