Press Release: Communities Resist Rallies with Housing Advocates and Elected Officials Calling on HPD to Remove Negligent Landlord

Press Release: Communities Resist Rallies with Housing Advocates and Elected Officials Calling on HPD to Remove Negligent Landlord
Rally comes after 156 S. 9th Street landlord has racked up over 400 violations

New York, NY – Today, Communities Resist (CoRe), the 156 South 9th Street Tenants Association, Los Sures Lucha, Southside United HDFC-Los Sures, community activists, and Senator Julia Salazar rallied in front of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) headquarters to call on HPD to remove Jacob Meislik as landlord of 156 South 9th Street. This includes urging HPD to file a 7A case, which would assign a court-ordered administrator to replace Meislik.

Located in Williamsburg, the tenants of 156 South 9th Street have suffered from years of neglect. As landlord, Meislik has racked up over 400 housing violations. This includes mold, no cooking gas, lack of heat and hot water, and power outages. After forming a tenant association back in August, the tenants filed an HP case in housing court demanding that Meislik make repairs. After Meislik refused, HPD’s Emergency Repair Program (ERP) stepped in to restore heat and hot water.

However, the tenants still have no cooking gas. Due to the building’s weak electricity, cooking on hot plates has become increasingly more difficult. Additionally, this building has over 20 warehoused units. They have fallen into disrepair, infested with vermin, have missing windows, and contain mold. Despite Meislick knowing about these conditions, he continues to neglect the building’s tenants.

While HPD has taken some action, including placing the building in the Alternative Enforcement Program (AEP), it is simply not enough. HPD filing a 7A case is a necessary step. Replacing Meislik with a court-ordered administrator will not only help ensure that repairs are made, the building will become safe and habitable again.

Communities Resist Attorney Daisy Fernandez, who represents the 156 South 9th Street Tenants Association, spoke at the rally. You can watch her full speech here: Click Here.

Communities Resist Director of Litigation Sam Chiera also spoke. You can watch his full speech here: Click Here.

“The tenants of 156 South 9th Street have suffered greatly at the hands of a negligent landlord,” said Communities Resist Executive Director Nick E. Smith. “From refusing to make repairs to allowing his tenants to live in such unsafe conditions, it is clear that Jacob Meislik is not fit to be a landlord. I urge HPD to take further action and immediately remove Jacob Meislik. Tenants have the right to live in a safe environment, not one of neglect.”

“This landlord has repeatedly failed to appear in court, and neglects crucial repairs that are vital for the tenant’s health and safety,” said Communities Resist Attorney Daisy Fernandez. “It’s long past time for the city to intervene to ensure that the tenants have a safe and healthy home, free of despair.”

“The tenants of 156 South 9 St need HPD to file a 7A because their landlord, Jacob Meislik, has had infinite chances and has proven he could care less about the tenants and has refused to show up to nearly all his court appearances,” said Lina Renique-Poole, Southside United HDFC – Los Sures Deputy Director Of Housing Resources. “The only possible solution to the tenant’s suffering is to take the building away from him.”

“I have to pay for my apartment to be repaired because the landlord never wants to fix or repair anything,” said Marianna Lopez, Tenant of 156 South 9th Street. “He keeps telling me soon, but the job never gets done. I’m tired of having to pay for repairs when the LANDLORD should be sending someone to make repairs.”

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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