Rent-Stabilized Tenants File Complaint With NYC Human Rights Commission, Charging Landlord With Trying To Give Them The Boot Through Harassment, Discrimination, Unsafe Living Conditions In Effort To Illegally Boost Rents

In Sunset Park, Brooklyn, NY1 News reports:

• Rent-stabilized tenants in one Brooklyn neighborhood are accusing their landlord of trying to kick them out to get higher rents.
  
  Residents rallied in Sunset Park [] to demand better living conditions.
  
  They filed a complaint with the city Commission on Human Rights, charging landlord Soo Fung Dong with harassment, discrimination and unsafe living conditions.
  
  They say they've been living with no heat, hot water and other utilities.
  
  "There will be no harassment on tenants that have been living here their entire lives," said City Councilman Carlos Menchaca of Brooklyn. "There are new landlords that have bought buildings that are now trying to usher our families out into the streets so that they can remove affordable housing and stabilized housing and bring in market values. That will stop."
  
  "There's no heat or hot water," said one tenant. "There's mold, there's lead. In my apartment, there's lead in the radiator." Hundreds of complaints have been sent to the city since Dong bought the building on 61st Street in 2007.
  
  A settlement last month ordered Dong to make needed repairs on the building.

Source: Rent-Stabilized Tenants in Sunset Park Accuse Their Landlord of Trying to Kick Them Out to Get Higher Rents.

See also, Sunset Park Tenants File Human Rights Complaint Against ‘Racist’ Slumlord:

• [R]ini Fonseca, an attorney with the Urban Justice Center,(1) represents the tenants at 430 61st St., said Neighbors Helping Neighbors tipped her about the injustices caused by Dong. “We couldn’t believe what we heard about the conditions and the treatment,” Fonseca said. “Today, residents are taking a stand and saying no more harassment.”

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(1) The Urban Justice Center is a non-profit, public interest law firm serving New York City's most vulnerable residents through a combination of direct legal service, systemic advocacy, community education and political organizing.