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Brooklyn, NY – On Friday, November 22, Communities Resist joined a rally at 441 Wilson Avenue to call on the building’s landlord to make repairs so the tenants can safely return home. The rally was hosted by Council Member Sandy Nurse. Other participants included the offices of Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, Senator Julia Salazar and Council Member Jen Gutiérrez, Churches United for Fair Housing (CUFFH), New York Communities for Change, and El Puente.
For the past eight months, tenants at 441 Wilson Avenue have been displaced due to three electrical fires. This includes tenant Angel Kaba, a client of Communities Resist. Angel and her daughter have since lived in a shelter, with no return date set.
Since a vacate order was issued in March, the building’s landlord and management has not made the necessary repairs, except for those that are not permitted. This has only made the building less safe and delayed any attempts of the tenants returning home.
Angel Kaba and Communities Resist Attorney Alyssa Sanders spoke at the rally. You can watch their remarks here: Click Here.
Additionally, coverage of this rally was featured on News 12 Brooklyn and PIX11. You can watch the segments here: Click Here.
“No one should ever have to live through the trauma that Angel, her daughter, and the tenants of 441 Wilson Avenue have experienced these past eight months,” said Communities Resist Executive Director Nick E. Smith. “My heart breaks for these tenants. It is unacceptable that this building’s landlord has not been held accountable. I call on the landlord and management to immediately make the necessary repairs so that Angel, her daughter, and her fellow tenants can safely move back home. And I express my sincerest thanks to our attorney Alyssa Sanders for her amazing work in helping Angel and the tenants of 441 Wilson Ave.”
“Angel and her neighbors endured the trauma of three fires in the span of just over a month, said Communities Resist Attorney Alyssa Sanders. “Now she deals with the trauma of fighting for her rights in Housing Court and raising her daughter in the shelter. We need to hold landlords like these accountable and keep fighting for tenants’ rights in and outside of the courtroom.”
About Communities Resist
Communities Resist (“CoRe”) is a community-based housing legal services and advocacy organization established and led by people of color to empower, educate and represent low-income communities and community coalitions preventing gentrification and displacement. Founded in 2019, CoRe has racked up several impressive wins, stopping nearly 1,000 evictions, filing 4,000+ affirmative litigation cases, engaging more than 8,000 New Yorkers at housing rights workshops and recovering settlements of all sizes for tenants across New York City.
“After years of feeling powerless against our abusive landlord who wasn’t providing heat and hot water nor repairing my apartments, my neighbors and I had no other choice than to reach out for help. With the help of our attorney from Communities Resist we were able to organize a Tenant Association and fight back against the abusive landlord. We finally won,” said Ramona Blash of 316 Suydam St. Tenant Association.
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