Flatbush Tenants Still Homeless Months After Massive Fire

FLATBUSH, BROOKLYN — Families rendered homeless by a massive Brooklyn apartment building blaze have waited nearly five months for their landlord to complete repairs necessary for them to return home, city records show. But construction has come to a halt since health inspectors found workers sending dangerous lead-tainted dust into the air.

Eighteen families have been homeless since a three-alarm fire ravaged 180 E. 18th St. the morning of Feb. 25, according to the FDNY and Department of Buildings. It took nearly 140 firefighters almost two hours to extinguish the blaze, which caused extensive damage throughout the six-story, 36-unit building, according to city records.

Windows broke, water seeped in through the ceiling and walls, and gas and electricity were shut off for the safety of those inside, according to records from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

The building has racked up 192 outstanding violations — 48 of which are deemed immediately hazardous — from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, city records show.

Mice have since ransacked the fourth floor and roaches infested the sixth, according to violations issued by HPD.

Owners Juda and Baruch Rosenfeld of JBM estates filed permits on April 10 to make structural repairs, which they estimated would cost about $100,000, DOB records show.

But the Department of Health shut down construction on June 8 when inspectors found construction workers disturbing the building's lead-based paint, according to a notice posted on the building's front door.

"Conditions of such work ... are dangerous to human life and detrimental to the health of persons within," the notice reads.

"Improperly performed work which disturbs lead-based paint may expose members of the public, particularly children under six years of age, to the risk of lead poising."

A group of tenants, represented by Legal Services NYC, filed suit against the Rosenfelds in Brooklyn Civil Court on June 6 and will face the landlords next on Monday, court records show.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams is slated to join the residents and the Flatbush Tenants Coalition Saturday to call on the landlord to address the tenants' concerns.

Representatives from the Flatbush Tenants Coalition, the Public Advocate's office and Legal Services NYC did not immediately respond to Patch's requests for comment.

Rosenfelds' attorney responded to Patch's request for comment but was unable to provide more information on the case due to personal circumstances.

Emily Culliton contributed to this report.