NYCHA removes asbestos from Marcy Houses after steam leak

Residents of the Marcy Houses complex in Bedford-Stuyvesant have lived with heat outages and health concerns for weeks following a steam leak that left residue on exterior walls. The New York City Housing Authority announced on Thursday that it has finished removing the asbestos found at 502 and 504 Marcy Avenue.

NYCHA and the Department of Environmental Protection inspected the site on Thursday after receiving complaints from residents. The leak caused four buildings to lose heat and hot water. Officials restored service to those structures around 11:30 p.m. on Thursday, with the remaining five affected buildings receiving heat and water shortly after midnight.

Four of the 23 households living near the contaminated walls relocated until October 31, while one additional family moved in with relatives. The city installed 24 air monitors in apartments along the affected wall. All monitors tested negative for asbestos on Friday. Similar tests in the daycare, management office, and the exteriors of Buildings 4 and 17 also returned negative results.

The Department of Environmental Protection has completed cleanup of the sidewalk, parked cars, and building facade, though work in the courtyard remains unfinished. NYCHA spokesperson Andrew Sklar stated that air monitoring of exterior areas will continue until remediation is complete. He noted that all test results to date, both interior and exterior, have been negative for asbestos.

Residents have already received notices regarding the negative test results. The office of Mayor Zohran Mamdani did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the situation.