After an arduous search, Brooklyn Housing Court finally finds a place it can afford to live — Brooklynian


edited December 2014 in Brooklyn and Beyond
Hopefully the housing market will be less crazy in 2020, but I am not optimistic.


  • According to a report released yesterday Brooklyn has the most unaffordable housing in the U.S. Manhattan came in at #3. 141 Livingston will never be the same.
  • Yup, here's that report:

    We are now reaching the point where low income (...but employed) folks who have never lived outside of NYC, can not afford anything within it.

    Do they move?
    Split an apartment 3 ways?
    Enter the shelter system?

    Try as it may, Housing Court is not going to be able to help the majority of the tenants who come before it.

    They are simply unable to pay the increased rents, and unable to meet the ever increasing "behavior standards" being applied by landlords and their neighbors.
  • The vast majority of tenants facing eviction proceedings in housing court are low income, and are not represented by attorneys.

    The IBO estimates that it would cost around $200M to provide city attornies to them all:

    However, in cases where the tenant is simply unable to pay the rent, I don't know that this would do anything more than delay evictions.
  • From all the landlords that I know and whose buildings I insure they tell me quite often that it's not so much that the rent can't be paid. In many cases tenants choose not to pay over some small defect just so they can get away with a few months. Years ago a law was passed that judges had the right to make the tenants pay into an escrow account so that the landlord would get the rent when the apartment was fixed but I know of no cases where that happened.
  • In present day NYC, tenants who decide to not pay any rent because some minor thing is wrong with their apartment are playing a dangerous game.

    [Note: If you don't have things like heat or hot water, and you choose to not pay your rent you are on much more solid ground. ...just make sure to document your complaints on 311 all the time]
This discussion has been closed.