Crystal Avenue residents demand answers of housing authority
New London — Frustrations boiled over Thursday with emotional residents of the troubled Crystal Avenue high-rises demanding action from the New London Housing Authority to address unsanitary and unsafe conditions there.
More than a dozen residents spoke out at a Housing Authority Board of Commissioners meeting with one city councilor calling for housing authority Executive Director Sue Shontell to resign. One commissioner broke down in tears during the meeting while listening to stories from residents.
Residents complained of rodent infestations, crumbling ceilings, mold, a lack of safe areas for children and unresponsiveness of maintenance at the three federally subsidized high-rises.
“Why is it taking so long?” asked Crystal Avenue resident Jeanne Ward. “These buildings are not going to fall from the outside, they’re going to crumble from within.”
“This is not a safe environment for our children,” said resident Melissa Collins. “You need to show us what you’re going to do for us.”
Board members, all of them recent mayoral appointees, have been receiving reports from residents about poor living conditions, including one resident who is keeping food in buckets to avoid mice. Ward said many have complaints about their homes but are afraid to go public for fear of retaliation.
Shontell denies any allegations of intimidation of residents.
Similar conditions were detailed throughout New London attorney Robert Reardon’s nearly decadelong legal battle with the housing authority. A class-action lawsuit was settled in 2014, when the housing authority agreed to upgrade or find new homes for the more than 300 residents.
Thursday’s special meeting was called to address a Sept. 29 notice from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development identifying accounting issues and “systemic problems” at the Thames River Apartments that in part led to a downgrade of the housing authority’s status to “substandard.”
The board is considering asking HUD to take the property into temporary receivership but tabled that discussion until Tuesday’s regular meeting. Acting Chairwoman Betsy Gibson said the authority had gained a 30-day extension to respond to HUD.
City Councilor John Satti, who voiced his opposition to the housing authority’s plan to move residents to a proposed development off of Colman Street, promised more scrutiny by the City Council and expressed his confidence in new board members.
“It’s not their fault,” Satti said in reference to the board members. “The fault is in the administration and, I’m sorry, Sue (Shontell), it’s time to move on.”
Shontell responded that in 2009, when she became executive director, she inherited a troubled housing authority and has continued to make progress despite roadblocks.
Shontell took over the executive director position when the authority was still designated by HUD as “troubled” with unpaid bills and the pending class-action lawsuit. She was at the time praised for reducing debt and using federal stimulus money to improve properties.
HUD spokeswoman Rhonda Siciliano said Thursday that because the housing authority is not designated as “troubled,” it was unlikely the agency would accept receivership.
“HUD does not take lightly the idea of receivership,” Siciliano said.
She said the housing authority should know what’s best for its communities and what decisions need to be made. HUD, she said, already was working with the housing authority to help address deficiencies identified in the inspection report and expects a response on how those deficiencies will be corrected.
“The bottom line is our primary concern is the residents there and that the housing authority is being operated in a manner to assure the residents are being cared for and the federal dollars are being expended appropriately,” Siciliano said.
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