Anita Hack cared for her Queens house for more than three decades, establishing a foothold for her multi-generational family in the city — even as the house repeatedly flooded over the years.
Now, that house is no more, demolished on city orders after floods in August compromised its stability.
With their major asset gone and many of their belongings lost, the family might also be on the hook for the cost of the demolition.
“We bought this house 34 years ago,” said Hack, a retiree who lived in the house with her husband, two of her brothers and one of their spouses, her daughter and two grandchildren. “Now we have nowhere to go.”
As dire as the situation is for the Hack family, flood-prone Hollis has seen worse. Two people died in basements during Hurricane Ida in 2021. This spring, Mayor Zohran Mamdani visited the neighborhood after 46 inches of floodwater accumulated on the same block where those deaths took place.
Though there have been sewer upgrades in the neighborhood, residents continue to reckon with the aftermath of severe floods, and there are no concrete plans in place to permanently relocate them.
The city has floated offering buyouts to residents in the neighborhood, a form of climate adaptation known as managed retreat. But in the meantime, some residents are retreating in an unmanaged way: evacuating their damaged homes or tapping into their savings to move out of the neighborhood in the midst of a housing crisis.
Though Hack’s family sought to save their home, contractors hired by the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development demolished the house after inspectors found the building had moved since the flood and could collapse.
Demolition began Saturday. By Wednesday, workers clad in personal protection gear removed the outer walls of the second floor. By Thursday morning, a pile of rubble remained, and by the afternoon, there was a hole in the ground.
Hack and her family first stayed with other family members in Ozone Park, and on Tuesday evening moved into a hotel in Flushing, where they can stay for a month.
HPD spokesperson Kim Moscaritolo in an email said the “billing for the demolition has not been finalized yet,” but did not respond to follow-up questions about whether she meant the amount of the bill or who would pay.
Family members — who haven’t been living in the home since a May flood caused damage they had to repair — aren’t sure about what’s on the horizon.
“We have no idea what to plan for,” said Jennifer Mooklal, Hack’s daughter. “We worked 34 years, we bought a house, we lived in it, we built it, we fixed it, we built a life — for you to come and take our house, then who becomes responsible for it now? We do? Where are we gonna find $500,000 or $600,000 to go build back a house on retired people’s income?”
Hack and Mooklal created fundraisers to possibly rebuild their home. But that’s a tricky prospect in their neighborhood, which sits atop a former pond.
City Vacate Orders
The Department of Buildings issued a vacate order for Hack’s house on Aug. 20, after inspectors found a foundation wall had partially collapsed as a result of flooding, which left the house structurally unstable. The next day, the DOB ordered the family to come up with plans to stabilize the house or demolish it, as Gothamist first reported. By Aug. 24, the DOB endorsed demolishing the house, which began on Saturday, Sept. 5.
The Hack family hired engineers to come up with plans in the hopes of saving the house, but the DOB rejected them.
“My son had been working so hard with contractors, engineers and everything,” Hack said. “They have denied everything.”
In an email, DOB spokesperson Andrew Rudansky said plans submitted were either incomplete or would put workers at risk.
“Public safety is our top priority, and DOB has taken emergency actions in the interest of protecting our fellow New Yorkers, including issuing an Immediate Emergency Order for full demolition of the unstable structure,” Rudansky wrote in an email.
DOB also issued a vacate order for the house next door, too, since it could be affected if the Hacks’ home collapsed. Reached by phone, one of the residents asked to be texted, and then did not respond to messages.
Before the demolition, contractors gave the family some of their belongings, such as religious items and china, stored in bins on the first floor, as well as photographs from the walls. But much of their clothes, bags, gold jewelry, TVs and a video game system remained inside on the second floor. Though DOB said the family was allowed inside on Saturday under the supervision of an engineer, Mooklal said that no one was allowed in.
Mooklal said she had to rebuy school supplies for her kids, ages 10 and 7, in time for them to start school Thursday.
“It’s not cheap, and, you know, New York City schools, they ask for the world,” she said. “Clorox, Bounty, this, that, all their books, pencils. I had to go back out and get everything all over again.”
Buyouts Not on Offer
The Aug. 20 flood, where flood sensors showed the waters reaching two feet high, was not the first or the worst flooding this year for the Hollis block. Rainfall on May 20, caused more than 46 inches of flood water at the intersection, and Mamdani stopped by the Hacks’ house.
Mooklal said the May floodwaters reached her first floor, taking out the hot water tank and boiler. They lost their dining room table, couches, shoes and pots and pans. Even the fridge and the stove took on water. The family moved out and planned to repair the floors in time for the kids to go back to school.
Then flooding struck again on Aug. 20. The water didn’t rise above the basement but did damage the new hot water tank and boiler.
The Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice has been asking residents if they’d be interested in selling their homes to the government. Such a program in Hollis remains theoretical, as there is no funding, though some local residents are in talks with elected officials to try to secure it.
“The buyout has been in conversation for a long time. Is the buyout something that has ever stuck? It goes into conversation and it stops,” Mooklal said.
Linda Shi, a Cornell University professor who studies urban climate adaptation, noted that situations the family finds themselves in is partly why some jurisdictions, including New Jersey, have standing buyout programs.
“This allows them to purchase ahead of a federal disaster declaration, or even ahead of a disaster at all, such as when a seller is finally willing to sell to the government,” Shi wrote in an email. “Having a standing program also allows governments to respond quickly, as in the case of an urgent demolition.”
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