Apartment blocked
Landlord-city suit leaves grandma in shelter
A WASHINGTON Heights grandmother has spent 20 grueling months stuck in a dank, cramped homeless shelter — awaiting the resolution of a complex lawsuit involving her landlord and two city agencies.
There’s no relief in sight for Maritza Gonzalez, who lost her $858 two-bedroom apartment in October 2012, after city inspectors pronounced her flat — and three others in the 48-unit property — unsafe due to shoddy construction.
Her neighbors have since moved in with relatives or found new homes, making the 67-year-old Dominican immigrant the lone tenant without stable housing.
“When we left, we thought it would only be for a few months and now it’s going on for two years,” Gonzalez said through a translator, as she sat inside a single-room-occupancy shelter where she has been staying on the Upper West Side. “I don’t understand what’s happening.”
The turmoil began when landlord Susan Edelstein, the head of Kwik Realty, sent hardhats into the building to gut a groundfloor apartment. The work damaged ceilings and walls throughout the six-story property, court papers said.
The agency then slapped Kwik with a $20,000 fine and ordered speedy repairs. Meanwhile, workers from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development moved Gonzalez and three other families into various city shelters.
Edelstein later sent construction crews back into the building, but lied on city paperwork by describing the site as empty, officials said.
“The property owner signed an affidavit stating the building was unoccupied,” said a Department of Buildings spokeswoman, adding the agency has fined Edelstein a total of $25,250 in violations since the start of the chaotic case. Vacant buildings require less oversight during construction than those that still house tenants.
Officials stopped the work in December, ordering Edelstein to fix the apartments by June 18, but little progress has been made. When asked about the holdups, Edelstein blamed the city.
“They don’t want to work with me. They are working against me, so I can’t fix my building,” Edelstein said.
A Manhattan Housing Court judge is expected to rule on Edelstein’s fate June 19.
Matthew Chachère, a lawyer from Northern Manhattan Improvement Corp. Legal Services, who is representing Gonzalez, plans to ask the judge to jail Edelstein for neglect while ordering the city to make the needed repairs.
The latter request could be wishful thinking, given the city’s bureaucratic constraints. The property does not qualify for the emergency repair programs run by HPD, an agency spokesman said.
Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez (D-Washington Heights) said he has asked the housing agency to do more, adding, “We can’t waste any more time.”
Chachère said the saga illustrates the city’s sometimes-misguided use of taxpayer-funded resources.
“Why are we spending money putting people in shelters, when they could spend money repairing the building?” Chachère said.