In a continued rebuke against the New York City Housing Authority, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. lashed out at the beleaguered agency for kicking out a senior citizen tenant from his apartment for not paying his rent while he was recuperating from a leg amputation elsewhere.

But hours after Diaz’s news conference, NYCHA is slated to reinstate the tenant.

“He’s a good tenant,” said Diaz at a news conference April 11, calling NYCHA out for evicting Bienvenido Martinez, a 72-year-old resident at NYCHA’s Union Avenue Consolidation, a nine-story residential building, in Longwood for the last 14 years.

Martinez was recovering at Beth Abraham Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing last year after his leg was removed for an undisclosed illness. While staying at the center, and with no one helping him, Martinez fell behind on a total of $816 in rent. Over the summer of 2018, he was evicted. Though he’s staying at Beth Abraham Center, Martinez, now on a wheelchair, simply wants to go home.

Martinez not only lost his apartment, but his furniture, family photos, birth certificate, Social Security card, which he said were thrown in the trash by NYCHA, an apparent violation of the law which mandates NYCHA to store an evicted tenant’s property should they are unable to recoup it. The issue also opens the door for Martinez to have his identity stolen.

Caseworkers at Beth Abraham are currently assisting. Martinez, a Puerto Rican native who only spoke Spanish, said little at the news conference, though he characterized his situation as “sad.” Had Beth Abraham not intervened on Martinez’s behalf, Martinez may have been homeless.

“Mr. Martinez was not ever served personally with his eviction papers, since he had not been able to return to his apartment while undergoing rehabilitation,” wrote Diaz in his letter sent to Kathryn Garcia on March 18 outlining Martinez’s case.

Diaz is demanding NYCHA reimburse him for his loss and reinstate his status as a tenant “expeditiously.” NYCHA has not done so.

Troubles at NYCHA once again saw Diaz take shots at Mayor Bill de Blasio for failing the troubled authority. The agency is now under a federal monitor and slated to receive billions of dollars in capital monies for top-down renovations to the authority’s network of 334 buildings. At the news conference, Diaz—a mayoral contender in 2021—said he deliberately did not forward this letter to de Blasio because he “no longer has confidence” in him. He also pointed to de Blasio’s attention spent on mulling a run for President of the United States, chastising de Blasio for traveling to early primary states such as New Hampshire instead of focusing his attention on New York City.

De Blasio has repeatedly said that he remains plugged into city matters even while on the road.

Diaz became aware of Martinez’s case last year from his office’s Constituent Services Unit. While Diaz acknowledged his office rarely gets cases like this, he did encourage anyone who had a similar situation to call his office.

“Let’s show if you truly believe this city is the fairest city in the whole United States, let’s right this wrong,” said Diaz, referencing de Blasio’s common refrain of the city. “Get your act together.”

In a statement, NYCHA spokeswoman Barbara Brancaccio said, “We are unable to comment on individual residents’ lease agreements, however we will work with the resident to restore his tenancy.”

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.