When Sonu Kumari moved her family into a Sunnyside two-bedroom in fall 2019, she expected a fresh start, not a construction site. About a month after they settled in, a section of the ceiling collapsed during heavy rain, she says. Since then the leak has kept coming back, year after year, leaving behind ruined mattresses, mold and a steady pest problem. Kumari and her neighbors now argue that patchwork repairs and slow follow-up have pushed the apartment to the brink of being unlivable.
Local reporting has tracked the damage in detail. Kumari told reporters she has already discarded four or five water-stained mattresses and said she began withholding rent in late 2024 to protest the conditions. According to QNS, the apartment has experienced multiple ceiling collapses and a kitchen infested with roaches and flies. Tenants say routine exterminator visits have not solved the problem and in some cases have seemed to make infestations worse.
Rallies and rent strikes
Residents and housing advocates have taken the dispute out of private hallways and into the street, organizing a tenant union, staging rallies and demanding both repairs and rent abatements. Coverage of a Feb. 2 demonstration shows Assemblymember Claire Valdez and representatives for Council Member Julie Won standing with families outside the Sunnyside building as tenants chanted “no repairs, no rent.” As PoliticsNY reported, Bronstein has pushed back, saying it has completed capital work at the property and disputing some of the tenants’ claims.
City records and companywide complaints
Organizers point to city records to argue that the Sunnyside case is part of a broader pattern. Tenants across Bronstein’s portfolio have filed thousands of complaints with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and local reporting says the company’s Sunnyside properties carry a long list of violations that neighbors and elected officials see as the rule rather than the exception. Those numbers have fueled calls from local lawmakers for more aggressive enforcement and legislative fixes, according to QNS.
Organizers' tally
Tenant organizers say the problems stretch across dozens of buildings and that collective pressure has been necessary to win even modest concessions. In written testimony to state lawmakers, tenant organizer Bryan Fotino said he has been in touch with roughly 270 tenants living in 27 Bronstein properties, according to the New York State Senate. Organizers say rent strikes and public pressure have produced limited abatements in some buildings but have not fixed the systemic maintenance gaps they describe.
Landlord response
Bronstein maintains it has dispatched repair crews to the Sunnyside building and says it has invested in roof and facade work to address recurring problems. In a written statement and interviews cited by The New York Times, the company described plans to implement a centralized maintenance-management platform and said it believes many issues were resolved. Tenants dispute that account and say intermittent repairs have not cured the underlying leaks and related health hazards.
On the ground: health and organizing
Tenants say the conditions have had real health consequences, including bacterial infections they attribute to persistent mold. Catholic Migration Services and neighborhood groups have helped mobilize rallies, organize tenants to document damage and keep attention on the building, and advocates say community pressure is central to forcing landlord accountability. The local activism has also prompted calls from elected officials for faster city enforcement and legislative solutions.
Legal implications
Advocates have framed the dispute as both an enforcement problem and a legislative one. They are pushing for measures such as the Clean Hands bill and a statewide Right-to-Counsel so tenants cannot be evicted while living in units with serious violations. Bryan Fotino’s testimony names those reforms and describes organizing across Bronstein buildings, according to the New York State Senate. Local coverage of rallies and elected-official statements indicates the fight is moving into Albany and the city’s policy conversation, as organizers seek both HPD enforcement and broader legal change.
What to watch next: organizers say they will keep pressing HPD complaints, pursue rent abatements and continue neighborhood demonstrations until repairs are documented. Bronstein’s promise of a centralized maintenance platform and repeated crew visits will be the immediate benchmark tenants and officials say they will watch, according to The New York Times. For tenants like Kumari, the stakes are immediate. They want safe, dry rooms to sleep in, not another patch job.
