Good morning, Chair Sanchez and members of the Committee and thank you for holding this hearing today. I am representing Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who thanks the Council for focusing on the Block by Block Plan, which outlines how Mayor Mamdani and his team plan to address our dire housing crisis over the course of this term.
We are focusing today’s testimony on the intersection of code enforcement; preservation of quality, affordable housing; and tenant organizing and supports, all of which are inextricably linked, as well as on two pieces of legislation being considered today. We are hopeful that the Council will schedule future hearings on other components of Block by Block, particularly its intersection with the recently released Fair Housing Growth Strategy.
Housing Task Forces
Having represented the rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Ridgewood as a Councilmember, and now focusing on all of Brooklyn, Borough President Reynoso has been working at the epicenter of the city’s housing crisis for many years. Block by Block expresses intent to work across agencies and with community partners to strengthen code enforcement and prevent displacement, and we want to share our experience doing just that in hopes that the admin can build on this model.
In 2014, tenant organizers in North Brooklyn identified the need for inter-agency and inter-organizational coordination to address poor building conditions, construction as harassment, and illegal and/or neglectful landlord behavior. Organizers found that agency inspections resulting from 311 complaints were often disorganized and did not always result in the issuance of impactful violations, even when buildings needed serious repair.
What is a Housing Task Force? To address this, then-Councilmember Reynoso convened the North Brooklyn Housing Task Force, which began serving Williamsburg and Greenpoint and later added Bushwick. In 2023 as Borough President, he then convened the East Brooklyn Housing Task Force serving parts of Crown Heights, Bed Stuy, East Flatbush, Brownsville, East New York, and Cypress Hills. The model varies slightly between the two, but they share the goal of bringing City agencies together with local organizers to collaboratively address poor housing conditions and prevent eviction.
Who participates? Involved agencies include HPD, DOB, MOPT, and HCR, with other agencies such as OSE, DEP, DOHMH, FDNY, and the NYS Attorney General’s office brought in as needed. Participating groups in North Brooklyn include St. Nicks Alliance, Los Sures, RiseBoro, Communities Resist (CoRE), Build Up Justice, Takeroot Justice, and the Bushwick Housing Independence Project (BHIP). In East Brooklyn, participating groups are UHAB, HOPE Community, Cypress Hills LDC, and Brooklyn Legal Services.
How does it work? First, the organizers create a list of problem buildings based on their experience working with local tenants. They work together to get consensus on the most distressed buildings and prioritize them. They then share that list with the relevant agencies and meet monthly to review it. The agencies coordinate to address conditions in the identified buildings through coordinated roof-to-cellar inspections and other interventions. Since the programs’ inception, hundreds of buildings have received interventions that they might not have otherwise.
Why use this model? This regular coordination between local organizers and City agencies has several benefits. It formalizes a system that streamlines communication and efficiency between tenants, advocates, and government. Consensus on priorities helps ensure that buildings with the worst conditions are addressed first. Coordination between agencies, organizers, and tenants means tenants are more likely to be home when inspectors come, negating the need for multiple visits. Having multiple agencies visit a property together helps hold landlords accountable through multiple violation types and pressure points. This can also reduce litigation time, should the building wind up in housing court.
What challenges may arise? The North Brooklyn Housing Task Force paused operations in 2023 primarily due to a lack of resources, demonstrating that this model is not without pitfalls. Organizers felt that understaffing of the 311 system and headcount for inspectors at DOB and especially at HPD led to the return of a disorganized inspection regime and a lack of accountability for landlords, making the program less impactful. They also identified the need for strong outside leadership, such as a local elected official’s or Mayor’s office, to ensure that the agencies participate regularly and in good faith. The organizations also face funding challenges themselves, which is why we continue to advocate for an expansion of the Anti-Harassment Tenant Protection (AHTP) initiative in the budget.
What’s next? The administration could achieve many of Block by Block’s goals by expanding this model throughout the city, although we believe that a targeted, neighborhood-by-neighborhood approach is more likely to succeed than a full citywide expansion due to the resources necessary to sustain it. We recommend choosing geographies based on maximum potential to prevent evictions, improve building quality, support tenant stability, and address overcrowding.
The neighborhoods most likely to succeed in using the Task Force model will have a combination of active tenant organizing, and/or an investment from the City in capacity building for tenant organizing; as well as significant issues with poor building conditions. The latter can be measured using the City’s Equitable Development Data Explorer (EDDE)’s Housing Affordability, Quality, and Stability metrics, especially on overcrowding, evictions, and maintenance deficiencies. We also want to stress the importance of working with established local organizations. Their relationships within their communities, cultural competency, and sustained on-the-ground presence are critical for this work.
Tenant Relocation Assistance (TRAO) Legislation
While our first priority is to prevent displacement before it occurs, we also want to encourage housing growth citywide, which inevitably will lead to tenants displaced by demolition or major renovations. Additionally, although HPD structures its regulatory agreements to encourage perpetual renewal, the property owner ultimately decides whether to renew when any such agreement expires.
Intro 250-2026, introduced by Council Member Hudson by request of Borough President Reynoso, aims to address this by ensuring that displaced tenants receive compensation to assist with relocation expenses. The legislation is based on a Seattle program that has served thousands of tenants since it started in 1990. It would require HPD to provide relocation assistance to qualified tenants making less than 130% AMI who are displaced due to demolition, major renovation, or (and this is different from Seattle’s) expiration and non-renewal of a regulatory agreement.
The bill allows HPD to establish the payment amount by rule, which could be based on factors such as income, geography, or other relevant data. (Seattle has a flat rate of $5,354 for eligible tenants.) It proposes splitting the cost between the developer and the City, as in Seattle. The City contribution acknowledges that the City’s zoning code and policy is to support additional growth and change, and so it shares in the responsibility for maintaining housing stability and affirmatively furthering fair housing.
We encourage the Council to schedule this bill for a future hearing that will also examine HPD’s Fair Housing Growth Strategy.
Legislation on Today’s Agenda
Intro 178, which would create an Office of Conversion Assistance, is well-intentioned to assist developers with office-to-residential conversions. The New York Times recently reported that the City has already issued permits for 74 projects that will create more than 1,000 new homes since City of Yes allowed this practice. However, Borough President Reynoso is concerned that the language in this bill could unintentionally also allow for the new Office to support manufacturing-to-residential conversions, and requests that the bill be updated to clarify that industrial properties and properties that could be used for manufacturing per zoning will not be included.
Despite some perceptions, our city’s industrial base is thriving and needs room to grow. It employs almost 600,000 New Yorkers, predominately people of color, in high-paying jobs with low barriers to entry. If the City continues to make policy that eats away at our industrial districts, we put these New Yorkers and their families at risk. As we like to say, no housing is affordable if you don’t have a job.
Intro 905, the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, is important policy for stabilizing communities and fighting the housing crisis. It creates a process for qualified, mission-driven developers and community land trusts to make a competitive offer when a landlord sells a multifamily building. This levels the playing field for these nonprofits and increases the chances that existing affordability will endure and that any profits will stay in the community. Borough President Reynoso appreciates Councilmember Nurse’s thoughtful updates to the bill this term and urges the Council to move quickly to pass it again.
Thank you again for holding this hearing today. Borough President Reynoso remains a steadfast partner in fighting the housing crisis, whether it’s protecting tenants, fighting unscrupulous landlords, or encouraging more, and more equitable, housing development.
