Mayor Touts Bad Landlord Crackdown Despite NYCHA Being Worst

NEW YORK — Mayor Bill de Blasio created a new tenant protection office during his State of the City address on Thursday as one of several initiatives meant to make life easier for working New Yorkers.

De Blasio, a Democrat, interrupted his annual speech to sign an executive order creating the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants, which he said will target abuses by the city's worst landlords and hold city agencies accountable for safeguarding tenants.

"Most landlords do the right thing. Most play by the rules. But too many others try to game the system and push working people out of their apartments so they can hike the rent," he told the audience at Symphony Space on the Upper West Side. "We’re not going to take that."

He didn't mention that the city itself has been named the worst landlord. NYCHA, the public housing authority, topped Public Advocate Letitia James' annual list of worst property owners in December as it faces federal takeover for its handling of lead paint inspections and other problems. James has since become New York's attorney general.

“For too long, the most glaring example of this ill treatment has been at the hands of the City itself — and this year, we are finally putting NYCHA on notice,” James said.

De Blasio did not give details about who will lead the new office, how many staff it will have or how large its budget will be. But the order he signed says it will lead anti-harassment initiatives and serve as a "central resource" for tenants, landlords, advocacy groups and others.

A slate of city agencies, including the departments of Buildings, Social Services and Housing Preservation and Development, will be required to cooperate with the new office, the order says.

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The city is also pursuing local legislation that would allow it to seize more than 40 distressed buildings each year and hand them over to new owners, City Hall said.

The city will dispatch law enforcement agents and inspectors when landlords create "unlivable" conditions to force out their tenants, de Blasio said. If fines and penalties prove ineffective, the city will take control of bad landlords' buildings and give them to nonprofit groups that will better serve tenants, he said.

"We will seize their buildings, and we will put them in the hands of a community nonprofit that will treat tenants with the respect they deserve," de Blasio said.

The city already has a tenant watchdog. A 2017 law created an Office of the Tenant Advocate within the Department of Buildings, which takes questions and complaints from New Yorkers. But City Council lawmakers say the office has yet to be funded.

The new office was one plank of a speech in which de Blasio pledged to improve the quality of New Yorkers' lives while protecting them from predatory forces. He painted a picture of a city in which everyday people are working harder while reaping fewer fruits of their labor and spending less time with their familes.

"There’s plenty of money in the world. There’s plenty of money in this city. It’s just in the wrong hands," de Blasio said. "You deserve a city that gives you the share of prosperity that you have earned."

In addition to creating the tenant office, de Blasio said he would:

• Create a city-backed retirement plan for the roughly 2 million workers who don't have one through their employer. Those who participate will be able to put a portion of their paychecks into the fund and take it with them from job to job, de Blasio said.
• Rename the Department of Consumer Affairs the "Department of Consumer and Worker Protection." The agency will continue to enforce existing laws such as paid sick leave and minimum wage rules while taking on "a new mandate to protect the most vulnerable workers in our economy," de Blasio said.
• Continue to expand the NYC Ferry service by launching two new routes — one from Staten Island to Manhattan's West Side and another from Coney Island to Lower Manhattan — and extending The Bronx's existing Soundview route to Ferry Point, near the Whitestone Bridge.

In another effort to shore up the city's ailing public transit system, de Blasio said the city will install dedicated bus lanes at twice the current pace and double the number of intersections with technology that helps buses get through traffic lights. The NYPD will also launch its first-ever tow truck units dedicated to keeping bus lanes clear of cars, he said.

The goal of these efforts is to increase the city's average bus speeds — which are among the slowest in the nation — by 25 percent to about 9 MPH by the end of 2020, according to amNewYork. De Blasio has taken heat from transportation advocates who say his administration has worked too slowly to get the buses moving.

De Blasio announced these new initiatives after unveiling plans to expand health care access for the uninsured and mandate private employers to give workers at least two weeks of paid personal time. Both got favorable national media attention for the mayor, who has tried throughout his tenure to extend his influence beyond the five boroughs.

The roughly hour-long speech laid out a road map of sorts for how de Blasio plans to achieve his vision of making New York the nation's "fairest big city." He articulated that goal in last year's address, which put forth few new policy proposals as the city grappled with crises in public housing and in the subways.

"Imagine a city where people can live their lives more fully. That’s the quality of life I want for every New Yorker," de Blasio said Thursday. "And that’s what life should be like in the fairest big city in America, a place where work is rewarded and all this prosperity is shared."

The speech won some praise from City Councilman Jumaane Williams, who has frequently criticized the mayor in recent months and is now running for public advocate.

Williams said it has been "encouraging" to see de Blasio get behind new progressive proposals. But the city still needs to address the needs of public housing residents and change its approach to homelessness and affordable housing, he said.

"I've previously said that the Mayor of 2018 was not the Mayor I endorsed in 2013," Williams, a Brooklyn Democrat, said in a statement. "But there were some optimistic signs I heard today that gives hope that the Mayor of 2019 may be different from the Mayor of 2018."

(Lead image: Mayor Bill de Blasio holds up an executive order he signed during his State of the City address on Thursday. Photo by Seth Wenig/Associated Press)