Former United States Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Kate Ragazzino, a resident of Rockaway Park, Queens, is finally getting her day in court.
Last year, we reported that Ragazzino had been engaged in a long-running dispute with her management company following a fire that devastated her Mitchell-Lama housing complex at Dayton Towers.
According to Ragazzino, the ordeal began on January 3, 2022.
“A fire broke out in our building. My home was left unlivable from smoke and water damage, and I was displaced for more than a year,” she said. “To the best of my knowledge, the damage to my unit, and at least three others, was never reported to HPD by the building’s management. Only the apartment where the fire started ever received an official vacate order, and that order remains in effect today, more than four years later. The other damaged units received no inspection, no oversight, and no accountability.”
“I came home to an apartment where many repairs were still undone, and I have been fighting ever since, mostly alone, representing myself in court.”
Ragazzino, a community activist who volunteers with numerous organizations serving veterans, seniors, and people with disabilities, says she has spent a considerable amount of her own money fighting a case that she believes should have been resolved years ago.
After the fire, she says all she wanted was to have the repairs completed so she could return home and continue with her life. Instead, she alleges that the management company delayed or moved too slowly in addressing the necessary repairs.
More recently, Ragazzino said she attempted to settle the matter if the remaining repairs were completed properly and hazardous conditions corrected. She claims some repairs were performed improperly and that years of neglect following the fire have only worsened the situation.
Ragazzino, who deployed two times overseas with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (SOC) Special Operations Capable from 2001-2002 and 2003-2004, said that overseas she knew who the enemy was. At home, she says, the battle is much different.
“You have ownership that’s indifferent at best, management companies that don’t report, agencies that don’t inspect, and a system of protections that is routinely ignored and manipulated to favor those in power,” she said.
As a disabled combat veteran, Ragazzino says the toll has been both emotional and physical.
“I am living with lasting effects of my service-connected brain injury, and the stress of these past several years has set my health back badly,” she said.
“This summer, years of hard-won progress were lost when my partial paralysis returned. I was recently in Boston, Massachusetts, participating in a veteran’s clinical program and receiving intensive cognitive therapy, working to rebuild functions I had already struggled to regain through years of treatment. My doctors have given me strict orders to rest. But the fight over my home has been relentless and unforgiving, and rest has been almost impossible while defending myself in court and advocating for others.”
She added, “I’m supposed to be resting and recovering. Instead, I’m fighting for a safe place to live. No disabled veteran, in fact nobody at all, should have to choose between their health and their home.”
Ragazzino says she is asking for two things.
First, she is calling for greater oversight of Mitchell-Lama housing developments and the management companies that oversee them.
“I’m calling on the Mayor’s administration and its housing agencies to investigate negligent property owners and management companies in Mitchell-Lama buildings, starting with what happened in mine,” she said.
Second, Ragazzino is seeking legal assistance.
“I have a Housing Court trial on June 18, and I’m still without representation,” she said. “If there are attorneys or veterans’ organizations out there who stand with disabled veterans, I need that help now, and so do others like me.”
Ragazzino, who regularly advocates for others, now finds herself advocating for her own safety and housing.
“This stopped being just about my apartment a long time ago,” she said. “What happened to me is happening across the Mitchell-Lama system and across public housing. I decided that if I had to live through it, I was going to document it and bring it into the light for everyone it’s hurting.”
Those interested in supporting Ragazzino can contribute to her GoFundMe campaign to assist with the financial burden of fighting the case. She says she has exhausted much of her savings trying to protect her home.
When asked what keeps her going, Ragazzino pointed to the values she learned in the military.
“The Marine Corps taught me you never leave anyone behind,” she said. “Then I came home and watched the housing system leave veterans behind every single day.”
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