Owner Must Comply with HPD Order

HPD ordered owner to replace dangerous floor joists in residential building. In 2007 the New York City Council amended the Housing Maintenance Code and created the Alternative Enforcement Program. The Program authorized the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to conduct building wide inspections and to compel building owners to correct within four month their violations of the Housing Maintenance Code.


Discriminatory Property Tax Case Dismissed

Tenant alleged that the City’s allocation of the property tax burden violated due process and equal protection. Ernest Robinson sought declaratory and injunctive relief alleging that the City’s property tax classification system created a disparate and adverse impact on African-American and Hispanic residents, deprived them of due process and equal protection of the laws, and violated the Fair Housing Act. Robinson alleged that the Class Two tax burden, heavily made up of rental multiple dwellings, … <Read More>


Prison Reform: The Monitor’s First Report in the Nunez Case

Recently the City got some good news about Rikers Island, a change from the bad news of recent years. On August 2, 2016, Mayor Bill de Blasio, together with Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte, announced that for the first six months of 2016 the frequencies with which staff used serious force on inmates and inmates seriously assaulted staff dropped by nearly half over the past year. Overall uses of force and assault numbers were also down … <Read More>


Safety Lighting Completed at Boulevard Houses in Brooklyn

Installation of safety lighting part of citywide plan to reduce violence at targeted NYCHA developments. On July 13, 2016, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the New York City Housing Authority announced the completed installation of 504 new lights to improve public safety at Boulevard Houses in East New York Brooklyn. The installation is part of the Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety (MAP) which was initiated in 2014.


Rent Guidelines Board Freezes One-Year Leases for 2nd-Year in a Row

Board votes for rent freeze despite strong push for a rent rollback by City Council coalition. On June 27, 2016, the New York City Rent Guidelines Board held a final vote to set guidelines for 2016-2017. This vote took place one year after the Rent Guidelines Board made a historic decision to freeze one-year leases instead of raising them.


City Relying on 1962 State Law to Combat Irresponsible Landlords

City forces eight landlords to fix building code violations in twelve buildings by threatening to stop paying rent for tenants on public assistance. On May 26, 2016, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Public Advocate Letitia James announced the use of the 1962 New York State Spiegel Law as a tool to compel landlords to fix violations for tenants receiving public assistance. Landlords who do not complete repairs quickly will lose out on rent payments.