Residents of a rent-stabilized building in University Heights are one step closer to transferring ownership away from their landlords, who they accuse of neglecting the property and owing millions in back taxes.
On Saturday, tenants at 2205 Davidson Ave. held a building clean-up and celebrated the fact that 80% of households have signed on to enter the city’s Third Party Transfer (TPT) Program. The program provides residents with the ability to turn over management of the building to a new entity and eventually convert it into a tenant-owned cooperative.
The residents are in the process of securing a new manager or “pre-qualified sponsor,” which fulfills the other requirement for the program, according to the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, which has worked with residents on this and other issues for the past 10 years.
Although the transfer is far from complete, residents of the 49-unit rent-stabilized building celebrated these initial steps as a win.
“The road to obtain this victory has not been easy,” said resident Veronica Arellano, who said she has a longstanding water leak in her bathroom.
“When the tenants finally start managing the building, these will be issues that will be handled quickly because we all live here and know that all repair issues affect everyone down the line,” she said.
For years, tenants have allegedly been living with black mold, water leaks and damage, broken elevators and pests under what Legal Aid attorneys called “harassment by negligence” on the landlords’ part. Photos from residents show extensive structural damage, including partially collapsed ceilings, peeling paint and other serious issues.
Current HPD records show over 800 open violations on the property, 412 of which are considered Class C or “immediately hazardous,” requiring repair within 24 hours.
Tenants say some problems were addressed in 2016 but have since got worse. The owners now face a lawsuit on behalf of the tenants from the Legal Aid Society’s Housing Justice Unit, which was filed in Bronx Housing Court in March against owners including David Kornitzer, landlord under the New Day Housing Corporation, and the city’s Housing Preservation and Development agency (HPD). Kornitzer did not respond to requests for comment.
The property owners owe over $25 million in property taxes, and taxpayers have been footing the bill for emergency repairs through HPD. According to the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, they are also subject to civil litigation. The city has already had to cover over $1.4 million on building-wide repairs, services, and inspections, which the owners have not repaid.
However, the TPT program has not been without controversy. It came under fire and was discontinued in 2019 for unfairly taking property away from owners of color in situations of financial hardship. But the Davidson Avenue building had already begun the TPT process before the program’s cancellation, so the city responded to advocates’ pressure to advance the case, according to Edward Garcia of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition. He told the Bronx Times that the city has begun the necessary step of foreclosing on the property, which shields tenants from liability for the tax bill.
Council Member Pierina Sanchez, who chairs the Committee on Housing and Buildings and represents the 2201-05 Davison area, is at work on a bill to reform the Third Party Transfer program more equitably, opening up the potential for more tenants to take recourse against absentee landlords.
Though the status of the bill and restarting of the TPT program is unclear, Sanchez said at the August 10 event that the dire situation at the Davidson Avenue building will someday become a “success story of resident power and ownership.”
“Today, the city has finally restarted foreclosure proceedings, and tenants have met initial criteria to secure tenant ownership of the building, organizing, and reclaiming their right to a safe, sustainable and fair living environment,” said Sanchez.
Sanchez’s office has not yet responded to Bronx Times’ inquiry about the TPT program and his proposed reforms.
Karen Baez of the Coalition, who has been working with the Davidson Avenue tenants for the past year, praised the tenants’ hard work to keep pressure on the landlords.
“[Tenants] have gathered for meeting after meeting in a sweaty building lobby, following up on next steps and remaining committed to the arduous task of defying all odds against them,” said Baez.
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
