106 BROOKLYN NEWS WWW.BROOKLYN-USA.ORG
HOUSING HARASSMENT
Borough President Adams joined civil rights attorney Norman Siegel and housing advocates in the courtroom of Brooklyn Borough Hall to announce a series
of town halls to investigate cases of tenant harassment throughout Brooklyn.
In a July 27th op-ed published in
City & State titled “Speaking Plainly
about Gentrification,” Borough
President Adams laid out what he
identified as the primary factors
exacerbating the process and
deepening Brooklyn’s affordable
housing crisis. Leading this list is
the impact of housing harassment.
Through a series of forums and
initiatives throughout the borough,
Borough President Adams is striving
to bring awareness to the topic of
unscrupulous practices leading
to less-than-acceptable living
conditions for many of Brooklyn’s
tenants and homeowners, not to
mention the threat of being harassed
out of their communities.
During a series of town halls
this summer, hosted by Borough
President Adams and civil rights
attorney Norman Siegel, Brooklynites
were briefed on what constitutes
harassment. The goal was to help
tenants determine the potential for
lawsuits against particularly badacting
landlords who were capable
of shutting off utilities, practicing
threatening or intimidating behavior,
as well as removing boilers and
venting systems. Approximately 400
people attended hearings held at
Brooklyn Borough Hall in Downtown
Brooklyn, All Saints Church in
Williamsburg, and SUNY Downstate
Medical Center in East Flatbush,
providing nearly 150 unique
testimonies. Currently, Borough
President Adams’s office is reviewing
these testimonies alongside partners
in the legal field to determine if any
rise up to the level of pursuing civil
or criminal action.
“After our opening hearing at
Brooklyn Borough Hall, our office
had gone through an entire box of
tissues from speaker after speaker
pouring their eyes and hearts out,
retelling their nightmares,” said
Borough President Adams. “Not only
are we actively tracking potential
criminal cases to direct to local
and state authorities where we
see violation of laws like criminal
mischief, we are working with legal
advocates to pursue patterns of bad
behavior that may lead to civil suits.
Concurrently, in the next session in
Albany, legislators should revisit how
to strengthen the penalties attached
to these statutes. Leadership on
the state level is needed to deter
this behavior, keep tenants in the
communities where they have lived
for decades, and end the massive
hemorrhaging of affordable housing
units in Brooklyn.”
Recognizing that homeowners
are at risk too, Borough President
Adams partnered with New York
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman
in October to raise awareness about
deed fraud and mortgage theft,
issues impacting Brooklyn and the
entire state; since 2010, almost 3,000
New Yorkers have been victims of
foreclosure rescue scams. New York
homeowners have reported larger
losses to scammers than in the rest
of the country, losing almost $900
more on average than homeowners
nationwide. Communities that have
been particularly impacted in the
borough include neighborhoods in
east and central Brooklyn, such as
Brownsville, Canarsie, and East New
York; data shows that these areas
have also suffered some of the city’s
highest number of foreclosure filings.
“Brooklyn is the center of New
York City’s affordability crisis, and
predatory scammers that try to take
advantage of struggling homeowners
are exacerbating this crisis,” said
Borough President Adams. “We must
continue to be vigilant in warning
those most vulnerable about the
threats to their financial well-being.”
Indicators that point to a scam,
as outlined by Borough President
Adams, include guarantees and
promises of results, upfront fees
for foreclosure prevention services,
requests to send mortgage payments
to anyone other than one’s mortgage
lender or servicer, confusing
language or paperwork, requests to
transfer ownership of one’s property
to a mortgage assistance company,
and aggressive sales pitches.
One of the greatest challenges
facing tenants and homeowners
encountering housing harassment is
availability of legal assistance, which
in June prompted Borough President
Adams to launch an “Access to Legal
Services” initiative out of Brooklyn
Borough Hall. The free program,
which provides help for residents
facing foreclosure or who have been
the victims of housing discrimination,
has been in such high demand that
the next available appointment is
not until March of 2016. Borough
President Adams is working to
identify additional lawyers to bolster
capacity and provide additional
hours of service; anyone interested
in volunteering should contact his
Constituent Assistance Center by
calling 718-802-3881. Additionally,
he will partner in the coming months
with the Legal Aid Society and
Brooklyn Legal Services’ Tenants
Rights Campaign to host an intake
day for residents of Brownsville and
East New York that may be at risk of
displacement as a result of proposed
rezonings.
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