Renee Keitt, Chelsea activist fights to save her NYCHA community

At first glance one might not suspect that Renee Keitt is a prominent New York City community organizer, housing activist, and urban agriculturalist. Soft spoken and seemingly shy, one might take her for a poet or a social worker. But within her slight frame resides a deep understanding of the struggles of the underdog, especially when it comes to the politics of housing.

In a recent interview with the Star-Revue, the Tenant Association President of NYCHA’s Elliott-Chelsea Houses, Renee Keitt, recounted her early childhood days, growing up in a community where everyone looked out for each other: older kids watching the younger ones, sometimes offering bike-riding lessons, playdates in the courtyards and assisting neighbors during times of crisis.

“Within the building, within the floor, they’re all little communities, and everyone looks after each other,” said Keitt, recalling a time when neighbors banded together and cleaned out hose water in her building following a devastating fire.

This sense of community, Keitt said, is threatened by NYCHA’s desire to tear down the storied housing complex, rebuild it with the inclusion of market rate housing and turn over the keys to private management. While NYCHA and the PACT partners chosen to redevelop the property, Essence Development and Related Companies, have their eyes on demolition, Keitt and her neighbors have spent almost seven years building momentum against them.

Chelsea tenants filed suit against NYCHA, demanding a preliminary injunction against the demo plan and a public review process before getting the stamp of approval. In June, an appeals court extended the temporary restraining order placed against the project. For now, this TRO was lifted by the First judicial department of the New York State Appellate Court (see related story page 20).

“Right now, how we continue to organize is to talk to our tenants; make sure Chelsea Addition and Fulton 11 feel supported,” said Keitt, mentioning the buildings where elderly tenants are holding out against eviction notices, in order to make way for demolition. “Without them willing to stay in their apartments and fight, we’d be in deep trouble.”

Critical of the Mayor
Keitt of course, felt strongly about Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pro-PACT stance.

“The mayor shouldn’t be putting any money into PACT, they should be putting money into Section 9 – that’s where the funds should go,” said Keitt.

While PACT allows NYCHA to unlock federal dollars for renovations, the City aims to boost engagement opportunities with PACT developments post-conversion. In the program’s decade-long run, several converted developments have reported a lack of tenant engagement with their respective PACT partners.

Keitt said she has suspicions about the high rate of NYCHA vacancies, believing they’re intentionally high to make way for demolitions. A report from the New York City Council notes the number of vacant apartments doubled from around 3,000 in December 2022 to more than 6,000 in February 2026.

The lifelong Elliott-Chelsea resident questioned whether the city actually manages NYCHA, comparing the question of management to debates over whether the city or state is responsible for the subway system.

“Nobody really takes responsibility or accountability,” said Keitt, adding that NYCHA executive leadership should have more tenant representation. “You just stand there and tell people that they’re going to go into RAD/PACT, and they’re supposed to take it — you’re making decisions with people without consultation. Nobody asked us.”

Renee was interviewed recently on Mimi Rosenberg’s WBAI radio program where she spoke further about housing in America.

“The commodification and the continual selling people’s homes and stealing people’s homes seems to be as American as apple pie. It’s the way this country started and continues to be. So we’ve got to get out of the old habits and start again…

“Until we can have a mind shift, not just some of us but all of us, and stop selling each other out and over, we’re not going to get anywhere. It’s like we’re hitting our head against a brick wall.”