East Flatbush tenants go on rent strike over poor living conditions inside apartments
Residents in the Homewood Gardens Tenant Association took to their front lawn to demand repairs and describe years-long issues like mold, lack of heat, and water damage.
Dozens of tenants in East Flatbush have gone on a strike and are refusing to pay their rent in an effort to get long-needed fixes done to their apartments.
Residents in the Homewood Gardens Tenant Association took to their front lawn to call for repairs and maintenance.
"In the kitchen, there are bugs living in the kitchen appliances," said Theresa Thompson, a tenant.
"I'm from a tropical island where there's only two seasons, sun and rain. And I ended up hating when it rains," said Mr. Pilgram, another tenant.
Pilgram has lived at Homewood Gardens for nearly 50 years, and says he has been dealing with a leaking ceiling for years.
Sandy, a third tenant, says she has been living in her unit for four decades. Her walls are cracked from water damage and her bathtub tiles are held together with tape.
"Honestly, it pains me sometimes," she said, "because everything we need to be done, to be comfortable in your own place."
The tenants have a list of demands they are asking for, including holding the property managers accountable.
The building is currently being overseen by court-appointed receivers after the original landlord filed for bankruptcy.
Now tenants say they are being neglected by that receiver, Dean Horowitz — and property manager Joel Spitzer.
They say neither is making the necessary fixes.
"We've reached out tons of times to them, repeatedly trying to get them to meet with us, to cooperate with us," said Jeff, another tenant, "To make the repairs we need in order to stop the neglect that we've been facing. And we basically have been stonewalled at every turn. "
News 12 attempted to contact Horowitz and Spitzer with no response.
