Tag Archives: tenant harassment

Pinpointing the Eviction Machine with Local ANHD Monthly Data

The New York Times published a remarkable series of articles this weekend investigating Behind New York City’s Housing Crisis . Most observers know that speculative investing and harassment of tenants is a growing crisis that is undermining the core supply of affordable rent-regulated housing in New York City.  Most New Yorkers look at affordable rent-regulated buildings and see decent homes and stable neighborhoods, but too many speculators look at those same buildings and see boundless profits – as long as they can remove the low- and moderate-rent paying tenants. The New York Times series shows exactly how this process happens, and sadly, what effective strategies these landlords use to push out rent-regulated tenants.

What should we being doing in response? The Association for Neighborhood & Housing (ANHD) groups have long been dedicated to the answer – educate tenants at risk of displacement so they can better protect themselves and their communities, and organize to strengthen the movement to address the systemic roots of the problem.

ANHD recently released an important new information tool that can help with this crucial education and organizing effort. The Displacement Alert Project (DAP) District Reports are released each month for every community district in New York City showing:

• A building-by-building list of where key data shows that displacement risk might be rising in the past 30 days, using fresh data each month.
• Automatic links to key information for each individual building including ownership, lender, city housing code violations, and city buildings department information.

Check out the Displacement Alert Project (DAP) District Reports to see

where displacement risk might be rising in your neighborhood, then connect with

your local community group and decision makers to fight against displacement in your community.

Benjamin Dulchin, ANHD’s Executive Director

VICTORY: City Council to Pass Certificate of No Harassment Legislation

The Coalition Against Tenant Harassment is thrilled that Certificate of No Harassment (CONH) legislation passed in City Council today. An expansion of CONH beyond the Clinton Special District has been a goal in numerous community campaigns for decades, and our coalition in particular has organized and advocated for the past several years to make this program a reality.

Throughout New York City, far too many tenants face persistent harassment from landlords determined to drive them out in order to increase profits and deregulate affordable apartments. CONH will help to proactively prevent displacement by creating a strong disincentive for tenant harassment – essentially flipping the current incentive structure on its head. Where landlords have seen tenant harassment as a means to increase rents, the new CONH law will turn it into an obstacle to higher profits. And the simultaneous expansion of the definition of harassment in Intro 1721 will help to ensure that the real ways in which tenants experience harassment are acknowledged and counted in this and other programs and tools.

“In my community, too many tenants face harassment from landlords who want to push them out, renovate their apartments, and double the rent. In my building, where I have lived for 25 years, this is exactly what the landlord has done. This is why the Certificate of No Harassment is so important. This bill gives real voice to tenants and gives more weight to the complaints we make against our landlords,” said Maria Cortes, a member of Make the Road New York.

“Hard working people who are making the best with the lot they’ve been handed in life are working every day to make sure they cover the most important expenses in their household. But even so they are getting no repairs, and even living without basic services like heat and hot water. Hot water is a basic necessity for bathing and getting ready for work, or bathing after a long day, but people are going without because of deliberate landlord neglect. The Certificate of No Harassment will give us one more tool to hold our landlords accountable, and make sure tenants are able to organize for their rights,” said Sergio Cuevas, tenant leader & board member from the Northwest Bronx Community Clergy Coalition.

“As the leader of our housing team at the Fort Tryon Jewish Center, a member of Faith in New York, and a tenant who has experienced harassment myself, my community and I knew that we could not sit quietly and be complicit in the oppression and degradation of our neighbors so that we can enjoy a comfortable community. We will stand by our neighbors, and use the resources we have to help protect them. That’s why we started a petition to raise awareness in our own community about tenant harassment, found that it had wide support across faith and ethnic communities. We are excited to celebrate the passage of this bill and are dedicated to doing our part, knocking on doors, and doing what we all need to do to build the beloved city!” said Avi Garelick, housing team leader at Fort Tryon Jewish Center and member of Faith in New York.

We thank Council Member Brad Lander for tirelessly championing the Certificate of No Harassment legislation. We thank Council Member Jumaane Williams for his support and consistent commitment to tenants’ rights; Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito for her leadership; and all of the Council Members who co-sponsored the legislation, voted for it, and helped bring this crucial new protection to the tenants of New York City. We also appreciate the effort and attention HPD put into developing this legislation, and we look forward to working with them to successfully implement this new program.

This is a victory for the tenant movement, and for the thousands of New Yorkers who have fought and will continue to fight for the right to stay in their homes and communities.

For more information on the legislation, click here to read our explanation document.

Click here to read the full press release from Council Member Brad Lander’s office.

Thousands of Tenants March on Washington to Protest HUD Budget Cuts

ANHD Member Groups Fight Back Against Trump’s Proposed $7.4 Billion Cuts to HUD Funding

“When they say cut back, we say fight back… Cut Back! Fight Back!” On Wednesday, July 12^th, thousands of tenants from across the U.S. gathered in Washington, D.C. for a day of action protesting the proposed $7.4 billion funding cut to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). With their “Carson’s Cuts Kill” signs, the crowd chanted, “Fight, fight, fight, housing is a right!” as they gathered for a Town Hall to start the day. U.S. Senate and House Representatives – including Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Nydia Velazquez and Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York – spoke to the crowd, along with public housing residents, renters, and homeowners, who told stories of their own struggles against eviction.

Omar from Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (AACE) said, “We have to fight this collectively because we won’t win individually.” He continued, “We must make sure our stories are heard. Politicians may support us, but do they really know the struggle?”

“Public housing is also part of our infrastructure. It’s not just tunnels and bridges,” said Rep. Espaillat directly addressing the need for the funding, which if cut would eliminate housing vouchers for 250,000 households and increase rents for all federally assisted households from the current 30 percent of income to 35 percent, according to the research from Center on Budget and Policy Priorities as reported by U.S. News.

“A safe, stable, affordable home is the foundation for almost everything else in our lives. Raising children, finding good work, building a real community…everyone deserves a decent place to call home,” said Sen. Warren.

Tenants then gathered outside of Fannie Mae where they sang, danced, and cheered before marching to the HUD building where they staged a “die in” to illustrate the effect the proposed cutbacks would have on communities. After that, tenants marched through the streets of D.C. passing cars honking in support to the home of a Blackstone lobbyist – Blackstone, the largest private equity fund in the world, has become America’s largest corporate landlord. Blackstone has recently developed a fund to target senior housing, including manufactured housing communities. Their CEO, Steven Schwatzman, chairs President Trump’s Business Advisory Council.

The event was organized and sponsored by several organizations including New York Communities for Change, Community Voices Heard, Center for Popular Democracy, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, and others. ANHD and many of our member groups were there to participate and show our support including Banana Kelly Community Improvement Association, Community Action for Safe Apartments, and Make The Road New York.

Secretary of HUD Dr. Ben Carson supports the proposed budget cuts, which would mean necessary aid to the most vulnerable people across the country will be lost. This march is just the beginning. We will not stand by as people are priced out of their homes and put out on the streets. We believe housing is a fundamental right regardless of income level, and we will continue to fight with our member groups and the broader housing movement to not only push back against these devastating HUD cuts, but to fully fund our communities’ housing needs.

Photos Courtesy of Melanie Breault

Tenants of the Bronx and UWS Stand Up For Their Rights and Call For a Certificate of No Harassment

Tenants of 124 E 176^th Street and UWS hold actions on Wednesday to oppose tenant harassment from their landlords

Last week, two different local protest actions once again highlighted the harassment tactics that are displacing low-income tenants in neighborhoods across the city.

It has been over a month since tenants from the Tenant Association of 124 E 176^th Street sent a letter to their landlord, David David. David was on the Public Advocates “Worst Landlords” list twice under different aliases. He owns dozens of buildings in the Bronx, and his priority is unquestioningly profit over all else, including the lives of people who have the misfortune to live in his buildings. Senator Gustavo Rivera stood in solidarity with tenants to call for an end to these predatory practices.

In their letter, tenants asked David to meet with them to discuss the primary concerns of residents, including harassment, lack of repairs, and serious health concerns caused by mold, infestations of mice and rats, and lack of security. They received no response.

One tenant, Corine Ombongo-Golden, has taken to referring to her landlord as “Dracula” because of the draining affect his actions have on her and her neighbors. She described how he constantly takes tenants to court saying that they owe money when they are actually up to date.

“He is a master of strategic harassment,” she said, adding that, in addition to these frivolous court cases, tenants suffer through “verbal and other forms of harassment, like not making repairs and racist rhetoric.” With support from the Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition, tenants came together to protest these unjust actions at a rally outside of their building on June 28^th. Click here to see New 12’s coverage of the event as well as Telemundo 47.

The same afternoon, tenants of Meyer Orbach’s CoSo Apartments, working with the Goddard Riverside Law Project held a rally and demonstration to protest increasing tenant harassment. The Orbach Group, which owns over 70 apartment buildings within the Manhattan Valley area is currently under investigation from the NYC Attorney General’s office for a pattern of abuses towards rent stabilized and rent controlled tenants throughout their portfolio.

Council Member Helen Rosenthal and members of New York State Senator Marisol Alcantara’s office, Council Member Mark Levine’s office, and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer’s office were there to show their support.

Both actions were affiliated with the Coalition Against Tenant Harassment, which includes community groups from around the City organizing for increased protections for rent-regulated tenants. Egregious behavior by landlords continues to pop up in building after building, neighborhood after neighborhood, all over the City.

The tools currently in place clearly don’t do enough to prevent landlords motivated by future profits from resorting to illegal tactics to drive out tenants. But knowing that harassing tenants might put a permanent dent in those future profits could provide a real disincentive for those same landlords. A strong citywide Certificate of No Harassment law would be enough to make landlords think twice about using harassment to drive out tenants.

To learn more about the legislation and the Coalition Against Tenant Harassment (CATH), visit our website.

The “Bad Boy” Carveout

What the Attorney General’s Court Filing Says About Signature Bank, Madison Realty Capital, and the Business of Tenant Harassment

There has been a growing drumbeat of public criticism of tenant harassment in buildings with mortgage loans from Signature Bank, culminating last month in a tenant picket in front of Signature Banks’s Annual Investors Conference. Tenants have been telling the bank and the media that the harassment they are experiencing is both severe and intentional and that the bank should be aware of the damage their lending is enabling.

Now, a new court filing by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has exposed subpoenaed documents that appear to validate the tenants’ concerns: Signature Bank and Madison Realty Capital underwrote loans where the cost of the debt-service payments were far higher than the landlord could afford unless he kicked out the low-rent paying tenants. In fact, the landlord had an explicit plan that was understood by the lenders to do just that.

While tenants have raised concerns about a number of different buildings with Signature Bank loans (Read the letter tenants delivered to Signature’s board), the Attorney General’s filing focused on a portfolio of 15 rent-stabilized buildings in the Lower East Side that were purchased in 2015 by the now notorious Raphael Toledano. The Attorney General’s May 15^th filing focused primarily on the role of the primary lender on the buildings, a non-bank lender called Madison Realty Capital, objecting to a proposed bankruptcy order involving the Toledano buildings.

The Attorney General argued that internal, subpoenaed documents show that Madison Realty Capital was engaged in a predatory “loan to own” scheme that was both financially irresponsible and designed to displace rent-stabilized tenants. Ultimately, the buildings fell into foreclosure when Toledano was unable to pay his debts to Madison Realty Capital. The Toledano-related entities that own these 15 buildings subsequently filed for bankruptcy and worked out an agreement that would allow Madison Realty Capital’s  management arm, Silverstone Property Group, to  manage the buildings during the bankruptcy.  The Attorney General argues that Madison Realty Capital’s predatory scheme leaves them with “unclean hands”, and that the proposed bankruptcy order would unfairly allow them to maximize their own profits at the expense of the tenants and other unsecured creditors.  The bankruptcy judge nonetheless disregarded the Attorney General’s objections and adopted the proposed order. While we are disappointed by this decision as a technical matter in the bankruptcy case, it does not change the underlying facts that were revealed in the AG’s filing about the lenders’ predatory approach.

The subpoenaed documents and the Attorney General’s filing clearly suggest that Signature Bank also has “unclean hands”.

On the same day that Madison Realty Capital originated their loan to Toledano, Signature issued a loan to Madison Realty Capital with this same building portfolio used as collateral. The Signature Bank Loan data file makes clear that Signature Bank was complicit with Madison through their collateral loan “to provide capital for funding of the underlying loan,” together financing Toledano’s plan to displace and remove long-term tenants.

Rent-regulated multifamily housing is one of the most important sources of affordable housing in the city, but our City is losing rent-regulated housing at an alarming rate, with over 156,000 units of rent-regulated housing lost from 2007 to 2014 alone. Too often, unscrupulous landlords, like Toledano, use illegal and semi-legal tactics to push out low-rent paying tenants so they can take advantage of loopholes in rent-regulation to dramatically increase rents. In fact, the Attorney General filing describes the harassment tactics the Toledano Tenants Coalition has been reporting for years: aggressive, fraudulent, and improper buyout offers; frivolous lawsuits; and unlawful, hazardous renovations that resulted in losses of essential services and elevated lead levels. They also note that some of the “market-rate” apartments targeted to vacate may have been improperly removed from the rent-stabilization system.

Lenders should not be enabling this growing crisis with bad lending, but Signature Bank did exactly that.

ANHD has a set of common-sense best practices for responsible multifamily lending, but Signature Bank has rejected the need to follow them. The Toledano deal illustrates what can happen to low- and moderate-income New Yorkers when these guidelines are not followed.

• Best Practice #1: Lenders should underwrite to a minimum Debt Service Coverage Ratio of 1.2, based on current, in-place rents and realistic maintenance costs.

But, Signature and Madison underwrote the loans to a Debt Service Coverage Ratio of 0.83, meaning that Toledano would only have 83 cents in income for every $1 in debt he owed, unless and until he could rapidly increase the income, presumably by pushing out low-rent paying tenants. In fact, Signature Bank’s underwriting report explains that the Debt Service Coverage would rise to 1.27 when 41 rent-regulated tenants accepted buyouts, nine vacant units were occupied, and extensive renovations were completed.

One of the four mortgages Madison Realty Capital issued Toledano required him to spend $2 million of the loan exclusively on tenant buyouts or renovations. And the Attorney General filings revealed that a $4.3 million mortgage was specifically for tenant buyout payments and other “soft costs.”

From Pages 1 and 3 of the Signature Bank Loan Data File:

• Best Practice #2: Lenders should ensure realistic appraisal values, based on current rents, building conditions, and maintenance costs.

But, both Signature and Madison’s loan documents demonstrated that the Net Operating Income (NOI) was insufficient to cover just the interest payments on the loans and there was virtually no way he could pay off the loans within the two year term. The Attorney General asserts “Toledano and Madison’s Impossible ‘Plan’ for Increasing Property Values Relied on Unlawful Conduct and Tenant Harassment”.

Madison’s plan from the outset assumed that the Debtors would engage in unlawful conduct in an effort to meet Madison’s loan terms. The Debtors’ unlawful conduct – including, but not limited to, illegal and unsafe construction; tenant harassment; and the failure to operate these properties properly for tenants who chose not to vacate – was a consequence of these unaffordable loan terms. [Paragraph #79 of AG’s Objection to Final Consent Order]

From Signature Bank Corporate Credit Offering Memorandum:

Signature files reveal that the bank knows and trusts Madison’s business model and had no problem supporting them in making these loans. In fact, this led them to lower the risk assessment in relation to this particular loan.

According to the HPD’s analysis, the parties overvalued the properties and drastically underestimated the maintenance costs. In fact, HPD estimated that the true maintenance costs would be four times the amount in the loan documents. [Paragraph #45 of AG’s Objection to Final Consent Order] The filing also noted that the planned renovations to add bedrooms and drive up the prices included illegal bedrooms that would be too small and lack required windows.

Signature Bank, for example, has engaged in numerous transactions with Madison, including by purchasing a $70 million share of Madison’s debt on the East Village Portfolio. According to internal documents provided to the NYAG, Signature agreed to accept Madison’s loan to Toledano as collateral for its own $70 million loan to Madison, in part because Signature recognized that Madison “would have no problem foreclosing and or owning” the Portfolio when the loan to Toledano entered into default. … Signature also observed that Madison had significant experience with the type of scheme proposed by this deal, and that with many of the buildings Madison owned it had “purchased the buildings, gut renovated units and re-leased them at substantially higher rents.” [Paragraph #32 of AG’s Objection to Final Consent Order]

• Best Practice #3: Lenders should consult multiple sources to evaluate the record of landlords and property managers, including their record of managing properties that are not within the bank’s portfolio.

Toledano’s background check should have raised major red flags for any potential lender. He is a convicted felon and known for fraudulent behavior. He had very little experience as a property manager and one of his first deals led him to pay a reported $1 million settlement for harassment of tenants. Rather than turn the lenders away, Madison and Signature loaned him $124 million and Madison gave Toledano another $1.1 million mortgage to pay this settlement. [See Paragraph #37 of AG’s Objection to Final Consent Order]

In fact, Signature Bank’s underwriting documents refer to their “standard recourse ‘bad boy’ carveouts” in the loan documents. While the term is especially poetic, this may actually be a relatively standard mortgage clause. But, if Raphael Toledano doesn’t trigger the “bad boy’ clause, who does?

ANHD also recommends that banks hold regular information sessions with tenant organizers, hire a point person to meet with tenants and organizers when problems arise, take proactive steps to address issues in buildings, and decline to make loans that don’t meet the above criteria.  Banks should also participate in a “first look” program to transfer buildings with distressed loans to responsible preservation-minded developers.

Lenders must be held accountable, especially bank lenders like Signature Bank that are covered by the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). Under the CRA, banks can get community development credit for multifamily loans where the rents are affordable to lower-income tenants. At the same time, most regulators will not give credit if the buildings are in bad condition or if the loans lead to displacement or a loss of affordable housing, as was the case with Toledano’s portfolio. Banks should uphold both the letter and the spirit of the CRA by ensuring the loans they make and the loans they use as collateral uphold these standards to preserve affordable housing and protect tenant’s rights. ANHD urges Signature to commit to these best practices. 

Likewise, non-bank lenders like Madison are not licensed by the New York State Department of Financial Services and are not covered by the CRA. ANHD believes that regulators should explore how they can license and regulate non-bank lenders in order to create protections for tenants in buildings they finance.

CASA’s New White Paper Gets to the Heart of The Displacement Debate

Last week, Community Action for Safe Apartments (CASA) released a powerful new white paper, “Resisting Displacement in the Southwest Bronx.” Drawing on research, their own organizing experience and the experience of tenants in the neighborhood, the paper lays out the myriad displacement pressures Bronx residents face, the ways in which a rezoning would exacerbate those pressures and tangible solutions that must be put in place to alleviate them.

The paper highlights the role harassment plays in forcing tenants out of their neighborhoods and strongly pushes back on the City’s stance that rezonings do not cause displacement. Countering this narrative is especially important in a low-income community of color like the Southwest Bronx, where the history of race, class and displacement cannot – and must not – be ignored. CASA outlines some of the tactics landlords use to push out their tenants, including the denial of services and repairs, using loopholes in the law to raise rents through Major Capital Improvements, non-rent fees, preferential rents, and bringing frivolous cases to Housing Court. If the proposed Jerome Avenue rezoning goes through – significantly increasing existing land value – the incentive to displace tenants as a way to increase profits will be even greater. Unfortunately, the City’s proposed mitigations for this – the creation of affordable housing through Mandatory Inclusionary Housing and existing subsidy programs – are not sufficient, as the units created are at income levels beyond the reach of most neighborhood residents and cannot make up for the loss of existing homes.

This is why CASA is calling for new solutions to fight displacement before any rezoning moves forward. The proposals include creating an affordable housing subsidy program that truly matches the neighborhood’s need and a package of strong tenant protection measures such as Right to Counsel and a city-wide Certificate of No Harassment (CONH) program.

In laying out the reality and dangers of displacement in the Southwest Bronx, the paper makes the crucial point that the experience and voice of neighborhood residents on this issue cannot be ignored or glossed over. These tenants are not speaking up against a rezoning because they are uninformed, misinformed, reactionary or simply afraid of change. They are speaking up because they are experts in what is happening in their neighborhood. They know best about the reality of displacement and the threat it poses to their community. They know best what solutions must be in place to create a new path forward.

It is this community vision that CASA eloquently lays out in their paper’s conclusion:

“The other possibility, the one we fight for, is that this will prove to be a rezoning for low-income tenants of color. That the rezoning will be buttressed by so many anti-displacement policies that it will be something different: investment that corrects the past wrongs of our City’s developers and policy makers and creates a new path forward of development without displacement. If we cannot figure out how to bring investment in the Southwest Bronx without displacing thousands of tenants, without repeating our past, then we can’t do it anywhere.

But if we can do it here we can do it everywhere.”

Tenants Take Demands for Responsible Lending to Signature Bank Shareholders Meeting

Tenants living in buildings financed by Signature Bank complain about poor conditions and indifference from the bank

NEW YORK — This morning, tenants from 10 community organizations and their allies, including Senator Brad Hoylman, Senator Gustavo Rivera, and a representative from Public Advocate Leticia James’s office filled the sidewalk with a picket line outside of Signature Bank’s annual shareholders meeting in Manhattan. At the rally, the tenants and elected officials tried to hand-deliver a letter to the board of directors to demand responsible lending practices to protect their rights and health, and preserve our stock of affordable rent-regulated housing.

Tenants living in properties financed by Signature Bank have been complaining about alleged harassment, unsafe construction activities, poor housing conditions and questionable rent increases. They expressed concerns about multiple landlords who have Signature loans, including Ved Parkash, Raphael Toledano, Ink Properties, Icon, and A&E. Advocates also noted that Signature has made loans on buildings formerly owned by Marolda Properties, which is under investigation by the Attorney General’s Office.

“I lived at 750 Grand Concourse for 15 years, in the basement. I never knew it was an illegal apartment. In February, I was evacuated after we found out about the disease that rats brought into the building because my landlord, Ved Parkash, never did enough about the rats,” said Carlos Chavez, a tenant leader from CASA. “All these troubles are due to the negligence of the landlord. But, I can’t believe he is still getting loans from Signature.”

Chavez lived in the South Bronx building where the rat infestation was so severe it led to the illness of a tenant earlier this year from a rat-urine-borne disease. When eight illegal basement apartments were cleared, those tenants were displaced. Chavez lived in a hotel in Queens until last week, when he was forced to leave. He still has no home. Additionally, advocates report that rat infestation and other poor conditions have persisted for years — and are ongoing — in this and other buildings owned by Ved Parkash.

Elected officials also expressed concerns over Signature’s actions. Several joined tenants in their demand for responsible lending.

“By providing him with significant financial support, Signature Bank has not only allowed Mr. Parkash to continue purchasing buildings across our City, but they have also aided in him subjecting thousands of New Yorkers, in particular Bronxites, to unacceptable living conditions,” said State Senator Gustavo Rivera. “I urge Signature Bank to reconsider its relationship with such a careless landlord and I remain committed to working with the North West Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC) and the other coalition members as we stand in support of those tenants who continue to be subjected to nefarious and inhumane living conditions.”

“Time and again we see unscrupulous landlords not only subjecting New Yorkers to inhumane conditions, but using discriminatory and illegal tactics in an effort to force tenants out of affordable homes,” said NYC Public Advocate Leticia James. “It’s time to stand up to the banks that finance the worst landlords and stop the flow of money. We will always stand with tenants, and will never stop fighting for the right for every New Yorker to have a safe and decent home.”

“Signature Bank is not only failing to be a good neighbor, but is choosing to support several of the bad neighbors and bad actors in our community who are a part of the problem and not the solution,” said New York City Councilmember Vanessa L. Gibson. “On behalf of my district, I am proud join with ANHD, CASA, Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, Urban Justice Center and all of the housing advocacy organizations in calling on Signature Bank to commit to the best practices included in this letter and I strongly urge them to reconsider their partnerships with negligent landlords who profit by taking advantage of their tenants. We aim to work with those who always have the best interests of our constituents and see people over profits in the collective work we do to build and maintain quality housing for all New Yorkers!”

Tenants and their allies want Signature to adopt policies that safeguard tenants and communities. They contend that negligent and malicious landlords cannot operate without financial backing from banks.

“We have serious concerns about Signature Bank’s lending practices in New York City, particularly on more affordable rent-regulated housing,” said Jaime Weisberg, Senior Campaign Analyst at the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development. “Signature Bank is financing some of the worst actors in the city, who have contributed to displacement, hazardous construction, dangerous living conditions and a loss of essential services for tenants.”

When tenants from Raphael Toledano’s buildings asked Signature to commit to a set of best practices, the bank refused. So they took their demands directly to Signature’s board of directors and shareholders. In the letter they presented at this annual meeting, they asked the bank to adopt multifamily lending best practices, including the following measures:

• Responsible underwriting based on current, in-place rents (including preferential rents) and realistic maintenance costs
• Realistic appraisals
• Consult multiple sources to evaluate the record of landlords and property managers
• Hold regular information and engagement sessions with tenant organizers and tenant leaders
• Hire a point person who will visit buildings and meet with tenants
• In cases where the loan has already been made, work with borrower, community organizations, tenants and the government to address issues
• In cases where the loan is under consideration, proactively address issues or decline the loan application
• Use the same standards for collateral loans and loans made through a mortgage broker
• Participate in the First Look Program to transfer buildings with distressed loans to responsible preservation-minded developers

A letter to demand immediate action was delivered to Signature officials attending the meeting. The letter, signed by tenant organizations, was also sent to regulators, city council members and other allies. The group awaits a response from the bank.

“For years, our organization has partnered with community groups to represent tenants across Signature Bank’s multifamily portfolio in court,” said Rajiv Jaswa, a staff attorney at the Community Development Project of the Urban Justice Center. “In most cases, it seemed everyone but Signature Bank ultimately paid a price: Tenants suffered in unsafe homes; landlords eventually paid for repairs and fines; taxpayers paid for inspections. Signature apparently still turned a profit. Today, we stand with our clients and ask Signature Bank to take responsibility.”

“Signature Bank needs to stop propping up slumlords like Toledano and Icon Realty,” said State Senator Brad Hoylman. “Do their shareholders understand that Signature is lending to developers whose apparent goal is the displacement of rent-regulated tenants? These slumlords have shown they will stop at nothing to force our long-time community members out of their homes and small businesses.”

Click here to see more photos from the demonstration.