By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2026-09-30 11:22:14 | Updated at 2026-09-30 12:25:50
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About 26 fiery elderly NYCHA residents are refusing to leave their homes at a Chelsea complex set for demolition — with one warning, “They’re gonna have to knock this building down with me in it.’’
The stubborn seniors in the elderly-only building — one of 17 residential structures comprising the Fulton-Elliot Houses in the center of the hip Manhattan neighborhood — are digging their heels in as the city moves to relocate them to make way for a $1.2 billion project to demolish and rebuild the entire complex.
“I’m not going anywhere!” declared defiant 67-year-old Doris Ruffin, who has lived in the Fulton-Elliot community since 2002.
“They’re gonna have to knock this building down with me in it,” she told The Post.
Ruffin, a former Columbia University and Yankee Stadium security guard, was diagnosed with cancer in 2020. The illness forced her to stop working — and has left her with zero kidney function, meaning she must get dialysis three times a week.
“At one point in time, I just gave up, and I said, ‘Whatever. If it happens, it happens,'” Ruffin said of when she initially learned of the demolition plans in 2021.
“But then I said to myself, ‘Why are you giving up so easy? You’re fighting cancer. You’re fighting with the dialysis. So why not fight for your home?’ ”
The city offered Ruffin a smaller NYCHA apartment in the complex until her new apartment is ready, around 2028 at the earliest.
But the elderly woman, who gets around with a walker, said the units she has been offered are much smaller and so narrow that she can’t fit her walker through them. She said she also has general safety concerns.
“It’s safe in this building,” she said of her current living situation. “In the other building that they wanted to send me to, that’s not safe at all.
“And not only that, the elevators just automatically open” in her current facility, she said. “And the other building has only one elevator, and you have to pull it open in order for it to open.”
The demolition of the Fulton-Elliot houses — part of a mega private-public housing partnership project set to begin this year — has been a contentious issue between City Hall, NYCHA residents and local activists since its initial proposal in 2021.
The current buildings were deemed in such disrepair that the city opted to enter a partnership with private developer Related Companies to demolish and rebuild the entire complex’s 2,056 units — with an additional 3,000 mixed-income and market-rate units to be added.
Related and the city have touted that 96% of the complex’s tenants won’t have to relocate until their brand-new units are finished – but the 4% who do have to move for the project to be complete include the senior-only building, Chelsea Addition.
“They thought they were vulnerable, and they thought they were dumb,” said anti-demolition advocate and Fulton Houses resident George Weaver, referring to city and developer officials and the elderly tenants.
“And let me tell you about them seniors: They’re well-organized, and they’re not dumb,” he said of his neighbors.
A NYCHA rep said that because of the “substantial population” of seniors in other larger buildings, relocating all those in the Chelsea Addition made more sense.
But Yu Story, an 80-year-old tenant in Ruffin’s building who enjoys a spacious and modern one-bedroom apartment, balked at notion she was going anywhere.
Story said the current senior building is so safe and close-knit that most of the neighbors don’t even worry about locking their doors.
She has lived in the local community for more than 20 years and moved into the senior building after witnessing a gun fight in 2023 in a different building.
“My building is very solid, the bedroom and living room are wide,” Story said.
“Why do you want to demolish here? Why do you want to demolish the beauty? You just fix it.”
NYCHA issued initial 90-day notices to the tenants of Chelsea Addition in July 2025, warning them of their upcoming mandatory relocation.
Both Ruffin and Story claimed they have received multiple threatening notices from NYCHA since.
Tenants have the right to a full hearing before an impartial hearing officer ahead of their lease being terminated, a move that has yet to happen. Chelsea Addition is slated for demolition as soon as all of the remaining tenants have moved out.
A formal eviction notice granted to NYCHA would give law enforcement the right to physically remove tenants.
A representative for Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the administration continues to support the development because the “NYCHA tenants support safe and healthy homes and the investment that his been denied to public housing for far too long.
“For decades, the federal government — under both Democratic and Republican administrations — has systematically starved public housing of the resources it needs,” spokesman Matt Rauschenbach told The Post.
“Without the additional resources made available through Section 8 conversions under PACT and the Preservation Trust, there is no viable path to making the comprehensive repairs that NYCHA residents across the five boroughs need and deserve.”
All of the tenants and advocates the Post spoke with of the buildings argue that independent studies have shown the buildings are structurally sound and are only need of renovations.
A rep for NYCHA said the group is still working with Chelsea Addition residents who need to relocate.
