The Living In the Slums & The Lease That Lays the Golden Eggs

What do you think of when you hear the term "slumlord?" Maybe you have it in your head that it's some scumbag that lives out on Long Island and hates poor people enough to keep their lives miserable while enriching himself? When I picture him, he's a guy like Barry Hers who owns 60 Clarkson, incapable of registering or caring about the pain and suffering he causes. The "slums" were something I'd read about, or hear about in songs or see in movies, and the scenario was always clear. Ill-meaning whites owning and not-maintaining decrepit buildings lived in mostly by people of color. Actually in other parts of the country white folks live in slums too...though they're often called "trailer parks." But as usual I'll try to focus closer to home.

But what if the Slumlords were really big real estate management companies and trusts, paying way too much money for properties that don't have the rent roll to support that cost? Is it morally any better if the owners denying heat in the dead of winter and harassing tenants into moving and scrutinizing incoming tenants for the proper complexion and making bullshit renovations to jack up the rent, is it any better that they're faceless companies rather than individual scumbags? There are usually individual scumbags at the top though, some of them even paying another company they themselves own for materials for said renovation then using those receipts as proof that they did tens of thousands of dollars worth of improvements, a fact that was only brought to light when fought scumbag was taken to court by one of their law abiding tenants? (true story.)

And what if these companies were basically falling over themselves to buy up big buildings at a time when rent stabilization laws are teetering on meaninglessness, as the State tips Republican and threatens to turn its backs on hundreds of thousands of people who thought they'd signed a lease on semi-stability in an apartment that would modestly increase year after year? And what if some of these companies were headed by confessed murders like Robert Durst?

Wouldn't that be like living in the VERY worst of neighborhood scenarios like you pictured when you envisioned living in "the slums?"

Well neighbors, you're living in and among "the Slums." It's just that in this crazy era, it's not because the neighborhood's too poor. It's that it's not yet rich enough.

A POST FROM EARLY JANUARY THAT BEARS REPEATING MANY TIMES:

The Q gathered together some addresses from the various activist groups fighting landlords for targeting tenants for displacement through many means, from miserable service to harassment to not cashing rent checks to renting only to whites to offering miserly buyouts and intimidating the vulnerable. Evil? Nah. Just all in a day's work on the way towards a Lease That Lays the Golden Eggs - a building free of rent stabilization. Twas a time when the spread between market rate and rent stabilization was not so great. In fact, thousands of people in the neighborhood were given "preferred" rents for years, a discount from the maximum the landlord could charge under stabilization. Those days are gone.

If you or folks you know live in one of these buildings, I encourage you to reach out to the Crown Heights Tenants Union, the Flatbush Tenant Coalition. And remember, you have the right to get a rent history of your apartment, which will show you how much you SHOULD be paying now. The Q just learned that one of these landlords who owns hardware and constructions concerns actually PAYS THEMSELVES for capital improvements that are shoddy. But the receipts are there for the judge! And the landlord can jack up the rent as a result. It's so disgusting and demoralizing as to make your head spin. This is how neighborhoods are torn apart, typically by race and class, and reconfigured to meet the outsized profit goals of the below companies, who have essentially cornered the market in Crown Heights and Flatbush and Lefferts and... Plus remember, this is just a subset of the bigger story in NYC. At this point, these companies are controlling so many lives they're like mini-states. Any of you live in any of these buildings want to share?

Building Address	Landlord
990 President Street 11225	burke Leighton
951 Carroll Street 11225	burke Leighton
805 St. Marks Avenue 11213 BK	burke Leighton
1834 Caton Ave 11226 BK	burke Leighton
1016 President Street 11225 BK	burke Leighton
2505 Bedford Avenue 11226 BK	burke Leighton
215 Sterling Street 11225 BK	burke Leighton
389 East 48 Street 11203 BK	burke Leighton
78 Hawthorne Street 11225 BK	burke Leighton
31 East 21st Street 11226 BK	burke Leighton
21 East 21st Street 11226 BK	burke Leighton
726 Ocean Avenue 11226 BK	burke Leighton
2201 Cortelyou Road 11226 BK	burke Leighton
219 E 17th Street 11226 BK	burke Leighton
610/612 Flatbush Avenue 11226 BK	burke Leighton
476 Ocean Avenue 11226 BK	burke Leighton
458 15th Street 11215 BK	burke Leighton
2564 Bedford Avenue 11226 BK	burke Leighton
2325 Foster Avenue 11210 BK	burke Leighton
608 Flatbush Avenue 11226	burke Leighton
115 Ocean Avenue 11225 BK	Jonas
181 HAWTHORNE STREET	Jonas
1600 CATON AVENUE	Jonas
315 OCEAN PARKWAY	Jonas
217 EAST 7 STREET	Jonas
465 EAST 7 STREET	Jonas
1620 CATON AVENUE	Jonas
214 EAST 8 STREET	Jonas
714 EAST 27 STREET	Jonas
415 WASHINGTON AVENUE	Jonas
245 OCEAN PARKWAY	Jonas
241 OCEAN PARKWAY	Jonas
147 Ocean Avenue	Jonas
931 PUTNAM AVE	ZT Realty
637 NOSTRAND AVE	ZT Realty
5 MACDONOUGH ST	ZT Realty
403 MACON ST APT 16	ZT Realty
1045 UNION ST	ZT Realty
874 BERGEN ST	ZT Realty
95 KINGSTON AVE	ZT Realty
244 NEW YORK AVE APT 8	ZT Realty
942 BERGEN ST	ZT Realty
1398 DEAN ST	ZT Realty
267 CLIFTON PL	ZT Realty
303 PUTNAM AVE	ZT Realty
299 PUTNAM AVE	ZT Realty
306 PROSPECT PL	ZT Realty
293 STUYVESANT AVE	ZT Realty
585 PARK PL	ZT Realty
276 THROOP AVE	ZT Realty
3 MACDONOUGH ST	ZT Realty
820 FRANKLIN AVENUE	ZT Realty
927 PUTNAM AVENUE	ZT Realty
1082-1092 President St	Shamco
1026 President St.	Shamco
1 St. Pauls Ct	Shamco
200 E 18th St	Shamco
2015 Foster Ave	Shamco
215 Martense St.	Shamco
350 E 19th St	Shamco
538-546 E 21st St	Shamco
543-549 E. 21st St.	Shamco
75-89 Hawthorne St	Shamco
860 Ocean Ave	Shamco
1702 Caton Avenue	Shamco
1710 Caton Avenue	Shamco
1716 Caton Avenue	Shamco
1722 Caton Avenue	Shamco
50 E. 19th St.	Shamco
1901-1907 Dorchester Rd.	Shamco
65 E. 19th St.	Shamco
2110 Newkirk Avenue	Shamco
690 Rogers Ave	Shamco
566 Parkside Ave	Shamco
558 Parkside Ave	Shamco
2101 Bedford Ave	Shamco
1204 Ocean Ave	Shamco
1553 Ocean Ave	Shamco
79-93 Bristol St	Shamco
1155 DEAN STREET	Renassiance Realty Group
1151 DEAN STREET	Renassiance Realty Group
764 ST JOHN'S PLACE	Renassiance Realty Group
1561 PITKIN AVENUE	Renassiance Realty Group
39 ARGYLE ROAD	Renassiance Realty Group
45 ARGYLE ROAD	Renassiance Realty Group
285 SCHENECTADY	Renassiance Realty Group
1646 UNION STREET	Renassiance Realty Group
153 CHAUNCEY ST	Renassiance Realty Group
511 Lincoln Place	Renassiance Realty Group
493 Lincoln Place	Renassiance Realty Group
495 Lincoln Place	Renassiance Realty Group
519 Lincoln Place	Renassiance Realty Group
505 Lincoln Place	Renassiance Realty Group
487 Lincoln Place	Renassiance Realty Group
2-12 Sutter Avenue	Renassiance Realty Group
235 Utica Avenue	Renassiance Realty Group
1701 Utica Avenue	Renassiance Realty Group
564 West 126 St.	BCB Property Management
556 West 126th Street	BCB Property Management
560 West 126th Street	BCB Property Management
308 West 88th street	BCB Property Management
1159 President St.	BCB Property Management
1153 President St., Brooklyn	BCB Property Management
543 Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn	BCB Property Management
529 Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn	BCB Property Management
527 Nostrand, Brooklyn	BCB Property Management
525 Nostrand, Brooklyn	BCB Property Management
179 Havemeyer St, Brooklyn	BCB Property Management
384 Court St, Brooklyn	BCB Property Management
1215 Myrtle Ave, Brooklyn	BCB Property Management
317 4th Ave, Brooklyn	BCB Property Management
250 Pacific St, Brooklyn	BCB Property Management
234 Union Ave, Brooklyn	BCB Property Management
285 Court St	BCB Property Management
384 Court St	BCB Property Management
1059 Union St	BCB Property Management
1115 Union St	BCB Property Management
442 Lorimer St	BCB Property Management
15 Crown Street	BCB Property Management
991-993 President Street	BCB Property Management
329 Lincoln Place	BCB Property Management
315 Lincoln place	BCB Property Management
319 Lincoln Place	BCB Property Management
323 Lincoln Place	BCB Property Management
1171 President Street	Pinnacle
382 Eastern Parkway	Pinnacle
225 Parkside Avenue	Pinnacle
991 Carroll Street	Pinnacle
706 Lefferts Avenue	Pinnacle
681 Ocean Avenue	Pinnacle
1554 Ocean Avenue	Pinnacle
459 Schenectady Avenue	Pinnacle
176 Clarkson Avenue	Pinnacle
3301 Farragut Road	Pinnacle
489 Eastern Parkway	Pinnacle
481 Eastern Parkway	Pinnacle
497 Eastern Parkway	Pinnacle
990 Montgomery Street	Pinnacle
40 Argyle Road	Pinnacle
28 Argyle Road	Pinnacle
307 12th Street	Pinnacle
961 Washington Avenue	Pinnacle
1535 Ocean Avenue	Pinnacle
1362 Ocean Avenue	Pinnacle
619 Rugby Road	Pinnacle
615 Rugby Road	Pinnacle
607 Rugby Road	Pinnacle
1042 Union Street	Pinnacle
292 St Johns Place	Pinnacle
926 Carroll Street	Pinnacle
1038 Union Street	Pinnacle
1597 Bedford Avenue	Pinnacle
916 Caroll Street	Pinnacle
1048 Union Street	Pinnacle
85 Clarkson Avenue	Pinnacle
529 East 22nd Street	Pinnacle
1060 Union Street	Pinnacle
601 Crown Street	Pinnacle
426 East 22nd Street	Pinnacle
222 Lenox Road	Pinnacle
2102 Beverly Road	Pinnacle
176 Clarkson Ave	Pinnacle