On your court date, the NYCHA attorney and your housing assistant will want to talk to you about the case and try to make an agreement about what needs to be repaired and when NYCHA will do it. The more you prepare ahead of time, the less intimidating this will seem.
You should bring copies of all the photos you have taken, copies of your HP action documents, and a list of all ticket numbers. This is important because you have to show that you told NYCHA about the conditions in the apartment before starting a court case.
If you feel as though you are not being heard, or you are being asked to sign something that does not address your complaints, you can ask to meet with the court attorney. The court attorney is NOT your attorney. He or she works for the court and can mediate between you and NYCHA. If that does not work, you can request to speak with the judge directly.
If you and the NYCHA attorney agree on the repairs, the attorney will write up the agreement in a stipulation. Make sure the stipulation is clearly written and lists each repair. Include access dates for NYCHA workers to make those repairs. Make sure the agreement says who to call or what to do if no one shows up on the access dates.
Sometimes the handwriting in the stipulation is unreadable and the words are too technical and hard to understand. You can ask for the terms to be re-written so that you will be able to read and understand the agreement when you get home.