A group of Brooklyn tenants are asking a federal bankruptcy court to appoint a trustee to take control of 12 apartment buildings that they say have been beset for decades by terrible and dangerous living conditions including leaks, lead paint, mold, heat and hot water outages, and rodent and bug infestations.
In a surprising twist, their landlord, Northeast Brooklyn Housing Development Corporation, is a nonprofit affordable housing developer which has over the years built hundreds of low- and moderate-income housing units in Brooklyn and been involved in various community-based initiatives, ranging from building gardens to workforce training to providing access to sustainable food.
The company, which owns a portfolio of more than 100 buildings across the city, also been involved in big real estate deals. In 2016, it teamed up with for profit-developer Arker Companies in the $19 million purchase of a former hospital site in the Rockaways that is slated for affordable housing. As part of that deal, Northeast Brooklyn Housing Development took out a $14 million mortgage.
Yet, at the same time, the nonprofit has racked up more than 850 unresolved housing violations, according to Brooklyn Legal Services, which is representing 36 tenants along with Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP.
In 2018, the company's CEO, Jeffrey Dunston, ranked second in the Public Advocate’s list of worst private landlords. Six of the 12 buildings in question have been designated by Housing Preservation and Development’s as one the city’s most distressed buildings and placed in an enforcement program. All told, there are 145 units, of which 122 are presently occupied.
Last summer, the company was sued by several Brooklyn tenants over a slew of poor housing conditions, including problems with leaks, sewage and rats.
Mold conditions inside an apartment at 257 Mother Gaston Boulevard. (Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Legal Services)
Prior to the company filing for bankruptcy in February, the city, which helped the owner with financing and holds the mortgage on the properties, sought a foreclosure action. The nonprofit has been trying to sell off some of its properties.
Asked about the case, an HPD spokesperson issued the following statement: "Our top priority is the safety and security of New York City tenants, which is why our enforcement teams have been heavily involved at these properties, and we’ve initiated legal actions due to the owner being out of compliance with HPD mortgage and regulatory agreements."
Nathaniel Montgomery, the company’s chief operating officer, did not respond to a message left by Gothamist.
In the meantime, tenants are hoping the court can provide them with some immediate relief.
Dino Perera, 53, who lives at 399 Kosciuszko Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, said his apartment has had leaks and mold issues going back as many as seven years.
The leaks were so bad at one point, he said, “It looked as if I had a shower running in my apartment.”
He said he has tried numerous times to reach people at the company, even emailing the CEO himself. But his complaints were ignored, he said, adding, "They have a blatant lack of respects for tenants."
Roaches caught inside an apartment at 1350 Park Place. (Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Legal Services.)
Debra King, a tenant at 257 Mother Gaston Boulevard in Brownsville, said her apartment has also been plagued by leaks, mold, and a string of other problems. "When it rains, it rains in my apartment," she said, adding that the issue is worse for her because she lives on the top floor. In 2005, an electrical fire broke out in her bedroom after water seeped into a light fixture.
In 2008, she and other residents had to be temporarily relocated because of a rat infestation among other problems. When she returned, she found that the kitchen cabinets had been replaced, but there was no stove nor refrigerator.
The 58-year-old said she has lived in in the building for 25 years.
"I’m tired. I’m fed up," she said. "Something has to give. They are slumlords and they don’t deserve to own property."
UPDATE: Following the publication of this story, a representative for Arker Companies said, "Northeast Brooklyn Housing Development Corporation was intended to be a social service provider, but as of now will no longer have anything to do with the Arker Companies' Edgemere Commons project in the Rockaways."
