A housing battle in
Brooklyn tenants, activists march as end of the eviction
BY KIRSTYN BRENDLEN
Tenants and housing activists
marched through Brooklyn
and Manhattan on Saturday,
calling for an extension to
the eviction moratorium and
a blanket end to cold-weather
evictions in New York City.
The moratorium was put in
place in March 2020, as New
Yorkers across the state had
their working hours slashed,
or lost their jobs altogether,
as the fi rst wave of the pandemic
took hold. Even so, tenants
— including more than 2
million who rent in New York
City — have held their breath
as the moratorium, which was
fi rst set to expire last June, has
been extended a few months at
a time — often just days before
its expiration.
In September, Gov. Kathy
Hochul extended the moratorium
one more time, from Oct.
1, 2021, to Jan. 15. 2022. Days
away from the expiration date,
Hochul seems inclined to let
the moratorium end, even as
COVID rates in the city skyrocket
COURIER L 12 IFE, JANUARY 14-20, 2022
and wintry winds blow
in.
“I think that this is a concerted
effort by the rich and
powerful, more than anything
else,” said Joel Feingold, a cofounder
of the Crown Heights
Tenants Union, on why Hochul
seems likely to fi nally let the
halt on evictions lapse. “It’s really
part of a concerted push
not just to force people back to
work for profi ts sake, health be
damned, but also to chip away
at some of the victories that
working class tenants have
made in building a little bit of a
sense of democracy during this
pandemic.”
The Crown Heights Tenants
Union, the Flatbush Tenant
Coalition, the New York
City chapter of the Democratic
Socialists of America, and
the Party for Socialism and
Liberation gathered outside
Brooklyn Housing Court and
marched across the Brooklyn
Bridge to Manhattan Housing
Court, chanting “I believe that
we will win” and stopping outside
the Court Street offi ce of
the law fi rm Slochowsky and
Slochowsky, who provide legal
representation to some of the
city’s eviction-hungry landlords.
Included on that list is Demetrios
Moragianis, who owns
six buildings in Brooklyn and
has sued more than 400 tenants
for eviction during the
pandemic, according to data
maintained by Right to Counsel
NYC. Moragianis has successfully
evicted more than 50
tenants since 2017. Moragianis
also owns The Astra, a new
mixed-affordability building
on Gates Avenue in Bedford-
Stuyvesant, by way of The Astra
at Gates Avenue, LLC.
The coalition is asking to
extend the eviction moratorium
until June 2022, and to
put a permanent end to evictions
during the city’s “heat
season,” when landlords are
required to turn on the heat in
their buildings, from Oct. 1 to
May 31 each year, following the
lead of cities like Seattle.
Advocates and lawmakers
are pushing hard to pass “Good
Cause” eviction laws, which
would give tenants the right to
a lease renewal, cap large rent
increases, and prevent landlords
from evicting tenants
without an order from a judge.
Some have stopped fi ghting to
extend the moratorium in favor
of waging a legislative battle
to pass Good Cause.
Tenants and activists walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan
Housing Court. Photo by Adrian Childress
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