Chelsea public housing holdouts get lease termination notices ahead of $1.2 billion rebuild

The New York City Housing Authority has begun trying to end the leases of a small group of Chelsea public housing tenants who refuse to leave two buildings. Those buildings are the first to come down in a $1.2 billion rebuild of the Fulton, Elliott and Chelsea Houses.

Under the plan, which NYCHA is carrying out with private developers, 18 buildings across the three developments would be demolished. The 2,056 people living there now would move into six new towers. Nine additional buildings would hold 1,000 permanently affordable apartments along with 2,500 market-rate units, which the authority says are required to make the project pencil out.

Who has to move from Fulton 11 and Chelsea Addition

Demolition starts with Fulton 11, part of the Fulton Houses, and Chelsea Addition, a seniors-only development. Residents of both buildings must live elsewhere until the old structures are demolished and the first new tower is finished, a process the authority expects to take three years. To date, 73 households from those buildings have moved into other apartments within the three developments.

About two weeks ago NYCHA began telling six holdout households that it had started proceedings to end their leases. It is using its own internal process, which does not go before an independent court. One of those households has since agreed to move, and another faces a separate dispute over alleged unpaid back rent. The remaining four face eviction on one ground alone: “failure to transfer.” The notice tells them, “If you relocate, that charge against your tenancy will be withdrawn.”

NYCHA’s position and the Chelsea Addition lawsuit

According to NYCHA spokesperson Matthew Horgan, each Fulton 11 household received at least two offers of temporary apartments matching its needs. For five of the six holdouts, those offers were in other Fulton buildings, while the sixth was shown a unit a short distance away at Elliott-Chelsea. Horgan said refusing to move amounts to “a breach of the rules in their leases” and is what prompted the notices.

At Chelsea Addition, 24 households have sued in housing court. They allege the authority is harassing them to push them out of a seniors-only building and into a less secure development that is not set aside for older residents. The cases are still pending.

Among the households that got a termination letter is a family whose ties to Fulton 11 date to the 1960s. Lourdes Ortiz, 61, was raised in the development and met her husband there. Her son, Jonathan Santiago, 37, shares the apartment and describes himself as a third-generation Fulton resident. Ortiz, the tenant of record, was first told in fall 2025 that she had 30 days to relocate. A 60-day notice came next, followed by a 90-day notice.