The city held a rental ripoff hearing in Long Island City on Thursday. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
Pierina, a Jamaica resident, trekked across the borough to Long Island City on Thursday with the hope the city may finally help force her landlord to get rid of the rats and insects that have soiled her apartment since she moved in a few years ago.
She’s tried the courts and 311, but no one has been able to make her living situation comfortable. She was tentatively hopeful the new mayoral administration would finally hold her landlord accountable for the conditions in her home.
“They allow pests to thrive in the building, they allow roaches and mice in the building,” she said. “During the winter, they don’t provide proper heat. People have to turn on their electric heaters, and also many of them turn on their stoves to stay warm.”
Pierina, who declined to give her last name, was one of the many Queens tenants who traveled to LIC on Thursday to attend and testify at the first-ever Queens rental ripoff hearing, Mayor Zohran Mamdani administration’s new initiative to address tenant concerns.
City Hall has billed the effort as “New Yorkers vs. Bad Landlords,” and said the hearings are intended to give city renters an opportunity to share their grievances about their living situations with city officials.
Thursday night was Queens’ turn, following a similar event in Brooklyn. Hearings in the Bronx, Staten Island, and Manhattan are scheduled to take place in the coming weeks.
Tenants from across the World’s Borough took the opportunity to tell the city about the high rent, rodent infestations and other building woes, all with the hope the city will finally step in and fix the problems.
But while renters were excited to air their frustrations with their landlords, many said they were slightly concerned that the city wouldn’t be able to follow through and wanted an assurance that their grievances would not just be heard, but acted on.
‘We don’t have anyone to talk to’
The hearing, held at the Academy of American Studies in Long Island City, allowed locals to have one-on-one conversations with city employees and the opportunity to weigh in on broader issues using stickers and Post-it notes.
Pierina, the Jamaica resident, was in the school gymnasium placing stickers and notes on boards seeking renters’ thoughts on their living situations and what concerns were most important to them when she spoke with the Eagle.
She testified to city employees about her landlord, New Jersey-based Horizon House Company LLC, which she previously reported to 311 and took to court.
A court order led to some fixes, but Pierina wanted more.
“They shouldn’t be operating at all,” she said.
She wasn’t the only one seeking accountability for bad landlords.
Elissa Welle, John Pimento and some of their neighbors all attended to testify about conditions in their building, Hayes Court in Jackson Heights.
They described a general disrepair and lack of maintenance, and disruptions in heat and water. Their issues were recently covered by news outlet Hell Gate, and last year their landlords were indicted in Manhattan for abusing COVID relief funds.
“It’s been increasingly worse in the last maybe three years,” said Welle. “We don’t have anyone to talk to for any problems.”
“We just thought we should come make sure that they hear about our problems,” she said when asked about attending the hearing. “We’ve been telling people, we’ve been submitting 311s, we’ve been talking to reporters.”
On Thursday, the tenants got to speak with Cea Weaver, who runs the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants.
“She knew exactly which department in the mayor’s office to talk to,” Welle said. “There was just a very clear plan of action, which was really helpful. This was three minutes, and I felt like we got more done in three minutes than sometimes it feels like we get done in like six months.”
Not everyone who testified got a high-ranking city employee like Weaver – some gave testimony to employees of the Department of Buildings, City Hall or Housing Preservation and Development.
Krystal Morrell, a Queensbridge Houses resident who allowed the Eagle to sit in on her testimony, spoke to two HPD employees.
Morrell testified about consistent issues at her NYCHA apartment, including a serious mold buildup that has given her a chronic illness. The HPD employees referred her to a table set up by NYCHA in the other room.
“It was fine,” she said. “It was quick.”
Queensbridge Houses resident Krystal Morrell gives testimony to two city employees regarding her issues at her apartment. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
NYCHA residents like Morrell face some of the largest and most consistent problems of any tenants in the city. When Public Advocate Jumaane Williams released his list of the worst landlords in the city earlier this year, he made it clear that NYCHA was still the most egregious actor.
Some NYCHA residents and advocates said they felt neglected at the rental ripoff hearings, arguing they should be the priority over private renters.
“NYCHA residents were not included in the conversation regarding a seat at the table at all,” said Reverend Kevin McCall, a Queens activist.
McCall parked outside the hearing venue with an advertisement truck featuring a picture of Mamdani and a speech bubble reading, “Hi! I’m Mayor Mamdani and I don’t care about NYCHA.”
“The flyer says New York City against bad landlords,” he said. “It should be New York City against the mayor because the mayor is a bad landlord. NYCHA is under the jurisdiction of the city.”
Inside, Weaver told reporters that NYCHA residents – like Morrell – would be welcomed to testify at the rental ripoff hearings.
“NYCHA tenants are welcome to come to these hearings and to give testimony,” she said. “Just like any tenant in New York City is welcome to come and give testimony or landlord or homeowner, the hearings are really open to everyone.”
While she felt less confident her testimony would lead to any actual support, Morrell was happy that she was at least listened to.
“They selected me, so I guess I was heard,” she said.
Besides NYCHA, some Queens residents also worried that the Mamdani administration won’t follow through after events like Thursday’s hearing.
“I don’t know if I expect much to come out of it, it feels performative at best,” said Doreen Mohammad from the Astoria Tenants Union. “I don’t think that the city, in terms of housing issues, has appointed the best leadership. They’ve appointed folks who are pro-gentrification, disregard Black home ownership, disregard people of color and other issues that many poor people of color communities have faced for a long time.”
Mohammad said the hearing wasn’t what she expected going in, and wants the city to bring true, long-term accountability to the city’s bad landlords.
“I’m tired of having tenants coming to us crying or otherwise in distress and having to help deal with their court cases,” she said. “We just want there to actually be accountability and substance. It has to go beyond just some fines that the landlords can afford to pay off. There needs to be criminal charges and accountability.”
Weaver told the Eagle she hopes they hear from Queens residents who deal with some of the most troubling landlords in the city. She specifically mentioned A&E Real Estate, a notorious company that recently entered a $2 million settlement with the city to address issues in several of the buildings in and outside of Queens.
“Their buildings are heavily concentrated in Jackson Heights,” Weaver said. “So we’re taking a look at some of who the biggest players are, a lot of them are concentrated here.”
The hope for all the tenants who attended and testified on Thursday is that this process will actually work where the court system or advocacy groups have come up short.
The city said the hearings are just the first step of the process.
“The information that we’re collecting is going to inform some of the policy decisions that the administration hopes to make in the coming months and years,” Weaver told reporters.
Weaver said that the city is aiming to roll out a housing plan sometime this year using the information gathered at the five rental ripoff hearings.
Pierina, who traveled back from LIC to her troubled Jamaica apartment on Thursday, had a simple response to whether or not she thinks something will come from her testimony.
“I hope so,” she said.
