Borough President To Hold “Know Your Rights” Clinic For Tenants Next Week

New York City’s housing crisis is being felt by renters across Brooklyn.

In response, Borough President Eric Adams will convene a free “Tenants: Know Your Rights” workshop on Thursday, March 24th from 6 to 8pm at Grace Reform Church in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens.

(The church is located at 1800 Bedford Avenue, between Lincoln Road and Lefferts Avenue.)

Tenants will be able to speak with advocates and lawyers — in English or Spanish — from Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A (Brooklyn A) about their rights under federal, state, and local laws to protection from unfair practices by landlords, the Borough President’s Office said.

Families and older adults are victimized in particular by the housing crisis, the borough president said.

“With the continued increase in rents, the lack of quality affordable housing has contributed to a crisis in which families in many parts of Brooklyn are threatened with forced displacement from their homes,” said Adams.

“We will not allow illegal tenant harassment [to] undermine the rights of anyone in our community,” he added.

“It is crucial that tenants know that they have rights not only to basic services and repairs in their homes, but also to be free from housing discrimination,” said Caroline Losso, fair housing advocate for Brooklyn A.

“Throughout Brooklyn, we work with tenants who are denied repairs because of their race, face harassment because of their citizenship status, are denied housing because of a disability, or can’t find housing because they pay rent with a Section 8 voucher,” Losso pointed out.

Additional sponsors of the legal clinic include State Senator Jesse Hamilton, Assembly Member Diana Richardson, and City Councilmember Laurie A. Cumbo.

Other Resources For Tenants & Homeowners

The Borough President’s Office provides the Access to Legal Service program at Brooklyn Borough Hall, which is a partnership with the Brooklyn Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project and Legal Services NYC Brooklyn.

Call (718) 802-3777 to schedule an appointment for:

1.) Foreclosure intervention and prevention assistance on the second Wednesday of every month, from 2pm to 5pm and;

2.) Assistance for individuals with elder law and/or housing concerns on the second Thursday of every month, from 2pm to 5pm.

A listing of fair housing rights information, compiled by the Borough President’s Office and Brooklyn A, is available here.

Last summer, Borough President Adams held hearings in Downtown Brooklyn, East Flatbush, and Williamsburg that identified “scores of constituent cases with the potential for civil or criminal liability,” which he said his office is currently reviewing with legal advocates.

Adams’ office also held a tenant harassment legal clinic in December with Brooklyn Legal Services and the Legal Aid Society, targeting residents of Brownsville, Cypress Hills, and East New York.

Adams says he plans to bring similar outreach efforts to other Brooklyn neighborhoods.