Cindy Rodriguez

New York, NY —

Sen. Charles Schumer says developers took out risky loans to purchase dozens of affordable housing complexes across the city. He's asking the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate what housing advocates say were lax lending practices. Schumer says the owners mistakenly predicted they could raise ...

New York, NY —

Here's a sign that the construction boom is slowing. The line of men waiting for a free warm meal on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens keeps getting longer. The men, nearly all of them Latino, say they are struggling to find work. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports.

New York, NY —

The head of the New York City Housing Authority is leaving to take the helm of Samaritan Village, a substance abuse agency he worked for in the past.

REPORTER: Tino Hernandez has been the authority's chairman for seven years. He leaves during a time of job ...

New York, NY —

The head of the city's sprawling public housing system is leaving to take another job. Tino Hernandez served as the Housing Authority's chairman for seven years and will soon lead a substance abuse program called Samaritan Village. His departure comes as public housing faces a ...

New York, NY —

The city's Administration for Children's Services faces a $62 million deficit and it says it has no choice but to begin cutting subsidized child care slots. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports.

REPORTER: ACS says over the past eight years child care costs have risen, while state and ...

New York, NY —

Everyday, construction workers pour concrete hundreds of feet in the air, cranes hover overhead and familiar views of the sky disappear. Since 2003, the city has been experiencing a historic building boom. Development hasn't been this high for 30 years.

But that prosperity has come at ...

New York, NY —

Construction safety has become all the more important over the past five years, as housing production reached numbers never seen since the city began keeping records in the 1960s. Yet so far this year, 27 construction workers have died on the job. Yesterday, WNYC began ...

New York, NY —

Twenty-seven construction workers have died on the job this year, and a slowing economy may not do a whole lot to solve this problem.

REPORTER: For the past nine months, WNYC reporters Cindy Rodriguez and Matthew Schuerman have been investigating the downside of the city’s building ...

New York, NY —

Every day, construction workers pour concrete 400 feet in the air, cranes hover overhead and familiar views of the sky disappear. Since 2003, the city has been experiencing a historic building boom. Development hasn’t been this high for 30 years.

But that prosperity has come ...

New York, NY —

The Paterson administration is taking some heat from child advocates. They're offended by a new fee the state is charging when it helps single parents collect child support. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports.

REPORTER: The $25 annual fee is required by the federal government. New York State ...

New York, NY —

Advocates for low-income New Yorkers are bashing city programs aimed at getting welfare recipients into paying jobs, saying they don't work.

A new report from the group "Community Voices Heard" says only 9 percent of welfare applicants find jobs through the programs...and 75 percent lose them ...

New York, NY —

A child abuse case that led to an overhaul of the city's child welfare system has come to a close.

Nixzaliz Santiago, mother of 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown, was sentenced to up to 43 years in prison yesterday. That's about 14 more years than her husband Cesar ...

New York, NY —

Federal immigration officials say a crackdown on illegal immigrants is leading to more arrests and deportations in New York and New Jersey. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports.

REPORTER: In New Jersey, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported more than 4100 people during the last budget year. That's ...

New York, NY —

The cash-strapped New York City Housing Authority plans to transfer its social service programs to four city agencies. The first phase is supposed to save NYCHA roughly $20 million. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez has more.

The move means 18 community centers will be closed within two months ...

New York, NY —

The City Housing Authority has suspended an elevator maintenance team at an East Harlem Housing Complex. This, after a woman fell about 10 feet down an elevator shaft.

Yolanda Joyce, 28, landed on her side and back after stepping into the empty elevator shaft at the ...

New York, NY —

According to Covenant House, from January to September more than 100 young moms with dozens of kids showed up asking for help, after city officials told them they were too young to access the shelter system.

City Councilman Lewis Fidler held a hearing on the issue ...

New York, NY —

The New York City Housing Authority plans to spend $107 million to replace more than 500 aging elevators.

This comes in the wake of several accidents, including the death of a 5-year-old boy who fell down a shaft trying to escape a stalled elevator at a ...

New York, NY —

A Brooklyn mother accused of killing her 11-year-old daughter was arraigned inside a Brooklyn court room yesterday. Florencia Vasquez is facing second degree murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez has more.

REPORTER: Prosecutors say the mother had been beating her daughter, Alejandra ...

New York, NY —

The New York City Housing Authority has begun to rent out 8,400 public housing apartments to tenants with Section 8 housing vouchers.

The move to Section 8 status means federal funds will cover the cost of the apartments, which have been unfunded for years, but critics ...

New York, NY —

Florencia Vasquez faces murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges. Police say the 36-year-old gave a videotaped statement and admitted to striking the child. Her court appointed attorney Anthony Baratta says the girl did not die at the hands of her mother, but rather from ...