Activists Stave Off Eviction Of Longtime Crown Heights Family

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A three-generation Crown Heights family whose landlord locked them out last week will be allowed to stay in their home thanks to a court order issued Wednesday, according to activists.

But the fight for the home itself — which they say was stolen in a deed theft in 2015 — remains far from over.

"We are not going to lay down," said Helen Robinson, whose father bought the 964 Park Pl. home in 1951. "This is about deed theft."

Robinson, who lives at the brownstone with her daughter, promised to continue the fight through a bullhorn from her stoop, overlooking a crowd of supporters who had waited while the family attended virtual court inside.

The supporters have been monitoring the home day and night since Robinson's daughter, Sherease Torain, came home from surgery last week to find the landlords had changed her locks, according to the family and activists.

The landlord, Menachem Gurevitch, took over the home in 2015 after telling Robinson's 98-year-old mother he would help refinance the property and then forging the deed, according to the family.

"My mother never sold her home — it was stolen," Robinson said Wednesday.

Gurevitch's firm, Netz Capital, told Patch this week they are "not affiliated" with the Park Place property, despite business registration records showing Gurevitch as an employee and his address in the Park Place court records matching their headquarters. The firm's spokesperson did not respond to a request to clarify.

The attempted eviction has gained the attention of Council Member Chi Osse and Attorney General Letitia James, who both attended a rally Monday where a group sent by the landlord tried to break down the doors to the home, according to activists and video.

James was ultimately able to help the family move up a court hearing and has told activists her office will investigate the deed theft, advocates said.

The family and tenant activists have pointed to their situation as an example of rampant deed theft in the borough, which has largely targeted communities of color. The Robinson family was the first Black family on the block when they moved in in 1951, they said.

"No one is safe," Robinson said, noting that Crown Heights has lost 19,000 Black residents between 2010 and 2020, the most dramatic decline of any neighborhood across the five boroughs.

Both activists and the family vowed Wednesday to see the fight through.

"This is my house," Torain said. "Give us back what's ours — period."