Homeless squeeze
Tenants fight bid to boot them in shelter plan
QUEENS TENANTS say they plan to file a lawsuit Friday against a nonprofit Christian ministry that wants to kick them to the curb and convert their building into a homeless shelter.
Legal Aid Society lawyers are expected to join several residents outside the 39-unit Astoria building Friday to announce the suit against the New York School of Urban Ministry. The lawsuit seeks to keep the tenants from being evicted and to have the building rent-stabilized. The organization has avoided rent controls by claiming it uses the site for charitable purposes.
“This is a landlord who is taking advantage of the housing crunch in the city and taking advantage of a building they own and squeezing out the tenants,” said Sateesh Nori, attorney-incharge of civil practice with Legal Aid’s Queens Neighborhood office. “What makes it more insulting is that this landlord happens to be a religious organization.”
The evangelical ministry school founded in 1984 tried to toss tenants out of the dormitorystyle complex during the holiday season. Tenants showed the Daily News letters from the Rev. Peter DeArruda that they said didn’t follow the proper legal procedure. Some letters threatened legal action.
“I felt very bad because I wasn’t expecting it. It was just during the holidays,” said Mariluz Morales, 56, a five-year tenant. “This is home for me.”
City officials said at the time they were approached about using the building as a homeless shelter but backed away when they realized there were longterm tenants. Many of the residents pay $400 to $500 a month for their single-occupancy rooms.
“The deeper we dig into this issue, the worse it looks for the landlord,” said state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Queens), who has been advocating for the residents.
A lawyer representing the ministry and DeArruda, who lives in a $600,000 home in Whitestone, said he had yet to see the suit.
State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent a letter to DeArruda on Thursday calling for a halt to the evictions until the court has time to review the lawsuit.
Residents and their supporters hoped the ministry school would have a change of heart. “As a charitable organization, one would hope that NYSUM would have a modicum of basic human compassion for these low-income residents,” said City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Queens).