Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2023.The city’s largest supportive housing provider that receives millions of dollars of taxpayer money to house homeless, mentally ill and low-income New Yorkers is suing tenants for unpaid rent and in some cases asking judges to evict them if they don’t pay, court records show.
She said tenants in the 652-unit Times Square building owe a total of $1.1 million in back rent, more than 10% of the building’s operating budget. Rosen blamed the fact that some tenants had not paid their rent in months or years while a statewide moratorium on evictions – put in place during the pandemic – was in effect. That moratorium ended in January 2022.
“It's absurd and it's appalling. These are very resolvable issues,” said Meg Floss, an advocate with Supportive Housing Organized and United Tenants, a tenant-led group working to hold supportive housing providers accountable. While Rosen contends that none of the 82 tenants in the Times Square building have been evicted, court records show that two residents have lost their apartments and a third was left on the brink of eviction as a result of Breaking Ground’s petitions.
Ruelas said he was in his home state of Arizona caring for a loved one who was sick from COVID-19 when he called Breaking Ground asking why the nonprofit hadn't cashed a rent check he sent. That’s when he said he learned he had been sued and didn't return to New York City thinking he had been evicted.
Another tenant, who could not be reached for comment, agreed to move out in December, two months after Breaking Ground sued him for $6,255.48 unpaid rent, according to court records.