Migration Office Helps Make Housing Dreams Come True

By Marie Elena Giossi

There is no picturesque house, picket fence or two-car garage for Mohammed Islam and his wife, Rubi, nor for thousands of hard-working immigrants like themselves whose American dream is lived out in affordable, but often unsightly, and sometimes unsafe apartments.

That is why the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Catholic Migration Office, directed by Msgr. Ronald Marino, began the Immigrant Tenant Advocacy Project in September, 2005.

The project provides free legal assistance and representation to residents of Brooklyn and Queens, predominantly immigrants, living in substandard housing conditions.

Staff attorney Sadia Rahman and community organizer Pilar Castillo become acquainted with immigrant families by conducting regular legal clinics at various parishes, as well as through referrals and by word-of-mouth.

Rahman listens to people’s complaints, identifies tenant leaders and goes into the rental units to investigate and document housing code violations. She, or a pro bono attorney working on the project’s behalf, then negotiates with property owners to resolve the problems. If necessary, particularly if the building is deemed unsafe, lawyers will proceed with legal action.

In just under two years, the Immigrant Tenant Advocacy Project has provided legal assistance and representation to thousands of tenants in over 60 buildings in Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside, Astoria, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst and Corona.

As the project approaches its second anniversary, a greater effort is underway to reach out to Brooklyn residents beset by chronic housing code violations.
Rahman, a Brooklyn Law graduate, joined the project as staff attorney about a year ago, succeeding Robert McCreanor, who helped develop and initially headed the project. He continues to act as a pro bono attorney and advisor.

“The Catholic Church is an enormously valuable tool,” noted McCreanor, a parishioner at St. Sebastian’s, Woodside. “We reach out to people where they are by hosting clinics in churches. People are willing to come forward in church much more so than they would elsewhere.”

That was the case when ITAP held a clinic in Blessed Sacrament, Jackson Heights, last fall. Parishioner Christopher Lobo, who emigrated from India 16 years ago, was there.

“I saw the information in the church bulletin and in The Tablet about these services,” said Lobo, who’s resided for nearly a decade in a five-story, 35-unit rent-stabilized building, located at 3551 94th St. in Jackson Heights.

He hoped, with the lawyers’ help, to address the chronic issues in his building that he and his neighbors felt was affecting their quality of life.

McCreanor, staff attorney at the time, visited the building and Lobo, acting as tenant leader, rallied residents, mostly working-class immigrants with school-age children, including Mohammed Islam.

Islam, who emigrated from Bangladesh 29 years ago, resides with his wife and three sons in a one-bedroom on the third floor. He works at a maintenance company in Manhattan by day and at night, while his wife tutors area children, he tends to his boys, Aminol, 14; Yusef, eight, and Shashed, eight months. Shashed shares a bedroom with the couple, while Aminol and Yusef sleep in bunk beds in the living room.

The Islams were living with warped hardwood floors, peeling paint, and kitchen cabinetry in disrepair.

“The crux of the problem was that people didn’t want to complain and they were afraid. They didn’t want to lose their worship space in the building,” McCreanor noted.
Many years ago, the landlord, a Hindu, allowed tenants to convert the basement into a communal worship space, which is used mostly by Muslim residents to observe their five daily salat (prayer) times.

McCreanor explained to the Islams and other tenants that despite this kindness, the law still requires their landlord to maintain the building and provide adequate services.

Residents of 15 apartments then lodged complaints, mostly quality of life issues, from peeling paint and uneven floors, to leaking ceilings and faucets, water damage and poor janitorial services.

“We made a list and I went to negotiate with the landlord,” McCreanor said.

The landlord agreed to resolve the grievances. He also reviewed the complaints and tried to evict the Islams.
When a relative relocated from the building a decade ago, Mohammed and his family moved in and assumed the monthly rent payments, without changing the name on the lease.

Through McCreanor’s intervention, the name was changed on the lease, and although the rent was adjusted to just over $1,000, the family was able to remain in their home.

If not for this misunderstanding, this case wouldn’t have seen a courtroom.

Rahman and McCreanor prefer to resolve cases out of court. But under certain circumstances – if landlords refuse to meet with lawyers, if landlords/superintendents fail to make repairs previously agreed upon in or out of court, or if dangerous conditions exist, such as vermin infestation, lack of heat or hot water or lead paint on the walls, ITAP lawyers will prevail upon the courts to ensure the tenants’ dignity and safety.

Rahman is currently compiling complaints for a half dozen buildings and at any one time, she’s monitoring repairs at up to a dozen other sites.

In her experience, many people are reluctant to complain because they don’t speak English well, they don’t know their rights as tenants, they’re concerned they’ll be questioned about their citizenship status, or they fear retaliation from the landlord.

Rahman, Castillo and a staff of volunteers, including pro bono attorneys and trained counselors, try to overcome these barriers by providing translation services, educating people about their rights, and explaining that city housing inspectors are concerned with code violations, not a tenant’s citizenship status.

Tenants are encouraged to form a tenant organization to protect against retaliation/harassment by landlords or building superintendents, and collectively address any future issues.

Residents at 3551 94th St. were unsuccessful at forming a tenant group but the repairs and improvements to their units make their reality seem that much closer to the American dream.

On a spring evening, Islam showed off his level floors and decorative tiles installed below new kitchen cupboards of honey-colored wood. He put a couple coats of white paint on the living room walls himself.

“A lot of people don’t have a say, don’t have a voice. A lot of immigrants are frightened to deal with their landlords,” Lobo said.

With the help of the Catholic Migration Office, he added, “We got the fighting spirit and we prevailed.”

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