Tenants of 438 and 440 West 45th Street gathered outside their Hell's Kitchen buildings, demanding that state and city lawmakers give renters like them the power to buy their own homes before landlords can sell to the highest bidder. The rally centered on two bills that would reshape how buildings change hands in New York: the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act and the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act.
The tenants said their landlord had let the two buildings fall into disrepair, according to Brick Underground, which reported that renters spoke in support of legislation that would give tenants, nonprofits, and community land trusts a formal opportunity to purchase their buildings before a sale closes. As w42st.com reported, tenants rallied outside the buildings on March 29, calling on the New York State Legislature and New York City Council to pass TOPA and COPA.
What the Purchase Bills Would Do
TOPA and COPA are designed to give residents and community groups first crack at buying a building when it goes up for sale, rather than leaving the decision entirely to a landlord and outside investors. State Assembly member Marcela Mitaynes, who sponsored TOPA in the Assembly, said last year she was optimistically hopeful about getting the bill passed into law that session, the outlet's report noted. That optimism was an expression of hope at the time, not confirmation the bill became law.
The push in Hell's Kitchen fits into a longer pattern of tenant organizing in the neighborhood. Housing Conservation Coordinators, which the same w42st.com report said has spent a half-century of on-the-ground organizing to protect tenants in the neighborhood and beyond, was marking 50 years of that work this year.
A Neighborhood With Recurring Housing Fights
The West 45th Street rally is not the only recent flashpoint over housing conditions in Hell's Kitchen. Residents of the Polyclinic Apartments held their own rally on West 50th Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, after going nine months without gas in their building, according to CBS News. Those tenants said their landlord still didn't have construction plans approved to make the necessary repairs. Congressman Jerry Nadler told the station he would ask the city to take over the building and bill the landlord for repairs if the issue wasn't resolved soon.
Elsewhere in the neighborhood, a different approach to deteriorating housing has already moved forward. Services for the UnderServed closed on the acquisition of four pre-war tenements in Hell's Kitchen, with plans to preserve homes for the 11 existing rent-stabilized tenants while converting the remaining 69 units into affordable housing, according to the nonprofit.
CBS News New York also reported on a Hell's Kitchen tenant rally, describing renters organizing to form a union across buildings in the neighborhood and pressing complaints about unanswered maintenance and pest issues, though those specific details have not been independently verified beyond that report.
