Crack Down on Neglected Buildings

The bill further requires that HPD shall assess the costs of repair and actions needed to make property habitable and safe and assign a communi- ty based housing corporation to manage the repair process for a fee. Financing of the repairs shall be made possible by a p ersonal income tax revenue bond authorized by the New York state housing finance agen- cy. The responsible landlord shall be responsibl e reimbursing the city for the costs of repairs, interest, penalties and administrative manage- ment fees to the community based housing corporation.

Should repairs require the relocation of tenants, the responsible party will be responsible for finding comparable housing for the te nants in a closely proximate area, at a comparable or lower rate and assume relo- cation costs and should the rent be higher, the diffe rence between the current rent and the rent at the relocated site. Finally the bill requires HPD to establish an imminent danger list of properties for which more than five complaints, the nature of w hich pose a threat to the health and safety of tenants, are filed during the course of a calendar year.

Justification

For a number of years, reports of willful neglect on the part of preda- tory landlords appeared to be isolated and random against the b ackdrop of thousands of rent-regulated properties. As the demand for housing and increasing commensurate costs and development profit margins, the trend to willfully debilitate the integrity of rent-regulated properties to

the point of condemnation leading to demolition for the purpose of developing high income luxury units.

The desire to live in locations within or in proximity of Manhattan has impacted housing in central/northeastern Brooklyn, from Flatb ush to Bushwick; the western Bronx; Upper Manhattan, from East Harlem to Wash- ington Heights; and Lower Manhattan, Chinatown and the Lower East Side{1}.

The acts have included failure to maintain exterior walls, interior walls, and boilers and as of late have escalated to outright acts of demolition in the name of bogus non-sanctioned construction; removing essential services i.e. water, heat, commodes; and threats of imminent eviction without cause.

In 2014, Mayor DeBlasio established a ten-year housing $41 billion plan that aspired to the creation or preservation of 200,000 affor dable housing units, of which the budget as of 2018 was nearly $83 billion. The actions of this group of landlords threatens to take the plan two steps back for every step forward. Moreover, the displacement of the affected tenants threatens to change the character of the targeted communities with no possibility of reintegrating tenants in need of affordable housing e.g. municipal employees, serv ice industry workers, and health care providers ranging from the working poor to the middle class. Justifiably, residents in these co mmunities are suspicious of any development efforts in their neighborhoods maintaining that develop- ment is being done to them without consideration and not with them in consultation. The prevailing opinion is that a wave of secondary displacement pressures, would ne gatively affect both long-term resi- dents and existing businesses.(2)

{1} Metropolitan Council

{2} Michael McKee, treasure of Tenants Political Action Committee

Legislative history

2017-18: S 3267- REFERRED TO CITIES 2015-16: 5.3990 - Referred to Cities

Effective date

Immediately