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When there's a $150/month rent-controlled apartment around, you better believe there's a court fight about evicting the tenant. amNewYork has a story about 60-year-old Williamsburg resident Jeannie Kraph who has been trying to fight an eviction notice for the past six months.
Kraph has lived on North 9th Street for 50 years and was told she was being kicked out because of "debris, noxious odors and an ongoing roach infestation." But she believes that she's being evicted because the building owners want to charge $1,500 - the going rent in her building - to new tenants. The building's managing agent denies that there are ulterior motives, saying, "I have doubt in her ability to maintain and take care of herself. As long as it affects the quality of life of the people around her, whether she pays $5 or $15,000, you have to deal with it the same way."
The owners initially offered her $100,000 to relocate last fall, but after a number of court appearances and a court inspection of Kraph's apartment, the owners are offering to renovate the apartment but increase the rent to $400/month. Which makes you wonder if the managing agent's claims really hold water. Kraph is considering the offer, but let's face it, we're going to be hearing many of these stories.
And when 94-year-old Boerum Hill resident Dominick Diomede was evicted from his $500/month apartment, many New Yorkers wanted to help. He eventually found a place nearby, with help from community groups and city agencies.
Photograph of North 9th Street by Brunocerous on Flickr
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What gives these people the right to this Apt ? Poor people should have no right to be living on the island. There should be a limit to how long these old farts can leech off the system.
Hey, uh, has anybody seen Fred? I've been looking for him. No luck.
I'm getting tired of these stories.What exactly entitles people to have an apt for life? I have no such illusions, if and when my landlord decides to not renew my lease, well, then I'll have to move on. If you want to stay in a property for the rest of your life, how about working hard, saving your money, and buying it! Not to mention imagine how much money this woman could have saved over the years with such an obscenely low rent. with that and the $100,000 they offered her she could have relocated to somewhere decent. And don't say " oh but that was her childhood home"- I don't live in the home I grew up in-do you??
Who's going to organize the rally to end rent control? It is embarrassing that NYC still has these asinine laws.
I'm constantly amazed at how hateful so many of the commenters on Gothamist are.
I like Gothamist and I actually find it rather cheery, but the comments are always from seemingly angry and self-serving people.
Does your life really revolve around money and logic?
Do you even have a heart?
Didn't your parents raise you to be nice and grateful for what you have and sympathetic to people who have less than you?
Being courteous, thankful and thoughtful doesn't make you uncool, or soft or whatever your problem is.
"What entitles people to have an apt. for life. . ."
Answer: the law--it's called rent control. If this is a real problem for you, maybe you should write your city council member. One of the qualifications for rent control is that this woman would have been living continuously in that apartment since 1971 or before. The reason the rent is so cheap is because the base rent in 1971 was low because possibly both the building and neighborhood weren't even remotely as desirable as they are now. Not very many people wanted to live in Williamsburg at that time--and for good reason.
It's odd that so far none of the commenters has mentioned the greed of the landlords and/or developers. Maybe you think they're performing a social service?
Don't pay too much attention to Fred [#1]. He also thinks nobody but himself deserves to win the lottery.
$150 rent is called a market imperfection. A portion of the $1,500 rent for the apt next door is a function of below market rate rent controlled apartments. Supply and demand are cruel mistresses if you're not a protected class.
Her rent is controlled by law.
as is yours and mine... but due to the Guliani/bloomberg assult on tenant's rights that law has been dimished.
Where is the morality in a situation where the building owner is trying multiple ways to illegally evict a tenant to charge overinflated market rate rent...
how would you feel if this was you mother or grandmother? Would you have the same callous attitude if it were your own family being squeezed out through no fault of their own. What good comes to the area by forcing out and displacing everyone below the $70,000 income mark?
I live in the apt I grew up in. Just because things happen to you doesn't mean they should happen to everyone.
uh, the pic is actually on N.10th and the mattress is no longer there. sad.
I reckon this will be an easy thing to prove or disprove, don't you? I mean if there's a noxious odor and the apartment is in disrepair, one set of independent eyeballs should be able to back it up.
It'll either prove the landlord is lying or telling the truth.
Imagine that. A simple, non-political solution.