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Friday, October 24, 2014

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It's incredibly important for tenants in this building to read and understand the Tenants' Bill of Rights because of all the questions they've recently had about exactly this issue. I can't stress enough how important it is for tenants here to pay attention to this; there's been a lot of confusion about what rights S.R.O. tenants have because H.S.I. management and staff have been insisting for the past year this is a supportive housing building, as though that cancels out the rights rent stabilized tenants are entitled to (and yes, we all have rent stabilized leases, and I've checked with local council members who helped draft this bill, and they tell me that the Bill of Rights applies just as  much to S.R.O.s as any other building with rent-stabilized units).

There is a Tenant ProtectionAssistance Unit that gives tenants another option in getting legal issues with their landlords resolved and possibly bypass the court system. The Blacklist for landlords is a step in the right direction and may represent more progress for tenants. However, there's an equivalent listing of tenants who have had to go through court, and the scary thing is that people who may have had a totally legitimate reason for going to court may become stigmatized as deadbeats or troublemakers whether the outcome of their case was in their favor or not. Also, if  you're planning to move out of the building, beware of discrimination based on having a rent subsidy lik Section 8; it's illegal, but part of the issue is having to PROVE you've been discriminated against.

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