This is an extended version of the story that appears in our latest print edition.

On more than one occasion during April, Norwood News observed an old, frail man pushing a walker between traffic lanes on Mosholu Parkway on the border of Bedford Park and Norwood, at the entrance to the iconic New York Botanical Garden. On Tuesday, May 4, we spoke to “Jerry,” a self-described panhandler who preferred not to have his surname printed.

 

As drivers paused for the red light before turning left onto Allerton Avenue, or right onto Fordham Road, Jerry, 63, pushed his walker up the steep incline on Mosholu Parkway and held up his handmade sign that read, “HUNGRY, PLEASE HELP.” Somehow, he managed to get out of the way each time the light turned green.

 

Once he was safely on the sidewalk, we approached him and asked him about his circumstances. “Why am I here?” Jerry said. “I was illegally evicted from my apartment. I lived with a girl that was handicapped, taking care of her,” he added. Jerry then explained that his friend, “Maggy,” whose name, we understand, had been on the lease, had been involved in a car accident five years ago. He said she subsequently became extremely ill and died on Jan. 18.

 

Jerry said they had been friends for over a decade, and his many visits to see Maggy at various hospitals over the years were well documented. “You could see in the records,” he said. He said he used to live with Maggie at Baychester Houses, a New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) complex located at 1930 Schefflin Avenue in the Edenwald section of the Bronx.

 

“They said that I wasn’t [living] in her apartment,” Jerry said, referring to a management company called Cross Bronx Preservation LLC which he said he is now suing for alleged illegal lock-out. “Even after she died, I was still in the apartment until they illegally locked me out on the 22nd or 23rd of March,” he said. “They locked me out, and I’m still going to court for this, and I hope I win the case.” Jerry said he is being represented by The Legal Aid Society.

 

According to a Feb. 16 NY1 article, “NYCHA Shows Off New Renovations at Privately Managed Buildings,” Baychester Houses is a “former” NYCHA development that is now being managed by a private company, Camber Property Group. NY1 reported that, at the time, NYCHA was in the process of “converting” thousands of City apartments to private management under a “public-private partnership” called PACT [Permanent Affordability Commitment Together]. Another target, it seemed, was Edenwald Houses, located directly across from Baychester Houses.

According to NYCHA, under PACT, private and non-profit development partners are contracted, based on resident input, to manage certain NYCHA developments. Once a property “converts” to “Project-Based Section 8 housing,” NYCHA leases the land and buildings to the development partners, which conduct repairs, serve as property managers, and provide enhanced social services and community programs to tenants.

 

According to the nonprofit, Coalition for the Homeless, Project-based Section 8 housing covers all apartments in a given housing complex, similar to public housing. Housing assistance is “tied” to the housing project, rather than to the tenant. Tenants who leave the project leave their housing assistance behind — unless specific exceptions are made.

 

NY1 reported in February that the new Baychester Houses property manager, Camber Property Group, oversees the 11 buildings and 440 units that make up the complex, that it had been converted from public housing into Section 8 housing in 2018, and that it had undergone a multimillion-dollar renovation at the end of 2020.

 

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Cross Bronx Preservation LLC confirmed to Norwood News that Camber Property Group is part of a group of investors that formed the partnership, Cross Bronx Preservation LLC.

 

Rick Gropper of Camber Property Group was quoted in the February NY1 story as saying that no tenants had been evicted since the conversion. “Before we evict anyone, we first make every attempt to make sure they have the services they need to pay the rent,” he said. (Jerry said he was locked out mid-March.)

 

When Norwood News informed Jerry of the statewide eviction moratorium in place amid the pandemic, which was recently extended to Aug. 31, as we reported, Jerry said, “Right on, Brother. They did it illegally.” Asked if he had any mail at the NYCHA complex with his name on it to prove he had lived there or a witness who could corroborate it, he replied, “I don’t know if anyone would be willing to testify. They might be too scared.”

 

Hunched over his walker, taking small, slow steps towards the Botanical Square Station of the Metro North train line, Jerry was asked where he was now staying. “I was staying with a really bad guy,” he said. “I had to leave. I couldn’t stay with him anymore. Now, I’m really homeless.”

 

He added, “The only thing that can help is if somebody from the building will testify. You see, I get my mail at POTS.” POTS, or Part of the Solution, is a nonprofit based in Fordham Manor which supports the homeless and those on low income through different programs. “I showed them [a letter] and they [Cross Bronx Preservation LLC] used it against me, saying I lived at POTS,” Jerry said. “You know nobody lives there. They tried to say I lived at POTS.”

 

On Saturday, May 8, Norwood News paid a visit to Baychester Houses. There, resident, Petrina Brown, confirmed that Jerry had previously lived been a resident in the building on her floor. Referring to Maggie, Brown said, “I don’t know what happened. It seems like they put him out, because when she was alive, she never let them stop him from going there.”

 

Brown said Jerry had medical problems and that he would let out an occasional scream of pain. Jerry had previously told the Norwood News he had been hit twice, in the past, by a car and required back surgery, as well as surgery on his right foot. Brown added that, on rare occasions, Jerry and Maggy would have what she described as “little arguments.” She said,”But no matter what happened, she would not leave him,” and added he would not leave her either.

Brown said she has lived in the building nearly 11 years and that Jerry had been with Maggy all that time. She said the residents on the fifth floor where she lived were very tight-knit, and that she was very confident that four or five other residents on the floor would also back Jerry up.

 

Meanwhile, Brown said she was still in the dark when it came to the NYCHA deal. “I don’t know if it [the complex] was sold, or we have some kind of arrangement,” she said, referring generally to the housing rights of the residents. Norwood News reached out to Cross Bronx Preservation LLC to ask what type of information tenants had received about the new PACT arrangement.

 

We noticed that in the lobby of the building, the usual public notice that’s supposed to contain the name of the building owner, as well as contact details for the management company and Super was blank. A visit to the adjacent building, also part of Baychester Houses, listed Cross Bronx Preservation LLC as the building owner, rather than The City of New York.

 

Referring to Jerry’s character, Brown said, “He’s a nice guy. I don’t mind helping him because I really want them to open the apartment back open for him, because I know she [Maggie] would never put him out, so they don’t have the right to throw him out like that.”

 

She said that she understood the management company changed the locks on Jerry’s apartment door. “He kicked the door in and I think they got annoyed with him or whatever,” she said. “But, at the same time, they don’t come as quick as possible to do the things they’re supposed to do, and then, it was corona  and all of this… It was a lot of stuff, but the way they put him out, if they put him out, I don’t think it’s right.”

 

On May 8, Norwood News contacted Jerry and told him that we had found a neighbor who said she could corroborate the fact that he had previously lived at Baychester Houses. He was excited and grateful to receive the news as he said he is due to appear at a virtual courtroom session with a Bronx Housing Court judge on May 27.

 

During a series of follow-up questions, Jerry was asked if he was not afraid of getting hit by a car when he walked between traffic. “Of course, I’m scared,” he said, letting out a laugh. We asked him if the supermarket or train station would not be a safer location. “There’s a lot of people doing it,” he said. “There’s only one person [doing] what I do.”

 

In the 1980s and ’90s, New Yorkers were divided over a developing trend whereby, in exchange for loose change, some homeless people would clean the windshields of cars stopped at traffic lights, whether the drivers wanted it or not. Some people respected the ingenuity of the homeless people involved, but others deplored the practice because oftentimes, the cloth or “squeegee” used to clean the windshield was dirty to begin with. It became known as the “squeegee epidemic,” and appears to be making a comeback.

 

Since Jerry has been seen carrying out his new, dangerous method of panhandling in Bedford Park, two other men have also been spotted at the intersection of East Fordham Road and Webster Avenue in Fordham Manor, seemingly adopting the same, deadly tactic of asking for change in between two lanes of traffic. One was in a wheelchair.

 

Having lived previously in Edenwald, Jerry was asked if he chose Bedford Park because he felt safer there. He agreed, saying, “Yeah, the police bust my chops, but one time a guy tried to rob my walker and an off-duty cop caught him.”

 

On Monday, May 10, Joshua Stephenson of West Bronx Housing & Neighborhood Resources Center, a tenants’ advocacy group located at East 204th Street in Bedford Park, said Jerry should have been protected by the eviction moratorium. Stephenson said a hardship declaration form is required to avoid eviction and that if one had been submitted, and if the management company evicted Jerry, they would have done so illegally, in his opinion.

He said, “He would have been entitled to succession rights if it were a rent-stabilized apartment, but even if he wasn’t entitled to succession rights, they can’t just kick him out, even if he’s not on the lease.” He added, “Anyone who stays in an apartment past 30 days, they’re entitled to squatters’ rights, which means the landlord has to go to housing court to evict them.”

 

Norwood News reported last year how, based on City data as of mid-May, 93.88 percent of people who were of no fixed abode, or at least did not have a ZIP code according to New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, and who were tested for COVID-19, tested positive for the virus, suggesting there was real cause for concern regarding the high rates of COVID-19 among the homeless community, many of whom were living in close, cramped shelters such as the Jerome Avenue Mens’ Shelter (JAMS) in Norwood.

 

A FEMA-funded program subsequently placed homeless people in hotels in midtown Manhattan and elsewhere, mainly because in accordance with the City Charter, the City is obliged to provide safe shelter for every New Yorker. This is based on the 1981 Callahan v. Carey consent decree that enshrined the legal right to shelter for homeless individuals in New York City.

According to the latest available data showing the number of homeless people living in the City’s shelters each night, as of March 2021, the number was 54,667. In the Bronx, POTS report that in 2020 alone, they provided 2,300,000 meals to those in need, serving 40,000 people. Earlier this week, we reported that NYC Health + Hospitals (NYC H+H) announced in late April the launch of three mobile vaccination clinics which are traveling across New York City, offering vaccines and COVID-19 tests for New Yorkers experiencing homelessness.

 

NYC H+H’s Street Health Outreach and Wellness (SHOW) mobile units are engaging individuals where they are, and are also offering critical, whole person care, such as wound care, mental health screening and support, harm-reduction services, and basic material necessities, like meal packages, hygiene kits, and socks.

 

In 2019, we had reported how a Fordham University professor penned a book describing the stories of a dozen or so formerly homeless people.

 

Norwood News contacted Bronx Housing Court to ask about the number of eviction cases pending currently, despite the moratorium, since it is subject to meeting certain conditions, and we received the following response, “While we anticipate there would be a large number, until the moratorium is lifted and cases are calendared, there is no way to know how many remain, and how many have settled privately or been withdrawn over the past year.”

 

Calls placed by Norwood News with Cross Bronx Preservation LLC went to a voicemail box which indicated that the mailbox was full and no message could be left. We also reached out to Barbara Brancaccio, the chief communications officer at NYCHA, about Jerry’s situation and she said she would look into the matter. She subsequently referred us to L+M Development, a partner/agent, we understand, of Cross Bronx Preservation LLC for follow-up.

On Tuesday, May 11, a spokesperson for Cross Bronx Preservation LLC issued a statement to the Norwood News, saying, “There are rules for apartment succession when the named lease holder no longer occupies the apartment, and we are following those guidelines. The residency of the apartment will be determined through proper legal channels.”

 

Norwood News has asked NYCHA for clarification as to why Cross Bronx Preservation LLC is listed as the owner of at least one of the buildings at Baychester Houses if the building was leased under the PACT program and not sold.

 

Anyone in The Bronx who has been illegally locked out of an apartment should immediately visit Bronx Housing Court, located at 1118 Grand Concourse to fill out a petition in support of an Order to Show Cause.

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.