Tenant says unfixed leak, ceiling collapse forced her to flee Canarsie apartment

A Brooklyn woman is blaming her landlord after she says she was forced to evacuate her apartment following a collapsed ceiling.

News 12 Staff

Jul 21, 2021, 11:37 PM

Updated 1,241 days ago

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A Brooklyn woman is blaming her landlord after she says she was forced to evacuate her apartment following a collapsed ceiling.
The woman, Nadine, tells News 12 that after living in a shelter for a year while apartment searching, she felt liberated to move into her new place. However, Nadine says that blissful feeling quickly turned into a nightmare.
The Canarsie mom says her last straw came when an ongoing leak led to her bathroom ceiling falling down.
“Sometimes you would be in there and you would feel things falling on you,” says Nadine. “You would look up and realize there’s debris falling. Yesterday was the most that I've ever seen where it's like, on the floor, in the toilet, knocked over stuff."
She and her 9-year-old daughter, who is asthmatic, were tasked with moving out because mold began to grow.
"I can't be here anymore. I have to just come in, check the mail and leave. I can't take a shower, can't do anything,” says the tenant.
News 12 attempted to contact her landlord, who is listed on tax records as Glenford Stewart, but two of the numbers were out of service and a third produced an ongoing ring. An email address News 12 located was also invalid. Nadine says the last time she saw Stewart was in March.
"He's like, 'Yeah, I have a headache…I'll be back.’ I haven't seen him since,” says Nadine.
Since the Canarsie woman is a CityFHEPS voucher recipient under the city’s Housing Preservation and Development Department, moving is difficult. Nadine would need to find an approved apartment, and at the moment she says praying is the only thing helping her move forward.
News 12 is told the city’s Housing Preservation and Development contacted Nadine and said an inspector would come by Thursday to check out the concern.
News 12 reached out to the Housing Preservation and Development for a statement, but has not yet heard back.