For the second month, residents of homes managed by the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority sounded off before the board of commissioners. Every seat was filled — as was the lobby at the BMHA headquarters at 300 Perry St. — by tenants, community activists and concerned citizens.
More residents came forward with reports of rodent infestations, safety concerns, faulty plumbing, trespassers and other issues that they say have gone ignored, in some cases, for years.
"I've been my apartment for two years; no heat," said tenant Linda Gray.
BMHA executive director Gillian Brown told BTPM NPR that hearing another round of negative commentary was a "sobering" experience.
“I feel bad that any of our tenants feel that disenfranchised from where they live and that put upon by the management here,” he said.
Brown insists he and his board have made strides to improve since residents first brought their concerns before the housing authority last month at a March 17 meeting, and again three days later at a board of commissioners meeting.
The Buffalo Common Council also heard from BMHA tenants at a community development meeting on March 25. University District Common Council Member Rasheed Wyatt — whose district contains the BMHA's Kenfield and Langfield developments — expressed concern about Browns leadership following that meeting.
He echoed those sentiments to Brown and the board in person while speaking on behalf of tenants.
"Mr. Brown, I don't dislike you as a person. I don't know you that way, but your leadership here is really important, and that's where I'm coming from," Wyatt said to Brown during the public commentary portion of the board meeting. He also suggested that BMHA management is another example of select disinvestment of certain communities.
“Sometimes when it comes to Black and brown people, we act like it's not serious. That it's not that important," he said.
Brown hit back, saying that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
“When Councilman Wyatt stands here and says he doesn't dislike me personally, but he feels that I'm ignoring Black and brown people – I've spent my entire career serving low-income people, whether as a public defender, or the general counsel here, or the executive director here, without regard to whether they were Black or brown or white,” he said.
Members of the Buffalo Common Council and the BMHA board of directors agreed to hold a meeting to work on addressing community concerns, but that has not yet happened. Wyatt alluded during Thursday's meeting that residents haven't been submitting necessary data due fear of retaliation from BMHA staff.
"Most of these folks have said they're afraid of being retaliated against, and that's shameful," Wyatt said.
Some other guests at the meeting echoed those sentiments.
"[Tenants] are so scared of the intimidation and the retaliation of our management," said Jamie Beasley, a tenant of the Stuyvesant Apartments.
Brown said that BMHA has no tolerance for such actions and that if residents come forth with details of retaliatory threats, necessary actions would be taken.
"I think that my staff knows well that something as blatantly wrong as retaliating against a tenant for exercising their rights would never be tolerated. That person would be disciplined, and we would address that situation," he said.
Community activist Nate Boyd suggested that community members will take more radical approaches at subsequent meetings if their demands aren’t met.
“The next meeting they have, if they don't address some of these issues, we need to shut it down,” Boyd said.
Brown says those threats won’t stop the authority from working to make necessary improvements and to build better relationships with tenants.
“No, our meetings won't get shut down," he said. "We will continue to do our business, and we will continue to do what we need to do, and we will continue to run the housing authority as best we can, and we'll continue to try to improve.”
Boyd and some other attendees also called for Brown's resignation while criticizing his leadership. He says he has no plans to step down and that it's up to the board to make a decision on how they feel he's heading the housing authority.
"I know I'm doing the best job I can do. It is up to my board. If they lose confidence in me, then they will tell me," he said "When the board loses confidence in me, they will make that known, and then I won't be here. But I come to work and I do the best I can do every day."
Residents and housing advocates have indicated that they’ll attend the next Board of Commissioners meeting on May 21.
