“I know the lease says I have to go,” Harold Gregory says. “I can read.”
NYPD Retiree Getting The Boot From Morrisania Apartment
HAROLD GREGORY, 52, was sitting at a desk in his peeling, leaky three-bedroom apartment, in a squat city-owned building on a dreary block of Morrisania in the Bronx. “This building sometimes lacks heat and hot water,” he said, “but it’s better than dealing with a personal landlord.”
Mr. Gregory’s desire to stay put has made him a thorn in the city’s side. He is the first retired alumnus of an 11-year-old city program that waives income ceilings and waiting lists to allow New York City police officers to live in low-rent public housing, as long as they perform some community service and leave when they retire.
Therein lies the problem: Although Mr. Gregory retired as a sergeant in 2005, he still refuses to move out of his apartment, which he shares with his grown daughter and rents for $689 a month.
“I know the lease says I have to go,” said Mr. Gregory, a bulky man with a patience born of 22 years walking a beat. “I can read. But I’ve been respectable, and I’ve been a good citizen. Why should I have to go? All I did was retire honorably from my job. If I had a regular lease, I’d be allowed to stay.”
That argument has not persuaded city officials, who have been trying to evict Mr. Gregory for about a year, taking him to court and eventually sending marshals to his apartment. These officials point out that the program, which seeks to improve safety at public housing and help community relations, is explicitly limited by federal law to working police officers. Currently, 41 police officers live in public housing through the program.
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