Midwood landlord faces lawsuit
Civil rights organization alleges real estate honcho won’t rent to African-Americans
The investigations began
in September 2016, when the
building superintendent Eldina
Balic allegedly allowed a white
man to tour two vacant apartments
and claimed they were
available for rent, only to deny
any vacancies to an African-
American man the following
day, according to the lawsuit.
The day after that, Balic allegedly
allowed a second white
“tester” to tour the same vacant
apartments — in addition
to providing him with rental
applications. On this occasion,
Pollak met the supposed renter
and encouraged him to apply to
the “Jewish building,” which
was fi lled with “good” and “stable”
tenants, located in a “quiet
and safe neighborhood,” according
to court documents.
The three other sting operations
outlined in the lawsuit
depict similar results. The
most recent sting operation
came last February, when Pollack
allegedly told an African-
American man that there was
“nothing available” — despite
allowing two white operatives
The landlord of this 48-unit apartment building in Midwood refuses to lease to African American tenants at his
“Jewish building,” claims a new lawsuit. Photo by Trey Pentecost
for the Justice Center to tour
the same vacant apartment before
and after that denial, according
to the lawsuit.
The Justice Center’s
leader said discriminatory
practices like the ones Pollak
allegedly engaged in are
responsible for promoting racial
segregation, which continues
to infect the borough.
“Residential racial segregation
is not, and never has been,
a matter of choice. It was created
and is now perpetuated by intentional
discriminatory housing
practices like those documented
in our complaint,” said
Fred Freiberg, who heads up
the Fair Housing Justice Center
Celebrate With Us!
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
A Brooklyn landlord won’t
rent apartments to African-
American tenants at a “Jewish
building” in Midwood, a new
lawsuit claims.
The Fair Housing Justice
Center — a nonprofi t civil
rights organization — fi led the
suit in Federal Court on July
17, alleging that real estate honcho
Zev Pollak systematically
refuses to lease apartments to
non-white tenants at his 48-unit
apartment building at 1411 Avenue
N between E. 14th and E.
15th streets.
Census bureau statistics
from 2010 shows that the African
American population in
that section of the neighborhood
accounts for less than 2
percent of the area’s population,
according to the center.
The organization claims
they ran four sting operations,
in which they sent several people
— some white, some black,
but all with similar socio-economic
characteristics — to the
apartment posing as prospective
renters, and found vastly
different results based on their
skin color.
as executive director. “It is
beyond vexing that a real estate
broker, licensed by the State of
New York, is directly involved
in making housing unavailable
to people based on race.”
Pollack’s real estate company
— Zev Pollak Co LLC —
did not immediately respond to
request for comment.
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