Renter Hell: Rat-plagued tenants sue landlord
A young mother of four who has battled rats and cockroaches and stood up against the landlord of a Newark housing complex deemed seriously deficient by the federal government has sued the owners of the complex where she lives.
A class action suit was filed on behalf of Yanira Cortes and other unnamed renters of the 20-unit property, owned by Pueblo City Housing Co., in Superior Court, Newark, on Sept. 22.
Cortes’s story was highlighted in an investigation by the Asbury Park Press called "Renter Hell" examining the plight of low-income renters stuck in a system that favors property owners.
APP INVESTIGATION: Renter Hell
The lawsuit alleges many of the problems faced by Cortes and others that the series uncovered.
According to the complaint:
- The property at 86 New Brunswick Ave. is unsecured, allowing for illicit drug use in common areas.
- Cortes’ two-bedroom apartment where she and her four young children live is infested with rats and cockroaches, as is other sections of the building.
- The front window of her home does not latch properly, creating a safety hazard, and there are leaks in two rooms.
Messages for Pueblo City Housing Co. left with Realty Management Associates, which represents Pueblo City Housing Co., were not returned. A woman who answered the phone at the realty company’s Chantilly, Virginia, office said her office would have received a copy of the complaint but it has not been served. She declined to give her name.
Cortes and her attorneys, Christopher Placitella and Dennis Geier, both of Red Bank, have also declined to comment.
The complex lies in a blighted neighborhood on Newark's south side.
The residents there qualify for housing subsidies under Section 8 of the Housing Act of 1937 managed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. They pay about a third of their incomes for housing and the program picks up the difference.
Cortes, whose rent fluctuates depending on her employment, paid about $440 month for the two-bedroom apartment during the first quarter of this year.
Recently, the state Bureau of Housing Inspection found safety violations that include defective fire escapes, bad lighting, standing water in the basement, dangerous wiring, broken windows and missing smoke detectors. An inspection as recent as June turned up unsafe living conditions, according to the complaint.
Recent inspections by HUD have found the property to have "serious deficiencies.", As a result, HUD on Aug. 31, 2017 found Pueblo City to be in default of its housing assistance payments contract. HUD noted severe unsanitary conditions, a damaged roof, mold and mildew among other problems.
The owners have 60 days to correct the problems.
If they fail to, "the Section 8 assistance may be reduced, suspended, abated or terminated," according to a letter from HUD.
HUD’s Real Estate Assessment Center, which rates properties on a scale of 1-100, rated the Pueblo City property a 10. A passing score is 60.
The government routinely counts and catalogs housing problems, but the billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded rent checks still keep some of the worst landlords in business, the Press found in its series.
Under current law, it's difficult for the state to stop subsidies, giving landlords little incentive to improve their units.
A bill sponsored by state Sen. Jennifer Beck, R-Monmouth, and Sen. Ronald Rice, D-Essex would give new powers to the state to crack down on unscrupulous landlords sheltered by shell companies who refuse to fix problem-plagued housing. The bill was introduced in May and remains in the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.
The state and federal governments spent more than $1.3 billion of taxpayer money in 2016 on private subsidized housing in New Jersey, yet more than 1 in 3 families below the poverty line endure rats, mice and vermin in their rental homes, according to the federal 2015 American Housing Survey. Subsidized housing in New Jersey is getting worse, according to HUD inspection data. Average inspection scores in the state are down 10.5 percent from 2013 to 2016.
Cortes is standing up against a system where inertia has maintained the status quo for decades.
“I’m a problem. Why? Because I report everything that goes wrong,” Cortes said in the Press’ series. “If that makes me a troublemaker, so be it.”
Ken Serrano: 732-643-4029; kserrano@gannettnj.com