A leaking ceiling, damaged floors, an overflowing sink and weeks without adequate heat in the middle of winter.
Those are some issues a Brooklyn resident said she’s endured in her rent-stabilized apartment.
What You Need To Know
The Mamdani administration is conducting one-on-one conversations between tenants and senior officials during “rental ripoff” hearings
Tenants rallied ahead of the first hearing in Brooklyn and then headed inside for a resource fair, where they got information from city agencies
The next public hearing will take place in Long Island City, Queens on March 5, Fordham in the Bronx on March 11, East Harlem on March 28 and North Shore on Staten Island on April 7
“I’ve been fighting with my landlord for years. We’ve had multiple problems, and whenever we have to get them fixed, the only way to do that is to go to court. Calling 311 has been absolutely useless. I spent the entire month of January with no heat and intermittent hot water,” said Lauren, who does not want to share her last name due to a legal battle with her landlord.
On Thursday, she got to air her grievances during the first “rental ripoff” hearing in Downtown Brooklyn. These hearings consist of one-on-one conversations between tenants and senior officials with the Mamdani administration.
“They were quite shocked, and I hope that maybe they take that information and they do something about it,” Lauren said.
Tenants rallied ahead of the hearing and then headed inside for a resource fair, where they got information from city agencies. Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the goal is to use testimony to help shape housing policy.
“I just want to thank Mamdani for having this event because it’s allowing us to let him know exactly in the direction he should go. And truly, the tenants need help,” Betty Key of the Montgomery Street Tenant Association said.
“Anyhow our voice can be heard is good. In a respectful way, absolutely, 100% this is wonderful,” Cynthia Gouin, a tenant advocate for the Flatbush Tenant Coalition, said.
Everyone was invited to sign up to speak, including landlords and property owners. But some say that the messaging did not reach them, and they’re calling these hearings “anti-landlord.”
“I don’t feel that the owners are welcome and given the same opportunity,” Ann Korchak, a board president for Small Property Owners of New York, said. “The flyer said, ‘tenants vs. bad landlords.’ They didn’t really share that this was going to be an open forum for landlords to come and share how they’re going to be ripped off.”
The nonprofit organization Small Property Owners of New York said the city and state are to blame for the housing crisis, not landlords.
“I don’t know if it’s fair to say that everybody’s had a bad experience with a landlord. I would say that people’s frustration with not enough supply and the cost of housing is directly related to city and state policies, not the people providing the housing,” Korchak said.
The next public hearing will take place in Long Island City, Queens on March 5, Fordham in the Bronx on March 11, East Harlem on March 28 and North Shore on Staten Island on April 7.
New Yorkers can register to attend any of the next four public hearings by logging onto nyc.gov/RentalRipoff.