BROOKLYN – An assembly took place at Bethany Baptist Church in Brooklyn on July 15 to implement next steps on perpetuating the $500 million deal with Mayor Bill de Blasio and Speaker Corey Johnson to build thousands of affordable apartments for seniors to ensure they are built and also to discuss how to guarantee the $2.2 billion agreement between the U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman and Mayor de Blasio to repair existing NYCHA units will indeed move forward. East Brooklyn Congregations and Metro Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) co-chair Rev. David K. Brawley was among the speakers at the event.

The city council is preparing to hold hearings to demand more answers about the authority’s failure to conduct lead paint inspections, and the elaborate lengths employees went to in order to hide deteriorating conditions from federal inspectors (according to the 80-page complaint issued by federal prosecutors). Rev. Brawley met with then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in April of 2015 and urged him to open an investigation into wide-spread abuse by public housing managers and officials.

With the launch of this investigation, Attorney Berman has issued a consent decree in effort to have both the federal and state governments appoint monitors to oversee NYCHA renovations that have been approved for the fiscal year 2019 city budget.

Rev. Adolphus Lacey of Bethany Baptist Church gave the welcoming remarks at the event and was followed by representatives of other area churches concerned that the plans will be implemented for the benefit of the community.

More information is available online: metro-iaf.org.