{"id":2599,"date":"2024-11-26T09:05:36","date_gmt":"2024-11-26T14:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/multi.nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/?p=2599"},"modified":"2024-11-26T09:05:36","modified_gmt":"2024-11-26T14:05:36","slug":"bushwick-residents-rally-for-tenants-evicted-after-multiple-fires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/bushwick-residents-rally-for-tenants-evicted-after-multiple-fires\/","title":{"rendered":"Bushwick Residents Rally For Tenants Evicted After Multiple Fires"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By: Owen Lavine<\/p>\n

Residents, local elected officials and housing advocates rallied on Friday to call on a private equity landlord of a Bushwick rental building to allow the city to investigate the property after several fires displaced tenants from their homes.<\/p>\n

Isabella Bastiani and Angel Kaba, residents of 441 Wilson Ave., said they were ordered to evacuate from their homes in March after several fires<\/a> in their building. Despite many attempts to get their landlord, the Raisner Group, a private equity firm, to fix the building during and after the fires, the tenants say their requests fell on deaf ears. Now they suspect the company is renovating the apartments for new tenants that will pay higher rent, an example of tenant displacement and gentrification.<\/p>\n

Elected officials are pushing the city to do more. City Council Member Sandy Nurse is not only trying to help the tenants deal with the “maze of bureaucracy” to secure housing as they continue to be locked out of their homes, but she is also considering drafting legislation to ban private equity firms\u00a0from owning small homes and rent stabilized buildings.<\/p>\n

Private equity firms don\u2019t have a stake in their communities and are using New York\u2019s housing stock \u201cas long term investments to seek profit and they want to maximize their profit,” Nurse told BK Reader.<\/p>\n

Evelyn Cruz, district director for U.S. House Representative Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez, said city agencies are failing to exercise their duties.<\/p>\n

“They have all the tools in the box and they are not using the tools to protect our tenants,” she said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\"img_0279\"
Residents rally for the tenants at 441 Wilson Ave., who were displaced after multiple fires earlier this year. . Photo: Supplied\/Office of CM Sandy Nurse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

Officials from the offices of\u00a0Council Member Jennifer Guti\u00e9rrez, State Senator Julia Salazar and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said unpermitted renovation work should be halted, a comprehensive review of the work after the fires by the Department of Buildings and Housing and Preservation & Development was needed, and all displaced residents should be guaranteed to return to their homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk about expanding housing in New York City when they cannot even protect our existing tenants,\u201d Cruz added. \u201cWe should have a right to know who are these landlords, who are these ‘predator’ equity investors because they are investors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bastiani said she was forced to leave\u00a0the building eight months ago after repeated electric fires and gas leaks, which caused the heat and hot water to be shut off.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don’t realize what living without heat and hot water and power will do,\u201d Bastiani said. \u201cWe were all losing weight. We were so anxious about everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite Bastiani and Kaba\u00a0calling\u00a0the building\u2019s management company, Taube Management, numerous times, help never came.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were pretending they were doing things,\u201d Bastiani said. \u201cLike sending us little blurbs about, \u2018oh, we’re getting somebody in to do this\u2019 and then they wouldn’t show up or it would be somebody that didn’t actually have any licenses to do electrical work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Raisner Group, under the name BK Immobilier\u00a0LLC,\u00a0was cited six times\u00a0this year<\/a> by the Department of Buildings for conducting electrical or construction work without a permit. The violations have racked up over $54,000\u00a0in fines. City HPD has also recorded over 140\u00a0violations<\/a> on the property since the company took ownership in 2018.<\/p>\n

Juan Mayancela, director of Community Organizing for Council Member Gutierrez, called on developers and landlords \u201cto respect our tenants, you have to not neglect them, not harass them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only does Bastiani want a \u201clivable\u201d apartment but for \u201cthese rich people, to be taken down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re just taking advantage of people that don’t have money,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Brooklyn Reader reached out to Remy Raisner Rufenrach, who heads the Raisner Group and Taube Management, multiple times but did not receive a comment or response.<\/p>\n

The Bushwick building is now padlocked and Kaba and Bastiani have been forced to seek shelter elsewhere. Kaba, who has a 7-year-old\u00a0daughter and is a survivor of abuse,\u00a0relocated to a homeless shelter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t wish [this] on my worst enemy\u201d Kaba said, describing the conditions of the shelter. \u201cYou don’t have privacy, you don’t have a personal life, you cannot have your own furniture, you have a curfew, you have to sign in and out\u2026 I want to have my life back.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Owen Lavine Residents, local elected officials and housing advocates rallied on Friday to call on a private equity landlord of a Bushwick rental building to allow the city to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5888,"featured_media":2600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,36,22,64,32,3,65,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brooklyn","category-district-leader","category-features","category-homeowner-news","category-housing","category-local-nyc-politics","category-news","category-voter-news"],"yoast_head":"\nBushwick Residents Rally For Tenants Evicted After Multiple Fires - NYC Political News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/bushwick-residents-rally-for-tenants-evicted-after-multiple-fires\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bushwick Residents Rally For Tenants Evicted After Multiple Fires\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By: Owen Lavine Residents, local elected officials and housing advocates rallied on Friday to call on a private equity landlord of a Bushwick rental building to allow the city to […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/bushwick-residents-rally-for-tenants-evicted-after-multiple-fires\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NYC Political News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-26T14:05:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/11\/evelyn-cruz.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"NYC Politics Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"NYC Politics Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/bushwick-residents-rally-for-tenants-evicted-after-multiple-fires\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/bushwick-residents-rally-for-tenants-evicted-after-multiple-fires\/\",\"name\":\"Bushwick Residents Rally For Tenants Evicted After Multiple Fires - NYC Political News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/bushwick-residents-rally-for-tenants-evicted-after-multiple-fires\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/bushwick-residents-rally-for-tenants-evicted-after-multiple-fires\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/11\/evelyn-cruz.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-26T14:05:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#\/schema\/person\/939ed66bd7624d1689ff44e84f172524\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/bushwick-residents-rally-for-tenants-evicted-after-multiple-fires\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/bushwick-residents-rally-for-tenants-evicted-after-multiple-fires\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/bushwick-residents-rally-for-tenants-evicted-after-multiple-fires\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/11\/evelyn-cruz.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/11\/evelyn-cruz.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Evelyn Cruz, district director for Rep. 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