CDP - Web.doc Report Sts 20150930
CDP - Web.doc Report Sts 20150930
CDP - Web.doc Report Sts 20150930
I. Methodology
This research was designed by members of the Stand for Tenant Safety (STS) coalition with
research support from the Community Development Project at the Urban Justice Center. 150 surveys were
collected in English, Spanish and Chinese in Manhattan and Brooklyn from January to June 2015. Surveys
were administered to tenants in buildings that were currently undergoing or had recently undergone major
construction and were collected via door-to-door outreach and at events and meetings. The tenant profiles
are the result of one-on-one interviews with tenants in buildings that were surveyed.
The Department of Buildings (DOB) data is based on 57 buildings that were identified via the STS
surveys as buildings that are undergoing major construction. For each unique address on the surveys,
researchers at the Community Development Project conducted research via the DOB website to explore
complaints, violations, and permits for each address.
The survey aims to document how major construction has impacted the health and well-being
of tenants in rent-stabilized apartments in New York City and to explore the extent to which such
construction constitutes tenant harassment. The survey and supplemental secondary data from the
Department of Buildings also aims to better understand how effectively the Department of Buildings
inspection units address problems with construction when they are reported by tenants. The DOB data also
documents the degree to which the DOB fines landlords that violate rules and regulations, and the status
of collecting those fines.
V. Tenant Profiles
Tenant Profile 1: Anne Hayes
Before construction even began in Annes rent stabilized apartment in the East Village, she received a call
telling her that the planned construction would be very disruptive, dusty, noisy and unpleasant and that
she should consider a buy-out. Anne declined the buy-out and the owners began the work. First, they
erected a sidewalk shed, installed surveillance cameras on each floor, and installed an electronic front
door entry system. Building management refused to give more than one of the new electronic coded key
fobs per apartment, which meant that apartments with more than one tenant did not have enough keys for
everyone to access the building, denying access to tenants that were rightfully in their apartments.
Construction also impacted the health of Anne and her neighbors, also rent regulated tenants. During
major construction phases, when multiple apartments on multiple floors were being gut renovated, the
dust, noise, and debris led most of the remaining tenants to develop dry coughs. In addition, Anne
suffered irritation in her eyes: at her regular eye checkup the doctor was able to capture the image of layer
of dust on the surface of her eyes. When Anne contacted the Department of Buildings via 311, she reports
that inspectors typically did not respond at all, and when they did respond, they claimed that they could not
gain entrance to the building or that there was no work in progress at the time of inspection. Anne notes
that this seems peculiar given that the work schedule has been consistent 8am-4pm, 5 days a week for the
past several years.
Tenant Profile 2: Maribel Lopez
Maribel has lived with her family in a rent stabilized building in Brooklyn for over thirty years. For the past 6
years, the building has been under construction. Currently, there are only 2 apartments occupied in the 6
unit Rent Stabilized building. In 2012, the landlord refused to renew the leases of the remaining tenants, so
they filed a non-renewal case with NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) with the help
of Brooklyn Legal Services Corp. A. However, in response to the case, the landlord claimed he planned
to demolish the building. In June 2015, the tenants won the case, but the harassment has become more
hostile. The landlord has made life miserable for the tenants. There have been times when the construction work caused vibrating of the whole building and caused debris to land on Maribels roof. Recently, the
landlord left tenants without heat and hot water for 2 weeks while he installed a new boiler. Now construction in the apartment next door has caused Maribel and her family constant problems. The construction
and stress has made worse the general health of Maribel and her family and specifically her mothers heart
condition.
Tenant Profile 3: Ana Minaya
Anas building is a 6 unit building in Brooklyn with 4 vacant units where she has lived for 15 years. Starting
in late 2013, Ana has called the Department of Buildings several times because the buildings owner is
doing construction without permits and after hours, but the DOB was very slow to inspect. Despite her
persistent calls to the DOB, the landlord continued doing gut rehabilitation to vacant units and they have
shut off Anas heat and hot water for over a month. In addition to lack of heat and hot water, Ana has had
to live with dust from the construction and constant harassment from the landlord and his workers. Since
Ana refuses to leave despite bad conditions, she was harassed with constant knocking on her door at all
hours of the night, has been offered buy outs, and the building owner started a holdover case against her.
Tenant Profile 4: Catalina Hidalgo
Catalina lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. When construction started, Catalina complained to the DOB to let
them know that the construction was leaving debris in the unoccupied units and was being done without
permits. By the time the DOB came it was too late, and Catalina had already been issued a partial vacate
order after dealing with having no heat, roaches, rodents, and a sinking bathroom (and eventually no
bathroom). Catalina and her family have been vacated from their apartment since December 2013. With
nowhere to go, Catalina and her family have been homeless and struggling to maintain a roof over their
heads.
Findings
1. DOBs response time to complaints is slow and inspectors often close complaints because they cant gain
access to the building.
The average time between a complaint being filed and a DOB inspection is about 42.54 days.
The longest response time to a complaint was 926 days.
Out of about 957 complaints inspectors reported that they could not gain access 102 times.
Slow response rates mean that when the DOB inspector arrives on scene, the issue at hand may no
longer be evident, meaning that an unsafe situation was never documented, the building owner was
never penalized, and residents may be subjected to similar unsafe conditions in the future.
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2. There is a disconnect between the high number of complaints for work without a permit and the actual
violations that follow, and penalty amounts are low.
While there were 197 documented complaints for work without a permit, only 12 resulted in any type
of violation being issued. It took inspectors an average of 58.47 days to inspect complaints that were
made about work without a permit.
Average dollar amount for fines for work without a permit: $2,529.03
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3. The DOB rarely issues stop work orders, and rarely issues violations for work done in violation of those
stop work orders that have been issued.
Out of the 46 complaints for work contrary to a stop work order, none resulted in any violation.
Most of the complaints regarding stop work orders were closed simply because the inspector could
not gain access.
Of all the buildings surveyed, only 2 stop work order violations were issued that resulted in fines.
Each fine was $400, and both remain unpaid.
4. Many fines that are issued for violations remain unpaid for years even as landlords continue to rack up
violations.
The average dollar amount of outstanding fines for violations is $3,771.56.
The average time period that fines go unpaid is about 900 days (Or about 2 years, 5 months, 20
days).
o Several buildings (7) surveyed still owe over $20,000 in fines. Some buildings owe as much as
$49,000, and some nearly $100,000 in fines.
o This indicates a need for better mechanisms of fine collection and stronger measures to punish
those that dont pay, especially for repeat offenders.
o The 2 stop work order violations that resulted in fines -- each $400 -- remain unpaid, indicating
that the $400 fine amount is far too small to serve as an adequate deterrent to working against
a stop work order.
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Create a Safe Construction Bill of Rights for occupied buildings.
In order to help educate and empower tenants, landlords should be required to send to tenants via mail,
and post when possible, a Safe Construction Bill of Rights during construction. On that Bill of Rights, the
landlord should list in simple English and the top six languages in New York City:
1. Hours of construction;
2. Description of the work being performed and its potential impact on tenants;
3. Timeline which will be updated and mailed to tenants every month for the duration of construction;
4. What services or utilities that might be affected (e.g. loss of hot water or heat) and mitigation
measurements the landlord is using to protect the tenants against hazardous conditions (e.g. dust,
debris, fumes, etc.);
5. Landlords duties during the period of work/construction, e.g.:
a. Take adequate steps to mitigate dust;
b. Take adequate steps to abate asbestos;
c. Keep noise to legally permissible levels;
d. Keep public areas free of debris.
6. The landlords obligation to file a tenant protection plan whenever they perform construction
work in an occupied building, and information about where to access a copy of the plan;
7. Who to contact at the landlords office if there is a problem, (24 hours a day); and
8. Who to call in the City (i.e. 311, or the DOB community liaison department as proposed below) if
the tenant is concerned work is not complying with those permits obtained.
Create an interagency task force.
Because various city and state agencies have jurisdiction and mandates to oversee the types of issues
that routinely arise for tenants during residential renovation and construction work, an interagency task
force should be created to enable these agencies to communicate clearly and meet regularly. Although
we were happy to see the formation of the Tenant Harassment Taskforce by Mayor de Blasio and
Attorney General Schneiderman we believe NYC tenants need legislation to codify the taskforce and
take on this issue of construction long-term.
DOB should issue orders to correct simultaneously with vacate orders.
Currently when the DOB judges a building unsafe or unfit for habitation, it issues a vacate order to help
maintain tenant safety while the underlying problem is solved. While a vacate order is helpful in
protecting tenants safety, if not issued concurrently with a order to correct, landlords can use the vacate
orders as a way to displace tenants and/or to not improve building conditions. This creates a perverse
incentive for landlords to make buildings unsafe or unfit for habitation to remove tenants.
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