MFY testified today in support of NY City Council legislation to require landlords to reduce the number of hazardous violations in their buildings before receiving permits for renovation and construction, and to obtain a certificate of no harassment before receiving building permits. These bills merely require what should not be controversial: that landlords ensure the …

A Manhattan judge granted a preliminary injunction barring a three-quarter house landlord from harassing tenants. After three tenants represented by MFY Legal Services won eviction cases in Housing Court, the three-quarter house operator cut off heat, discarded tenants’ food, and required them to move to different rooms every 28 days in an attempt to evade …

Three-quarter house residents represented by MFY won a preliminary injunction prohibiting NRI Group, a large operator, from evicting tenants without court process, mistreating tenants so as to pressure them to move out, and retaliating against tenants who have resisted eviction. Although the tenants had won illegal eviction cases against NRI in housing court, the operator …

As part of the citywide Stand for Tenant Safety Coalition, MFY stood with 200 representatives of housing and community organizations on the steps of City Hall to support a package of 12 bills being introduced in the City Council to address negligent response time from the Department of Buildings (DOB), insufficient services from DOB, safety …

MFY organizer Paulette Soltani’s comments on a judge’s decision to transition Narco Freedom residents to two new providers were featured in a recent CBS News report on the massive fraud case that landed Narco Freedom’s operators in jail and left hundreds of residents in housing limbo. Soltani commented that the decision is “a promising plan …

The New York Times reports that Yury Baumblit is facing criminal charges for illegally evicting tenants from three-quarter houses he operates. MFY has assisted scores of Baumblit’s tenants and has filed a class action lawsuit against Baumblit and others for widespread deceptive practices, harassment of tenants, violation of the rent stabilization code and laws, and …

MFY Attorney Tanya Kessler won the restoration of a west side tenant to his now occupied apartment six years after his landlord evicted him on a bogus subletting charge. Although he tried to appear to defend himself despite being incarcerated, the Housing Court judge defaulted him. After he filed an order to show cause upon …

MFY Attorney Tanya Kessler is quoted extensively in an article in City & State focusing on the long-term solutions to the problems of three-quarter houses, highlighting the need to increase the city’s shelter allowance for single adults, combat Medicaid fraud, end the exclusion of people with criminal records from public housing, and explore new models …