Message from the President

Vladeck Houses is enriched ethnically, culturally, and diversity, with over three generations of families. We have one resident who has lived here for 65 years. This is a community of family, we are proud of our community and work together as a family to make it a safe environment to live in.
Special Programs:
Henry Street Good Companions,
NORC,
Food and Nutrion Program,
Food Chain Program located at PS 134

History of Vladeck Houses

Vladeck Houses was named after B. Charney Vladeck who was an original member of the newly established New York City Housing Authority signed on January 20, 1934 by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.

September 10, 1939: Construction began on Vladeck Houses, the first city-aided housing development. City leads the way in creating federal, state and city legislative mechanisms to develop and manage public housing.
Vladeck Houses is compromised of 6 story dwellings, with 1468 apartments.

Monthly Story

When Hau Tang Tom's English-speaking husband died in 1993, she was left without anyone to translate her mail. Now, at 71, the retired chef and factory seamstress brings her letters to case managers with a social service program right in her public housing development. They help her identify and handle any mail that could affect her Medicare and Social Security benefits. Like the program at Vladeck Houses, they were formed to expand on the social and day-care activities offered by traditional senior centers.
But when staffers at Vladeck first posted signs in several languages to advertise their services to the over 800 seniors who live there, the response was disappointing.
Many seniors could not read the signs. So the staff developed solutions tailored to their particular community. Some began advertising the program door-to-door. Others, finding many seniors weren't leaving their apartments, sought to draw them into group activities.
There was one group of ''macho guys,'' who ''wouldn't come in for anything.''
So a case manager asked Cruz Torres, a retired taxi driver from Puerto Rico, if he would be willing to start a dominoes game in the senior lunchroom. Three years later, Torres, who is 67, says he has not missed a single day of the six-day-a-week game. ''We're just killing time,'' Torres said of the 10 to 16 men who play for over four hours each day. ''We don't have no other place to go. We might as well come here.'' ''It's a therapy for us,'' he says. ''It relieves stress. It relieves anxiety. It gives you something to do instead of being home, crammed up against four walls.''
But Fischer credits the game with improving the nutrition of the men, since they often come first for lunch, which on a recent day included roast beef, mashed potatoes, carrots, peas, pineapple juice and grapefruit, all for $1. And Torres says it was only after the game began that he started going to the office for help.
''As people age, many lose the social connections they've had,'' ''These programs have helped create the reweaving of the social fabric in a community. ... They've helped enable seniors to remain living in their own homes.''
Marcela Fernandez, 72, doesn't attend the birthday parties or outings or computer classes her program offers. Instead, she relies on the staff for help with the essentials. ''God would find a way to send me someone to help me,'' Fernandez said. ''I don't know how to advocate for myself.''

Email us:
VladeckTA@aol.com