Reopening Housing Court Is "Premature And Dangerous," Brooklyn Lawmakers Say

Fully reopening the current housing courts in person in Brooklyn during the COVID-19 pandemic would be "premature and dangerous" due to conditions with narrow hallways, small elevators, and windowless rooms for conferences, a group of lawmakers charged in a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio this week.

"Given the conditions and structure of the housing court's building, we believe that reopening the building too soon would pose an unacceptable risk to public health and exacerbate the crisis, and we urge you to secure an alternative location," 23 elected officials, led by Brooklyn State Senator Zellnor Myrie, wrote on Monday.

The Brooklyn elected officials demanded City Hall and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services find a new location and end the lease at the Brooklyn housing court, at 141 Livingston Street, altogether.

It "was never meant to be a court and was an unacceptable space for an extremely busy housing court long before this crisis," they wrote.

Listen to Beth Fertig's report on WNYC:

Tenants have to pass through narrow hallways and elevators, which the lawmakers wrote are "extremely small, slow, and therefore crowded."

Waiting areas include narrow halls and a "very crowded" waiting room that's often standing room only.

"Conditions are so crowded the fire department has been called to address unsafe overcrowding," they wrote in the letter, based on their knowledge of the building and testimonies from organizations that represent low-income tenants, Myrie's office said.

"The bathrooms, likewise, not only are they completely disgusting but they are very tiny," The Legal Aid Society's attorney-in-charge of the Civil Law Reform Unit, Judith Goldiner, said. "It's just a disaster."

Lawyers have wanted the court to be relocated for years—but its poor design is all the more dangerous due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"If you are going to go forward with opening courts, you cannot do that safely in Brooklyn," Goldiner said. "You need to find another courthouse. Do it now. You should have done it, frankly, more than 30 years ago, but you need to do it now."

De Blasio spokesperson Jane Meyer said, "Right now, the Court has taken precautions, including suspending most eviction proceedings until further notice, to ensure the number of people in the building itself is minimal."

Court staff and cases heard in person are expected to increase under the next phase, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore said in a video message on Monday.

Office of Court Administration Lucian Chalfan added the office is "in discussions regarding expanding in-person operations, including appearances, and will have updated information when all parties are notified."

Implications for housing court under Phase 3, which is expected to begin on July 6th, are "still under discussion," he added.

Though housing court hearings for people with legal representation in existing or emergency cases remain virtual, in-person operations have been "carefully and incrementally" ramped up throughout the phases in the courts system, Chalfan said. People without attorneys are currently permitted to come in person to file papers in housing court, though there is also now an online system.

But when questions cannot be resolved remotely through the system, which Goldiner says is inadequate, or by mail, tenants may be forced to go in person to handle matters. Last month, when civil courts opened for Phase 1, a tipster sent us photos and video of people lining up and walking through close quarters within the building in Brooklyn.

When the courts reopened for Phase 1, everyone entering was required to wear a mask and follow physical distancing measures. Acrylic barriers and hand sanitizer dispensers were also expected to be installed.

A separate photo released by the courts system June 23rd shows the barriers installed at 141 Livingston Street.

The state's eviction moratorium for people who've suffered financial hardship related to COVID-19 is set to expire August 20th, after earlier protests and calls to keep the housing courts closed.

Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a measure Tuesday that will keep landlords from booting their tenants from their apartments if they've suffered financial hardship, but it won't stop them from forcing tenants to court to track down rent payments as hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers have lost work during the economic crisis.

The Brooklyn Tenant Lawyers Network emphasized how fully opening the Brooklyn housing court building perpetuates racial disparities in a letter to a group of judges on Tuesday.

"Today, tenants living in majority-Black zip codes are more than three times as likely to be evicted as tenants living in majority-white zip codes," the group of lawyers wrote. "This alone commands a pause to eviction proceedings until adequate policy solutions are developed."

Even the landlord group, Rent Stabilization Association, agrees the Livingston Street location, as well as other locations, are inadequate—but stopped short of pausing eviction proceedings.

"Every housing court except for Manhattan is inadequate," said Mitch Posilkin, general counsel for the association. "We strongly support the modernization of housing court facilities in new locations. But that being said, what is supposed to happen in the short term. For landlords who need rent monies in order to pay city property taxes, city water and sewage charges and mortgages and utilities and labor costs and insurance. If tenants do not pay, there needs to be a mechanism where by owners can get the money to pay those bills."