Displaced Tenants Protest Cuts to Anti-Displacement Funding

Leaders of major housing groups in North Brooklyn, Council members Diana Reyna and David Yassky and displaced tenants from Greenpoint and Williamsburg gathered on the steps of City Hall Tuesday to protest the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s (HPD) proposal to cut anti-displacement funding stipulated in the 2005 rezoning contract.

In order to win votes for the 2005 rezoning which allowed for a tide of development along North Brooklyn’s waterfront, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Daniel L. Doctoroff promised, in a 2005 letter, to create a $2 million Greenpoint Williamsburg Tenant Legal Fund, to be managed by HPD, to protect existing tenants from displacement and harassment.

The City is now backing out of the deal, cutting $730,000, said Marty Needelman, the executive director of Brooklyn Legal Services, who was handing out press releases and copies of Doctoroff’s letter. He is hoping HPD will take the contract into consideration, but if not, he said he is ready to take them to court.

“We are not prepared to let it [budget cuts] happen,” said Needelman.

Seth Donlin, the spokesperson for HPD said the city is cutting $550,000, not $730,000 as the Needelman suggests.

“HPD wants to provide as much funding as possible,” said Donlin. “But given the fact that the air rights to the MTA parcel have not yet sold, the $1.5 million that HPD is currently providing from its operating budget is more than was originally agreed to during the rezoning process.”

“When the air rights do sell, HPD will look toward restoring full funding to these programs,” added Donlin.

Needelman said that the $2 million promised to the anti-displacement fund was earmarked, and did not depend on whether the city chooses to sell the air rights or not.

“This is not a budget decision,” said Needelman. “There was a signed agreement.”

Richard Mazur heads North Brooklyn Tenant Anti-Displacement Collaborative, a coalition of housing groups including Churches United, St. Nick’s Preservation Corp. and North Brooklyn Development Corp., said the cuts will displace even more long-term residents, especially senior citizens.

“The cuts would scuttle the vital neighborhood effort to ameliorate the awful displacement pressures resulting from the waterfront rezoning,” said Mazur.

Lena Defendini, 57, has been living in Greenpoint for her entire life. After she lost her husband and her rent was raised she was not able to pay for her apartment and is currently being evicted. She has applied for the Section 8 Rental Voucher, but has not yet received an answer. Defendini is just one of the many facing the similar fates. Alina Perez, a long-time Williamsburg resident and mother of five, is also facing eviction. According to Councilwoman Diana Reyna, there are 7,000 Section 8 cases on hold in this neighborhood, with families increasingly forced out of the neighborhood—even out of Brooklyn entirely—in search of affordable housing.

“My dream is to know that I wouldn’t have to go,” said Defendini. “Nobody wants to be in the streets.”