But Rob McCreanor, staff attorney for the Catholic Migration Office, alleges Vantage has been overly aggressive by rejecting rent checks, then claiming non-payment – or claiming that tenants did not actually live in their apartments, but somewhere else.
The suit claims Vantage brought 965 lawsuits against tenants in the 2,124-unit portfolio, Queens Portfolio I, in the 16 months since it bought it in Oct. 2006. He said the previous owner, Nathan Katz Realty, sued his tenants only about 50 times in 2005, and no more than 300 times per year in the mid-1990s.
"I believe the six plaintiffs are representative of a much larger group of people. But what is most frightening is we don't know the number of people who have packed up and left, who were intimidated because of their immigration status or for another reason were vulnerable," McCreanor said.
When asked about the 965 lawsuits, Rubler could not confirm the numbers, but said most were for tenants who did not pay their rent. "In Queens, for example, we are owed millions of dollars in unpaid rent. Bringing such cases generally costs us more in legal fees than we can collect," he said.
Harold Shultz, former special counsel at HPD, and now a senior fellow at the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, a nonpartisan advocacy group, said the loss of lower-end affordable housing should not be blamed on the big equity firms. Smaller landlords are engaging in the same practice, which is based on the increased value of their properties as demand for housing continues to rise.
"I would say a lot of these buildings need investment. While HPD programs have a role, HPD can't fund all the investment that is needed in New York City," said Shultz – though the loss of the lower-cost housing needed to be addressed. "There may be other strategies the city can use to address this strata. There may be special targeted tax breaks to keep them affordable," he said.
Dulchin of ANHD said the financing of the Queens Portfolios was risky, citing a Securities and Exchange Commission filing for a Vantage portfolio in Washington Heights that anticipated 20 to 30 percent of the units would be vacated in the first year. Not only would that kind of turnover point to poor treatment of residents, but, Dulchin said, if that target could not be reached, he predicted the building would fall into disrepair as owners sought to save money.
Rubler said the financing of the company's portfolios was solid. "All our partners are very, very well capitalized, and are all long-term investors, so we feel under absolutely no pressure to do anything but provide excellent service."
A few streets away from Jose Ricardo Aguaiza in Woodside, Lucia Gabiria, 63, has lived in what's now a Vantage building for 24 years. Gabiria is worried about her own future because Vantage has returned three of her checks since taking over in February. That never happened with the previous landlord. "They have to send a new lease. We don't have anywhere to go," she said.
Attorney McCreanor said the city and state should take notice of the widespread loss of affordable housing, irrespective of whether tenants are being removed without cause. "Even if Vantage or others are doing everything by the book, the people in the housing are the very people who need the housing, and to let them be displaced does not make any sense," he said.
