It’s been nearly three years since Roberto Marcelin has lived in the apartment he raised his daughter.

A fire destroyed his apartment along with the five other units at 1423 Bushwick Ave. in February 2023.

He told NY1 he’d like to return to his home. However, it’s simply not ready.

What You Need To Know

  • Tenants of fire-damaged apartments can wait years to go back home

  • The court system created for tenants to bring cases against their landlords does not always serve them, according to tenant lawyers and even city leaders

  • Potential fines against landlords, as outlined by city code, can be levied pennies on the dollar by judges — if they choose to at all

“No home. No hope. Nothing,” he said, staring at the apartment building in the spring.

This fall, the building still has boarded-up windows and a sign on the front door that there is a city-issued vacate order.

Marcelin said he couldn’t make ends meet after renting a separate apartment for more than double his rent-stabilized unit in Bushwick.

So for more than a year and a half, Marcelin and his teenage daughter have had to live in the New York City shelter system.

While he has been waiting, lawyers from the nonprofit Mobilization for Justice have taken his case, along with the other tenants, to the city’s housing court.

It’s the only place where tenants can try to compel their landlords to make repairs faster.

The case is still pending, and the landlord — despite missing the court-stamped date to repair the building by more than two years — has only been asked to pay $15,000 in fines.

NY1’s analysis of city fine recommendations indicates that the fine amount could be north of $2 million. There are other pending cases where there haven’t been any fines levied against landlords, despite deadlines for repairs being missed by more than a year, when the fines could be more than $5 million combined.

Weeks after sharing Marcelin’s story, multiple members of the New York City Council have told NY1 they are weighing legislation because of what they said is a system that isn’t working.

“We really can’t afford to just kind of let these units that experience a fire just kind of fade into history,” Councilmember Jennifer Gutierrez said.

She was one of the lead sponsors on a series of bills that became law this summer called the Back Home Act, which aimed to help tenants displaced due to fires navigate getting back home.

There is now a dedicated city unit to communicate with tenants and landlords to track progress after a fire. There are also parameters for the Department of Building to follow on whether a landlord attempted repairs before giving the green light to the owner to demolish a fire-damaged building.

Gutierrez said she pursued this legislation because of watching tenants, including a former staffer of hers, struggle after a fire.

“There was no support system,” she said.

However, Gutierrez said more work, after watching NY1’s report, is needed.

“It’s infuriating,” she said.

Councilmember Shekar Krishnan said he’s familiar with the problems tenants can face, because before becoming a politician, he was a lawyer for people like Roberto Marcelin.  

“When tenants are forced out of their homes, it is a moment when all of city government and our legal systems fail us,” he said.

Krishnan said the blame is not only with the judges at housing court. He also faults the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which is responsible for issuing violations.

“HPD doesn’t collect on the fines. Housing court doesn’t collect on the fines or require landlords to pay them,” said Krishnan. “So what is the point of these violations hazardous?”

HPD is responsible only for submitting the violations. Enforcement, the agency notes on its website, is up to the housing court.

Krishnan said changes to housing court, which he thinks needs to be on the table, would need some state action as well. That’s why he said he’s focused on HPD on some future legislation.

“I am looking at legislation to require HPD to use every legal tool at its disposal to get tenants back home,” he said. We have to change the whole nature of the system and the conversation.”

There are about 300 vacate orders issued a year due to fires, according to HPD.

And HPD does bring cases to housing court against landlords when repairs are not done in a timely manner.

However, when asked by the agency how many — and whether they could conceivably bring more — NY1 did not get a response.

“HPD remains committed to working with the City Council, other elected officials, tenants, and property owners to improve the ability of tenants to return to buildings damaged by fire, including by strengthening our tools to hold property owners accountable,” said spokesman Matt Rauschenbach, HPD’s press secretary, in a part of a statement to NY1.

Any potential changes could mean HPD needing more funding, something Krishnan said he would potentially advocate for.

Taking landlords to court is not the only option in trying to get apartments fixed after fires, according to HPD.

The agency said its inspectors were closely monitoring work after a Bronx fire in February that led to a full vacate order at 2002-2004 Ellis along with 2006 Cross Bronx Expressway. Dozens of tenants are already back in their apartments after HPD partially lifted the vacate order, as repair work continues elsewhere in the building.

However, housing experts have told NY1 that when landlords do not follow deadlines, the enforcement does not always appear to be in place.

A spokesperson for the city’s housing court did not respond to a request for comment for this story nor NY1’s report from last month.

NY1 specifically asked why fines issued by judges can be so low compared to the city code recommendations.

Even in cases initiated by the HPD, NY1 found multiple instances where landlords missed repair deadlines by more than a year, and the agency settled fines with the building owners for pennies on the dollar.

Back in the spring as Marcelin stood outside his fire-damaged apartment building, more than two years after the blaze, NY1 asked a simple question: does he believe anyone from the city is fighting to help him get back home?

“Not at all,” he said.