When Eliezer Hernandez moved into an apartment at Evergreen Gardens with his girlfriend this past December, he didn’t expect one of their two bathrooms to become a room he tried to keep closed due to fears for their safety.
This is just one of many stories of families living in conditions cited in a state audit released Jan. 16 by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, which found mold, water damage and other hazardous conditions at Evergreen Gardens, a Mitchell-Lama development in Soundview.
Dark mold covered parts of the walls and ceiling, he said, even after management scraped at it. Hernandez scrubbed the bathtub himself and tried to convince his girlfriend to stop using the bathroom altogether and use the one next to it instead.
She refused in hopes the issue will soon be resolved. Hernandez said she has since developed breathing problems, particularly when she forgets to keep the bathroom door closed after using it. Now, when he asks her to go in quickly, come out as soon as she can and keep the door shut behind her.
“So we have to keep these bathroom doors closed at all times in order for the breathing not to affect us,” Hernandez said.
The two buildings at 950 and 955 Evergreen Ave., contain 357 units and are operated by Nelson Management under city supervision. Hernandez is one of several residents who say the conditions cited in the audit persist make their apartments challenging to live in.
The audit documented exterior holes that could allow pests to enter the buildings, along with widespread water damage, cracked plaster and mold in apartments and common areas. Auditors also cited safety issues, including doors that did not self-close and smoke alarms in need of maintenance.
According to Hernandez, management responded to his girlfriend’s complaints by scraping and plastering the bathroom walls, but the repairs did not last.
“They scraped it off and then they plastered it and got like that again,” he said. “That plaster just bubbled up as soon as that guy left.”
Hernandez, who is HVAC certified, said he recognized the smell of mold immediately and worried about the effects of continued exposure.
Moving is not a realistic option, Hernandez explained. He is not on the lease, and relocating would be complicated and expensive.
Dee Clark, who has lived at Evergreen Gardens for about a decade, hasn’t observed organic growth in his apartment, but said rats are a persistent problem around the property.
“When I say rats, I mean rats,” Clark said. “They run around here like little puppies.”
Mona Park, who has lived at Evergreen Gardens for nearly 50 years, said what troubles her the most about management is a lack of urgency and concern when residents report basic maintenance problems.
Park recently went nearly two weeks without a working refrigerator, even after repeatedly asking that the issue be treated as an emergency. During the same period, she was also waiting for repairs to a clogged bathroom drain.
“I said, ‘Please don’t let me go through the weekend without a refrigerator,’” Park said. “I asked them to treat it as an emergency, and no one got back to me.”
Under Nelson Management’s ownership, tenants have to submit requests through an app, a system Park described as unreliable and stressful, particularly when staff fail to follow up.
“They don’t return phone calls, and they don’t get back to you,” she said. “If they don’t have to respond, they won’t.”
After dumping her fridge contents, leaving some outside and trying to salvage what was left, Park was given an old working refrigerator by the building superintendent, a solution she appreciated but said should not have taken so long.
“It shouldn’t take that much effort just to get basic help,” she said.
Park wishes she could leave Evergreen Gardens but is afraid she cannot afford to do so.
“I wouldn’t be here if I had the money to move,” she said. “I’m stuck.”
In a statement to the Bronx Times, a spokesperson for Nelson Management said the company has made “tremendous progress on capital improvements” since taking over the property in 2021, after what it described as years of neglect by prior owners.
The spokesperson said additional upgrades are planned, but that not all work can be completed at once.
The on-site property manager declined to comment. While reporting at the complex, a Bronx Times reporter was removed from the property multiple times by the property manager and was followed by security while attempting to speak with residents.
State Comptroller DiNapoli said resident accounts underscore why the audit focused on on-the-ground conditions.
“Every resident in a Mitchell-Lama home deserves a safe and habitable apartment,” DiNapoli told the Bronx Times in a statement.
“Some of the conditions we observed were hazardous. Poor oversight and management allowed these conditions to fester for too long and must be addressed promptly and responsibly.”
The comptroller said his office has required the city’s housing agency to report back within 180 days on how it plans to implement the audit’s recommendations and that his office will return in about a year to assess whether conditions have improved.
Hernandez said he doesn’t believe cosmetic repairs are enough.
“They have to find where the leak is coming from and fix everything — not just one apartment,” he said. “If they don’t, it’s just going to keep happening.”
After management’s plaster repair bubbled, Hernandez said he has considered tearing out the damaged walls himself — not as a solution, but as a last resort to force more permanent repairs.
“Life in the Bronx, man,” he said. “You gotta be patient and you gotta be wary of how you live — because even if you have your own comfortable house, it can kill you.”
Kylie Clifton is a contributing writer at the Bronx Times and a data journalism student at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She can be reached at kylie.clifton23@gmail.com or (269) 615-0800. For more coverage, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and
