Meet Your Tenant Leader: Jackie Lara, NYCHA’s Fulton Houses

Lara, who’s lived at the Fulton Houses for 22 years, is among those fighting NYCHA’s plan to demolish and rebuild the campus and neighboring Elliott-Chelsea Houses. “I don’t need a dishwasher. I don’t need a washer and dryer. I don’t need all this luxury that you’re offering,” she said. “Just leave us alone. This is our home.”

“Meet Your Tenant Leader” is a new series that profiles the work of tenant leaders and housing organizers across New York City. If you’re a tenant leader interested in speaking with us about your role, or want to suggest someone we should talk to, email: [email protected]

When City Limits first met Jackie Lara in September 2023, she was holding up a white poster board with the words “No Demolition” written in blue marker. Lara was surrounded by activists and neighbors who shared the same sentiment, just moments before a local community board meeting.

The Fulton Houses tenant led more than a dozen protesters in a chant to raise concerns about a major proposal on the table—a tear-down and rebuild of the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses.

More than a year later, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is moving ahead with that plan, which is still pending approval from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development as part of an environmental review. It would demolish the public housing properties, consisting of 18 buildings, replacing them with newly constructed towers with amenities such as central heating and cooling systems and in-unit dishwashers. Approximately 3,500 private, new mixed-income apartments will also be built on the campuses later as part of the proposal.

The changes will convert the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses to private management through the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program. Essence Development and Related Companies were tapped to carry out the plan, which NYCHA says was selected by a majority of tenants through a June 2023 survey—though critics, including Lara, have disputed those results and how the options were presented to residents. 

Lara is concerned that the participation rate was too low for a decision to be made (according to Manhattan Community Board 4’s Land Use Committee, 29 percent of eligible residents participated). She also argues the survey misled residents for not spelling out that demolition was part of the plan. 

“Some people had no idea that a demolition [was] happening,” Lara said. “They made it sound like we were going to get construction so [made] people think that their apartment was going to get renovated. People were like: how did it go from renovation to demolition?”

NYCHA previously defended the voting process and outreach efforts around it. 

While the proposal has garnered mixed reactions among the nearly 4,500 residents in the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea community, Lara remains steadfast in her stance to preserve her NYCHA home as she knows it.

NYCHA says the majority of tenants—94 percent—will remain in their current homes until the new buildings are ready, and that anyone who is moved temporarily while construction is underway will have the right to return. 

But Lara said she worries that tenants won’t be able to return to the new apartments once they’re built, based on displacement tied to past demolitions at NYCHA. She disagrees that the public housing complex is in a state where demolition needs to take place. Upgrades to the apartments, she said, would be fine enough.

For her part, Lara has helped lead the anti-demolition efforts, rallying and door-knocking to engage with tenants and collect signatures from those who are also opposed. A month after NYCHA approved the demolition and rebuild plan, she nominated herself for tenant association president. The decision was another attempt to fight the plan, she said.

Her opponent, Miguel Acevedo, won the election with 124 votes. Lara had 108. Despite the results, Lara said she is still committed to the fight, and considers herself a winner. (Editor’s note: an interview with Acevedo will be published in the coming days).

City Limits sat down with Lara to discuss what the Fulton community means to her, and what she hopes will take place in the months and years to come.

The conversation below has been condensed and edited for clarity. 

CITY LIMITS: You moved to the Fulton Houses 22 years ago after leaving the shelter system. Can you tell me about the day that you moved in?

JACKIE LARA: That was the happiest day of our lives. The kids ran to every bedroom. It was ours. 

There was no shelter. We didn’t have to get up at a certain time. It was our home and I kissed this floor. Everything was perfect.

We were moved around so much I would never have thought that we would have a stable home. 

My social worker let me know that an apartment was available. I didn’t know anything about Fulton or anything, she just gave me the address. I came here, management came too, the floors, tiles were lifted, they were doing major construction here. They showed me the apartment, the bedrooms and everything. When I moved here this place looked like condos, very clean, fresh cut grass, the buildings were clean and everything. I was excited.

Before New Year’s Eve, I moved in.

I’ve appreciated it since. I’m part of the community. I’m out there, I help people, I translate if they need something, I try to help them the best that I can. I’m always active here.

You’ve been vocal in your opposition to the current plan. What has this fight meant to you?

Being homeless has made me appreciate this home. The community means just as much. My home means the world to me. I earned this apartment. I suffered, my children suffered in that shelter, because that’s not a good place to be.

Would you say the community has grown closer or further apart because of these plans?

We’re being divided and we were never like that. We have always been a close community. 

I still have hope that [the demolition] isn’t going to happen. We have a lot of support from people from the neighborhood. Organizations are now getting together because they’re realizing they’re going to be affected too and the stores, everybody. 

Christmas is special because we came with nothing. We had a Charlie Brown tree. I’m not a person who takes anything for granted because you could lose everything tomorrow. I got very comfortable here. This is my home. I pay my rent. I just have good memories here.

My kids can afford to go to community college because we live in NYCHA. We get 30 percent off the cable because we live in NYCHA. People give us a break because of where we live. That helps people who are low-income. This helped us grow. 

What should the next chapter of Fulton look like, in your opinion?

The next chapter should be: leave it where it is. Just put in some more mom and pop stores, we need them again because you took them all away. Maybe a supermarket, but otherwise, I like the way it is. 

I’m not out here to harass anyone because they’re rich, no one harasses me because I’m low income. It shouldn’t make a difference. We all bleed the same blood.

That was the beginning of my chapter. In the ending of that chapter, I want to feel that security and happiness. I’ve been through so much in my life.

What are your thoughts on the proposal to tear down Fulton Houses and replace it with new buildings?

Who cares? I don’t need that. We have our little parks here. We have the community gym, the [recreation].  We have the Hudson River here. We have amenities at every corner.

I’m satisfied. I like walking or taking the bus to where I need to go. I don’t need a dishwasher. I don’t need a washer and dryer. I don’t need all this luxury that you’re offering. Just leave us alone. This is our home. Just leave us alone. 

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