Brooklyn Landlord Who Allegedly Created A Panic In Effort To Abruptly Drive Dozens Of Elderly Residents (Many Over 100 Years Old) Out Of Long Term Care Facility For Luxury Condo Conversion Now The Target Of Ire From Victims' Friends, Relatives In Push To Pass Protections From Predatory Developers

In Brooklyn, New York, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports:

• Friends and relatives of seniors who lived at a once-flourishing long term care facility, Prospect Park Residence (PPR) in Park Slope, [] headed to Albany on March 1 to push a bill designed to protect the elderly from predatory landlords.
  
  The families say it’s shocking that the state allows developer seeking to turn senior residences into luxury housing to kick out elderly tenants with only 30 days’ notice.
  
  Only five seniors remain at PPR (and one of them is in the hospital at the moment).
  
  Roughly 130 elderly residents– many more than 100 years old -- were forced out in March 2015 after the facility’s owner Haysha Deitsch gave them just 90 days to find a new home. Deitsch hopes to convert the building to luxury condos, though lawsuits have slowed down his plan.
  
  Even three months’ notice was not enough time to find a new senior facility, says Myra Melamed, whose father passed away in December at the age of 98.
  
  Melamed said that within a few weeks of receiving eviction notices, services deteriorated and “solicitors were all over the residential floors” at PPR.
  
  “It created such a panic. There are so few options, especially in Brooklyn” for long term care, she said. “Just to get on a waiting list takes a few months, especially for people with dementia.”
  
  After the eviction notices went out, residents complained of harassment, closed-off rooms, water pouring through leaks in the ceiling, and rotten fruit and cheap food instead of special diets. In January 2015 the facility became infested with bedbugs, families said.

For more, see After seniors evicted, fuming Prospect Park Residence families head to Albany.