Tenants Face Eviction Before the Holidays, Hope Mayor Intervenes

Tashawn Sutherland is facing eviction at 250 Clarkson Ave. after having lived at the residence for several years under the city’s now-defunct “cluster-site” shelter program.

UPDATE: Nov. 13, 2018

The Legal Aid Society secured a temporary stay for 60 residents — formally placed in the city’s “cluster” housing program — who are facing eviction. Attorney Sunny Noh is seeking that the stay remains in place pending the appeal to be argued on December 17, 2018.

FLATBUSH – About 80 tenants from nine apartment buildings throughout Brooklyn are asking the mayor to apply eminent domain to their apartments to avoid a mass eviction by their current landlord, Barry Hers.

Some of those tenants gathered to protest in the lobby of 250 Clarkson Ave. on Monday. Justice Peter P. Sweeney of the Kings County Supreme Court ruled on Nov. 5 tenants— who first came as participants of the city’s “cluster program” — are not protected under the state’s rent stabilization laws and have to vacate their apartments if they can’t pay fair market rates – 20 residents at 250 Clarkson are part of the lawsuit fighting to stay.

“It’s nerve-wracking because, you know, from day to day we don’t know if someone is going to knock on the door and say get your stuff and get out,” said Tashawn Sutherland. “The holidays [are] coming and it is a bad situation.”

Sutherland, 42, is among the 80 families who came to live in a Hers building as participants under one of the city’s shelter programs more than four years ago. The mother of three has health conditions that make her dependent on a walker and was evicted from a Bronx apartment before participating in the city’s homeless program.

Under the Department of Homeless Services’ so-called cluster-site homeless shelter program, the city paid nearly $3,000 per family to landlords of privately owned buildings to house the city’s homeless, even when they were housed in rent stabilized apartments that had legal rents of much less.

Alison Reba rallies with tenants at 250 Clarkson Ave.

The program was nixed in 2016 when the Department of Investigations released an alarming report uncovering horrid living conditions at DHS-run shelters. Now, tenants still living in those buildings-many with help from the city’s voucher program – are denied a lease and the same rent-stabilized rates as their neighbors.

“Three years ago we brought a lawsuit because what the landlord was doing here was blatantly illegal,” said Judith Goldiner of The Legal Aid Society. “He set up these fraudulent corporations in order to get almost $3,000 a month in an apartment that rented under $1,000, violating the rent-stabilization law.

Hers, the landlord, came under fire March 2016 when the businessman refused to turn over paperwork during a pending investigation of his company.

“We’ll be opposing and requesting a proper bond to be put in place,” landlord’s attorney Nativ Winiarsky told Bklyner. Winiarsky also said they’ll be asking fair market value for the apartments.

City Councilmember Jumaane Williams, who is running to be the next Public Advocate, and is a long-time Flatbush resident representing a neighboring council district spoke out against the controversial landlord.

“This gentleman, Barry Hers, is a terrible landlord,” said Jumaane Williams who said “bad actors” like Hers should have their property confiscated if they violate the rights of tenants. Williams also called on Mayor de Blasio to “keep his promise” and designate the cluster-units as rent-stabilized apartments, even if it means using eminent domain.

Legal Aid Society will appear in court tomorrow to file an application to request a stay for the tenants.

“Our mayor will not leave these families stranded and we will pay for lawyers to represent these families in housing court,” wrote the Mayor’s spokesperson Lourdes Centeno in an email.

Councilman Mathieu Eugene, whose district encompasses 250 Clarkson Ave. did not attend the protest, issue a statement or respond to requests for comment.

UPDATE: Nov. 13, 2018