Monica Makes It Happen: Mother of 4 needs repairs to go back home for the holidays

HARLEM, Manhattan (PIX11) -- A Harlem mother of four reached out to PIX11 News for help, wanting to go home for the holidays.

Ramonita Orengo said she had been out of her apartment for weeks, waiting for New York City to complete repairs.

Orengo loves the holidays. She sent PIX11 a video of her last year, decorations and plenty of cheer inside her NYCHA apartment. Now, her apartment, she said, looks like a construction zone. This year, she’s waiting on repairs and staying at a nearby hotel. 

Orengo said there is no place like home for the holidays. She said her life was turned upside down when a pipe burst in August, and then in October, she said crews told her she needed to relocate to a hotel until repairs were complete.

That was Oct. 25, and she said she wanted to go home.

Orengo understands that work needs to be done and it takes time, but she is a new grandma and just wants to go home.

Orengo is staying at a nearby hotel, thanks to NYCHA. The uncertainty is weighing on this mother of four, so she hoped PIX11 News could get her answers before the holidays.

PIX11 News reached out to NYCHA about Orengo’s repairs.

An NYCHA spokesperson said:

NYCHA staff have completed lead abatement in this unit and were in the process of plastering when an active leak was discovered, which has since been traced and repaired. Repairs will now resume to prepare the apartment for re-occupancy as soon as early December.