The president of a Bronx tenant council has resigned after being accused of abusing her position by using housing authority staff as her personal assistants while she lorded over them in a revealing pink nightgown.
Monique Johnson has stepped down from her role as president of the Throggs Neck Tenant Association after reportedly demanding New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) staff clean her home, take out her trash, pick up her groceries, style her hair and fluff up her wigs, New York City Housing Authority‘s interim vice president and general counsel, David Rohde, stated in a letter to Johnson in May, according to the New York Post. In one instance, Rhode further claimed that Johnson forced an NYCHA official to clean her apartment while she looked on, wearing a revealing pink nightgown “the entire time”. (RELATED: NYC Housing Project Sees Four Shot In Broad Daylight)
“NYCHA is notifying you that these Code of Conduct violations are unacceptable, constitute grounds for removal from Office, and further, it has determined that you are, in fact, no longer eligible to serve as President of the Throggs Neck Tenant Association,” Rohde wrote to Johnson in May, according to the outlet.
A little news from the Throggs Neck hearing. This was the second time that tenant leader Monique Johnson was proved by DOI. NYCHA apparently never acted after asking for the first probe in 2013. pic.twitter.com/ra7H2xYTO5
— Nolan Hicks (@ndhapple) March 14, 2019
Investigations into Johnson’s alleged misconduct have been ongoing since 2013.
In 2019, an investigation had determined that the Throggs Neck Tenants Association – specifically Johnson, had “for years inappropriately diverted NYCHA staff time and funding for Tenants Association purposes,” Department of Investigation (DOI) officials determined, according to an earlier report by the New York Post. Her alleged actions “thus [deprived] other Throggs Neck tenants of needed resources,” the DOI officials continued.
The 2019 investigation into Johnson’s misconduct also found that the former tenant president “routinely” pressured Throggs Neck managers and staff for special treatment, “including performing renovations in her own apartment and the [TA] office … and enlisted Bronx Borough managers to instruct development staff to follow her direction,” the investigators found.
Despite multiple investigations finding misconduct, Johnson remained in her position until her decision to step aside in the wake of Rohde’s letter, though Johnson told the New York Post she had not received it.
When the NYCHA was asked to comment on Johnson’s resignation, they reportedly told the New York Post that Rohde’s letter “speaks for itself.”