Tenants, neighbors and housing activists rallied on Aug. 7 in front of 1569 Lexington Ave. in East Harlem, part of the 38 building former Emerald Equity Group portfolio, shouting “Buyer Beware,” pushing for a new owner willing to invest and not simply focus on income.
Tenants at five Emerald buildings launched a 16-month rent strike, leading to a $500,000 settlement, for rent credits and repairs, amid Emerald’s bankruptcy.
With the Emerald portfolio foreclosed and in receivership, residents are working to bring in a landlord who will improve conditions.
“We are organized,” Victoria Washington, a tenant at a former Emerald Equity building on East 103rd St. and co-founder of the East Harlem Tenant Association, said. “We are prepared and we are united.”
Those at the rally, including many who belong to tenant associations, said they want to make sure whoever buys the buildings, possibly the entire portfolio, realizes tenants expect better.
“These buildings have been passed down from one slumlord to another,” said Sergio Sorza, of organizing group Community Voices Heard, in what he described as a “call for accountability.” “It is shameful that tenants have to live in these conditions.”
Complaints and violations.Photo by Claude Solnik
Washington at the rally, near a banner saying “Back off our Block,” said various buildings in the portfolio have a long history of problems.
“The conditions are poor. We have rotting infrastructure, old boilers, malfunctioning boilers, old pipes that need to be replaced,” Washington said. “They went from speculative landlord to speculative landlord, hoping to make a profit off rent-stabilized buildings and hoping the rent stabilization laws would change. And they didn’t.”
Residents raise issues
Tenants include rent-controlled, with the lowest rents, rent-stabilized, with rents frozen, and market-rate.
A resident of 1569 Lexington Avenue for two years said “As long as I’ve been here, there have been issues.”
“I’ve lived here. It’s downright inhumane living conditions,” that tenant said. “We demand better conditions.”
A five-year tenant, who identified herself as Reg, said a pipe in that former Emerald building at 1569 Lexington, burst on the top floor, sending brown water crashing through units.
“The ceiling didn’t collapse, but it was distended and full of water pouring over all of my belongings,” Reg, who lives in a rent-stabilized apartment, said. “It immediately became unlivable. I could not stay there.”
Ana, a tenant at 1575 Lexington for three years, said there have been repeated issues with cockroaches, adding there were mice, but she was able to use concrete to seal a hole.
She said last year she spent two months without gas, time without hot water, and electricity went down. “The apartment wasn’t inhabitable,” Ana said. “We were still paying rent in full.”
People at the rally showed videos of water pouring into the hallway of 328 East 103th Street.
Fighting for future
Washington said she was “standing with my neighbors” near a “Back off our Block” banner beside photographs of an abandoned, unoccupied apartment in the building.
Tenants, neighbors and housing activists rallied on Aug. 7 in front of 1569 Lexington Ave. in East Harlem.Photo by Claude Solnik
Sorza said different landlords keep the same staff so tenants see no changes, even as they change hands.
“They’ve seen it go from one company to another company, yet at the same time they keep the same staff,” Sorza said of superintendents and managers. “To them, it’s kind of all the same thing. To them, it’s the same company. Nothing changes.”
Others said problems persist as they wait, in hopes that someone will take over the buildings and improve conditions.
“I‘m tired of keeping track of entities,” said Ana, a tenant in 1575 Lexington. “Since I moved here, there were three or four entities. Every time, I speak to the same person.”
Pigeon cemetery
Washington talked about a “perfectly livable apartment” turned into a “bio hazard,” referring to an abandoned apartment, which she called “abhorrent and unacceptable.”
She said they found it while canvassing, seeing apartment 25 had been turned into a wreck with holes in crumbling walls and ceilings. A look at that apartment showed gaping holes in walls, a bathtub piled with rubble and no signs of occupancy.
Roy, a tenant at a former Emerald Equities building on East 106th Street, said pigeon carcasses had been removed from the abandoned apartment, which others referred to as a pigeon graveyard.
“It’s shocking to see the condition of the apartment. There are holes in the wall,” Roy, a tenant, said outside. “I’m proud to be joining this movement, so we have safe and dignified housing.”
Tenants unite
Sorza said they organized some tenants and are working on the rest of the buildings, seeking to empower tenants.
Mayor Mamdani in March visited a former Emerald building on East 103rd St., where tenants organized.
“The Mamdani administration has been very supportive of our efforts to organize,” Washington said, noting Mamdani passed out papers about legality of tenant organizing
Cea Weaver, executive director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, City Limits reported, said, “Buildings like these can come together to put their building on a path to stable and different ownership. And the city is proud to stand with you all today.”
Washington said they do not want “other speculative landlords” to buy the buildings and seek to turn a profit by taking rent without renovations.
“Whoever chooses to buy this building will continuously be held to a higher standard,” the two year tenant said. “This building is organized and so are the surrounding buildings.”
Washington said many hope the buildings will be bought by Spatial Equity Co., a community development organization whose website says they “develop affordable housing” and other properties in “underserved neighborhoods throughout New York City.
“They have a proven track record of making sure buildings are up to code and stewarding buildings responsibly,” Washington said.