TENANTS’ RIGHTS
Housing is essential to individual well-being, underpinning everything from long- term economic stability to physical and mental health. The pandemic has left many Manhattanites at odds with their landlords and struggling to hold onto their homes. This destabilizing situation has been compounded by preexisting unlawful and fraudulent behavior by landlords, many of whom have histories of illegally harassing less profitable tenants or hiding hazardous conditions. The availability of stable and affordable housing is directly related to lower crime rates — Lucy has called for an extension of the eviction moratorium to keep all New Yorkers safe.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has an obligation to hold landlords and corporations accountable when they illegally take advantage of New Yorkers. Lucy has a plan to protect tenants, hold landlords accountable, and make housing available for some of our borough’s most vulnerable residents.
To protect tenants, Lucy will:
Establish a unit in the DA’s Office dedicated to investigating and prosecuting illegal practices by unscrupulous landlords. Powerful landlords too often take advantage of tenants through myriad unscrupulous practices. Their conduct can be criminal and Lucy will treat it as criminal when warranted. By establishing a dedicated unit to handle all issues related to housing and tenancy, the District Attorney’s Office will have greater capacity to track patterns of abuse and quickly detect illegal behavior by landlords, especially in the pandemic and post-pandemic environment. This unit will have a hotline available to the public to increase reporting of criminal activity. Among other things, the Housing Unit will aggressively pursue allegations of:
Illegal rent raising and/or elimination of rent-regulated apartments. This behavior includes situations when landlords lie to the city about apartment improvements when these improvements either never took place, cost far less than the documented amount, or were otherwise illegally inflated in an effort to raise rents and reduce the supply of affordable housing.
Tenant harassment, including (among other things), overcharging, delivering unjustified eviction notices, locking tenants out illegally, interrupting services, or providing inadequate maintenance.
Safety neglect including a lack of proper care to guard against lead paint, mold, or asbestos.
Fight to make public housing — including NYCHA housing — available to those with previous justice involvement. Lucy will join social justice organizations working to eliminate outdated rules that prevent people with a criminal record from reuniting with their loved ones in public housing, often leaving them with nowhere to go. Securing housing for justice-involved folks will not only foster their security, it will help combat the epidemic of homelessness.
Create an inter-agency task force, with community input, to track and investigate landlords who harass tenants and engage in fraudulent behavior. Current information about landlord activity is maintained by a number of different city agencies including the department of Investigations, Department of Buildings, the Public Advocate, and the Department of Finance. Lucy will bring these different agencies together to hold landlords who prey on hard working New Yorkers accountable.