What a Landlord Attorney’s Advice Reveals About Displacement

A landlords' attorney's advice at a Brooklyn real estate summit earlier this month made a small splash in the press. The information materials by attorney Michelle Maratto Itkowitz -- entitled Demolition Evictions: A Real Possibility and Tenant Buyouts for the Next Generation -- are almost refreshing for their candor.

 

She advises landlords on how to actively and effectively pursue an agenda to get rent-regulated, low-rent tenants to move out. The fundamental premise of Itkowitz's advice, that displacement is an obvious business goal for developers and landlords and should be done well, is revealing.  Itkowitz explicitly advises against harassment - but at the same time she shows that finding ways to get tenants to move out is an increasingly standard business model. 

 

Sometimes harassment is clear and extreme, as the arrest of landlord Steve Croman demonstrates. The tactics that landlords are increasingly using to displace tenants are varied, but the ultimate impact on tenants' lives, neighborhood stability, and the availability of affordable housing is severe, and the City must add new policy tools to address the crisis. Renting out apartments is a business, and a basic goal of most landlords is to maximize profits. The challenge facing the city is that more and more neighborhoods are seeing an increase in market-rate rent levels, which creates a wider gap between the profits that a landlord can make with existing tenants at lower rents and what they could make if the current tenants can be induced to move out. Itkowitz is clear that she is advising against harassment. But the fact that people tend to want to stay in their homes means that harassment is often the most practical way for a landlord to bring in new tenants and higher rents.

 

In the logic of the system that Itkowitz describes, harassment is the smart business move. We have a variety of tools that attempt to support tenants fighting back against harassment - the Tenant Protection Act is one. But tenants in every borough tell us quite clearly that the tools currently available are simply not enough. Both tenants and the City need more proactive tools at our disposal to not only punish harassment, but to discourage it in the first place. And the most effective tools will be those that change the harassment = profits equation for landlords. One promising tool on the horizon is Certificate of No Harassment legislation. In many cases, landlords use renovations to drive up rents between tenancies and attract higher-paying tenants.

 

That means Department of Buildings (DOB) permits are a key moment in the displacement cycle - and one over which the City, rather than Albany, has real control. A strong Certificate of No Harassment law would flip the existing incentive structure so that harassment is discouraged rather than rewarded. If a history of harassment prevented landlords from accessing the permits they need to make their profits, the equation would shift - harassment wouldn't pay. Back in March, the de Blasio Administration made a public commitment to enacting Certificate of No Harassment legislation. Our recent peek into the conversation among landlords shows once again how timely and how effective that legislation could be.