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Election Turmoil at Elliott-Chelsea Houses As NYCHA Delays Certification after Insurgent’s Narrow Win

On the day of the vote for the president of the Elliott-Chelsea housing complex, it appeared insurgent candidate Renee Keitt had eked out a razor thin victory over longtime incumbent Darlene Waters. But NYCHA has delayed certification after Waters says there were irregularities.

Chelsea /
| 10 Jan 2025 | 03:05
    A Spanish language flyer distributed prior to the election for president of the Elliott-Chelsea Houses Tenants Association gave the wrong date. It did not clear who produced the flyer but it did say, in Spanish ”Let’s say no to the demolition of our homes.”
    A Spanish language flyer distributed prior to the election for president of the Elliott-Chelsea Houses Tenants Association gave the wrong date. It did not clear who produced the flyer but it did say, in Spanish ”Let’s say no to the demolition of our homes.” ( Photo: Flyer)
    Darelene Waters, the longtime president of the Elliott-Chelsea Tenants Association said a flyer distributed before the Jan. 2 election gave the wrong date for the election she says forced some tenants to show up on the wrong day. She wants NYCHA to hold a new election.
    Darelene Waters, the longtime president of the Elliott-Chelsea Tenants Association said a flyer distributed before the Jan. 2 election gave the wrong date for the election she says forced some tenants to show up on the wrong day. She wants NYCHA to hold a new election. ( Photo: Citizens Housing Planning Council)
    Insurgent candidate Renee Keitt said she won a narrow four-vote victory on Jan. 2 because tenants in the Elliott-Chelsea Housing complex objected to a $1.9 billion plan by the city to tear down and rebuild the complex.
    Insurgent candidate Renee Keitt said she won a narrow four-vote victory on Jan. 2 because tenants in the Elliott-Chelsea Housing complex objected to a $1.9 billion plan by the city to tear down and rebuild the complex. ( Photo: Renee Keitt campaign)

The longtime leader of the tenant association at Elliott-Chelsea Houses, defeated for reelection by four votes, has demanded a new election, saying her opponents distributed a false date for the balloting to suppress voting.

“This intentional dissemination of incorrect information is deeply concerning as it appears to have been a deliberate effort to confuse voters and reduce turnout on the actual election day,” wrote Darlene Waters, who lost the tenant association presidency to Renee Keitt by a vote of 70-to-66 at the tenants meeting on January 2.

That of course is a tiny fraction of the thousands of residents in the 20-building complex. In a letter of protest to the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), Waters claimed that part of the reason for the low turnout was that her opponents distributed a flyer saying the vote was January 3, not, as was the case, January 2d.

The flyer was written in Spanish. It urged a vote for Renee Keitt and her running mates, although it did not say specifically who had produced it. ”Let’s say no to the demolition of our homes,” the flyer said.

“Security staff reported that on January 3, 2025, several residents arrived with the incorrect flyer, intending to vote,” Waters wrote in her protest, a copy of which was obtained by Straus News.

The fight over the election result is of significance far beyond the Elliot-Chelsea houses, a more than 50-year-old public housing campus that runs from 25th street to 30th street through what has in recent years become some of Manhattan’s priciest real estate.

The project, as with much of New York’s public housing, is plagued by deterioration and deferred maintenance. With a price tag to repair all public housing running into the billions, Mayor Adams has sought to make Elliott-Chelsea Houses a model for a new approach as the city tries to get out of the landlord business and turn it over to private developers.

Under this approach, a private development team lead by Related, the developers of the nearby Hudson Yards, would demolish the present campus and rebuild it as a mix of low-income, middle income and luxury apartments. There would be many more apartments, in total, in the same footprint.

Waters has been a strong proponent of the project. Her opponent, Renee Keitt, opposes the redevelopment and made that a central plank in her campaign to unseat Waters.

She has portrayed her apparent victory as a rejection of the project.

While the tenant’s association does not have a direct veto, the city and the developers have made tenant support a key part of their argument to go forward. It is unclear how the project would ultimately be reshaped if Keitt prevails in unseating Waters.

Keitt said she had not seen the protest and could not comment but had said earlier she won the Jan. 2 election because tenants do not support the teardown and rebuild plan.

After Waters filed her protest, NYCHA said it was delaying the certification of the election while the allegations were reviewed.

Federal regulations from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which funds public housing, require “fair and frequent elections of resident council members.” The local Housing Authority, in this case NYCHA, is responsible for overseeing the election and investigating any “failure to satisfy HUD minimum standards.”

Waters asked NYCHA to declare the vote invalid “due to voter disenfranchisement” and schedule a new election.

“The deliberate posting of flyers with the wrong date undermines the democratic process and disenfranchises residents who wish to participate in electing their representatives,” Waters wrote.