'The Trauma Of Being A NY Landlord': Letter To The Editor From Huntington Woman

HUNTINGTON, NY — June Margolin and her husband, Lance, are landlords in Huntington. June wrote a letter to the editor about her experiences dealing with New York state's Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP).

The Margolins created a survey for landlords to take regarding their ERAP experiences.

According to New York state, "ERAP will provide significant economic relief to help low and moderate-income households at risk of experiencing homelessness or housing instability by providing rental arrears, temporary rental assistance and utility arrears assistance."

In the following letter to the editor, "The Trauma of Being a New York Landlord," June Margolin, in her own words, wrote:

"It was a tough morning for Lance Margolin and me…tough week, actually, as we realize how close we are to losing our home and crippling our financial future because our tenant won’t leave, and is being protected by NY State. We have debts that will take us 15 years to pay back. We are not FREE in our own home. All 4 of us suffer from PTSD. Our abuser lives above us. She holds us hostage in our own home. She knows - and savors - that her actions (and lack of actions) oppress us. She revels in it and lets us know by laughing at me in court and by making 'shows' for us on our security cameras. Every thump and floorboard creek, door slam, stomping feet up and down the stairs trigger involuntary fight-or-flight reactions in us. It’s trauma. Psychological, physical, emotional and financial. We live cornered by a 'snarling beast' every minute of every day in our own home. The sensation of her knuckles impacting my face over and over replays in my subconscious.

"We check our surveillance camera video before we go outside in our back yard…is she home? Our yard… MY YARD…is supposed to be our sanctuary; the place I need to go to escape my trauma for a few hours to reset. If the answer is 'Yes. She’s home,' I have to reconcile that fact before I decide to step outside. My abuser is watching and listening from her windows above…
If the answer is 'No. She’s gone,' We can breathe. I can wander. I can release - or try to…as every 'ding' alert from my phone yanks me back to guarded - is that her??? Is she back???

"Lance feels the same and worse. He is our protector and provider. He rebuilt this house - dilapidated when we bought it. With his own hands, he provided shelter and a future for his family. His reaction to 'Yes. She’s home,' is helplessness that instantly flips to FIGHT - the opposite of my 'flight.' He roars and screams as a terse whisper tremoring with emotion. Our abuser can hear us. Then he rants 'I don’t understand how….' insert the Governor, the Judges, the Sheriff, the New York State Legislators, the Democrats, the Socialists, the economy, the tenant advocates, the housing market… as he tries so hard to solidify the form of his enemy in the battle of his LIFE to save his family. The words dig into the truth. He makes a fist - HE’S GOT IT… but…no. That won’t work either. The reality of our lack of options hits and his plan disintegrates like sand through his clenched fingers. Defeated. Again. This is the reality for us and all landlords. Over and over and over and over again. Every. Single. Day. For 2 years…and counting.

"This week something changed for me. Maybe it’s because we COULDN’T leave our house as COVID worked it’s way through us one by one. There was no work or errands to escape and distract. The countdown has begun where WE, the Landlords of one unit, are gripped with housing instability. We’ve known it was coming for a while as our savings have been steadily depleted.

"There are no more deferrals, no more 'benefits' left for us. 'Benefits'…the New York State’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP & LRAP) that gave us 12 months of back rent on behalf of the tenant, but has forced us to house her without compensation or actual due process for an additional 11 months. We are back to where we were the day we applied for LRAP. With 2 months left before we can’t pay our mortgage and out of options. In 2 months our choices are food OR housing…or food AND housing AND more and more interest bearing debt.

"But…WAIT! Isn’t that what the FEDERAL ERAP funding’s GOAL was? To AVOID homelessness and housing insecurity due to the COVID-19 pandemic? Yes, well, for MOST of the states that is exactly what it did. New York was among a few states that used the ERAP application process as a continuing eviction moratorium. That would have been far more palatable for landlords like us if they didn’t SIMULTANEOUSLY sabotage the application review process. No decisions = No evictions. None. Zero. Even if the tenant voluntarily agrees to be evicted through a COURT Stipulation of Settlement agreement. Even when they sign - with THEIR OWN HAND - that if they don’t leave by July 1st, they will be evicted. Nope. The NY State Sheriff and Marshals are forbidden to execute the eviction warrants on tenants with UNDECIDED ERAP applications.
At 10:35pm on June 30th - the negotiated day our tenant was supposed move out - she came home with shopping bags. In a whiney, taunting playground-bully voice she said 'Hurry up guys…. Smile to the miserable people downstaiiiirss. Heeyyyyy.' While flashing a peace sign with her right hand. Her obedient 7 year old popped her right hip out and tipped her head with a mocking grin and mimicked Mom’s tone saying, 'All together….' She is not housing unstable. She is a predator. An abuser. New York State has forced us to be continually victimized by her with no recourse.

"We are not alone. 73% of NY’s Landlords are small, providing 1-10 apartments. Our story is medium on the scale of severity of impact. Our “New York State Residential Landlord and ERAP Survey” (www.StopERAP.com) responses have been a blessing of perspective, and companionship through shared trauma categories…psychological, physical, emotional, financial. Pick one, any one. 98% of ERAP Landlords of all sizes have been victimized - facilitated by New York State. We know our future because of them. Five landlords have lost their homes to foreclosure as they were forced to abandon their properties. Eight more landlords are in the process of foreclosure. They can’t refinance their mortgages - tenants won’t let the appraiser inside. They can’t sell their properties as 99% of buyers use mortgages and banks won’t grant them if the buyer doesn’t have full possession of the property (meaning no inherited tenants). A few landlords have been lucky enough to find buyers with lenders willing to take the risk, but tenants refused the home inspectors entry. No deal.

"We have a respondent like us - occupying the bottom floor of their duplex primary home. Like us, their tenant has held their house hostage for 2 years. Their 'Hail Mary' solution was to move in with family and rent their living space to a new tenant to make ends meet and prevent foreclosure until New York State changes the laws. They describe themselves as homeless…and from where Lance and I sit, they have exposed themselves to the ULTIMATE risk by renting their primary residence. But…what choice did they have? Foreclosure is about more than losing your property. It’s a 10 year plus sentence of a bad credit score. Overnight your credit card interest goes up and your credit lines drop. No more loans for at least 5 years - not even for a junker car. Forget about ever getting a mortgage again. It’ll never happen, and if it does, you’re paying a way higher interest rate.

"Homelessness is real for landlords. There are 6 that we know about from our survey. They pay their mortgage, property taxes, and utilities for homes they can’t live in because their tenants won’t leave and are protected from eviction by ERAP. The HOMELESS Landlord is forced - by LAW - to keep the utilities on for their tenants, or face 1 year in jail. But the tenant can punch you in the face 4 times, pin you down and tear your hair out and they get a summons equal to blowing a red light. (TIP: If you get attacked, DON’T shield your head. Let them break your eye socket and split your lip so they get charged with assault.) I digress… The HOMELESS landlords ALSO have to pay to pump the cesspool when the tenants deliberately flush baby wipes down the toilet… 4 times in a year… or maliciously leave the water running for days. They have to pay the town’s fines when their tenants refuse to remove junk vehicles from the property. They have to hire an exterminator when neighbors complain about rats coming from the home. But…you got it…the tenant denies the exterminator entry.

“'How do you deal with it?' 'I wouldn’t be able to, that’s for sure.' Well, like all trauma, you deal with it any way you can because you have no choice. While in the foxhole with bullets whizzing by overhead, the soldier wonders 'Will I be f----d up for the rest of my life because of this?' We - all landlords - wonder the same. We had an opportunity to have our Survey featured on News12 television this past week. They requested to interview a small Long Island landlord who is enduring a complex impact from ERAP. 'Well, that’s easy!' I told the reporter. I contacted 7 of my landlord respondents and one after the other said their attorneys told them 'ABSOLUTELY NOT' as the exposure would hurt their court cases. During a conversation with one, he told me how his wife managed the 1 unit property for a few years, but ERAP and the trauma inflicted on them from their tenant caused significant mental health issues for her, so he had to take it over. He said to me, 'You know, I was okay for the first 8 months…but recently, these last 6 months, I’m just so ANGRY. I can’t sleep, I can’t concentrate at work, I… well, I was managing…but now you called and it’s all back again.'

“'We call it the ‘Pandora’s Box,’ I told him. 'We understand, and I’m so very sorry.' We talked and shared notes on compartmentalizing the trauma, and coping strategies…the most successful is jamming it into Pandora’s Box, welding it shut, then burying it as far down as you can. The weight of it alone drifts it to the bottom at this point. He’s right…it comes back up so quickly when you talk about it, or when there are new incidents with the tenant. Sometimes - like right now - we actually have to crack the box open and LOOK at it - to answer a question of dates and times from our lawyer, or to call the Sheriff to plead with them to execute the eviction warrant that they have on file, or to write this blog post. Lance says 'Then it turns into a Jack-in-the-Box…BOOM!!' Yes, and then it takes another 4 days to gather all the snapping, snarling, hissing bits and jam them back into the box. Good news - it’s heavier now so it sinks faster.

"I cried this week…for the first time in months. Every time I feel it coming, Tom Hanks starts screaming at me, 'There’s no CRYING in baseball!' Sick on the couch, watching television, I saw myself laying under where the tv now is. I was pregnant with my youngest, on bed rest for 6 months in that spot - when it was our bedroom. I looked over my right shoulder and saw my now 22-year-old as a baby, sleep-bouncing in his exersaucer with his face on top of the rattle. I saw Lance and me on our knees laying the kitchen floor tile on Thanksgiving when our toddler’s pneumonia cancelled festivities for us. I saw the room where I ran my graphic design and printing broker business that earned us enough money - to the penny - to pay the down payment to buy our house. The love, the joy, the sacrifices, the memories, the magic marker masterpieces inside the walls of this home that we built. We don’t have anything else. No pensions. No retirement nest egg. No college funds. In 2 months, no savings either and our home starts slipping away. This property is the one asset we have to pass on to our children. It would give them both housing after we’re gone - one in the apartment and one in the main floor. Or they could room together in the 2 bedroom apartment and rent the main floor to help them when life throws curve balls, or if they need some time to start a new career.

"We could see the finish line with only 12 years of our mortgage left and nearly all of each monthly payment lowering the principal. We’ve spent 18 years paying the interest off. Now, we’re facing having to refinance into a new mortgage with $150,000 of new interest to pay at 4% higher interest rates…only if our tenant will let the appraiser in. She won’t.

"New York State is doing a 'taking' of our properties through their ERAP eviction protections dovetailed with the '2019 New York Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act' legislation. It’s a 1, 2 punch plus a kick in the groin for every Landlord in New York. A taking is when the government seizes private property for public use. The Tenant Protection Act mandates that legal notice for lease termination or holdover eviction cases is tied to the number of years they have lived in the apartment. 1 year is 30 days (which was standard notice before 2019), 2 years is 60 days, 3 years or more is 90 days notice.

"About 4 months into our eviction case, we considered closing our non-pay case - which only deals with missing rent - and gets the case filed with the court after 21 days. We instead considered opening a new holdover case based on the tenant’s violence and harassment, and that our adult son would move into the apartment, trying to get out from under the ERAP open application disaster. My lawyer reminded me of the 2019 law that our tenant would get 90 days (3 months) of legal notice before that case can be filed with the court. Then add 1-4 months for your first court date depending on the jurisdiction. That’s a guaranteed 4-7 months of no rent, living with our abuser. I was frustrated. I yelled, cursed and cried in one of the tiny counsel rooms in the court. Sigh…okay. Forget it. I opened the door to leave the room and our tenant was sitting there, eavesdropping. I looked at her in shock…and she laughed at me. Not a giggle. LAUGHED at me. What followed was not my shining moment…I cursed her out and walked away. She laughed harder.

"What can be done? We created the 'NY State Residential Landlord & ERAP Survey' at www.StopERAP.com to be a vehicle for change. We’re gathering the data and stories of our fellow landlords of all sizes and using the FACTS and the landlord 'Suggestions for Improvement of the ERAP program' responses to identify ACTIONABLE changes that can be made administratively - without the full Legislature in session. We’re working with New York State Assemblyman Steve Stern who has been advocating for our suggestions with his legislative colleagues and with the Governor’s office. ERAP CAN be fixed! It MUST be fixed!

"Our survey has highlighted a harsh reality that can not be denied. To date, 41% of ERAP landlords will NOT RENT AGAIN with another 25% of landlords “NOT SURE” if they will rent again. New York State’s efforts to AVOID a COVID-related housing crisis using eviction moratoriums has CREATED a far greater problem that is already being felt in the real estate rental market. So, Governor Hochul - there will be at least 30% LESS apartments on the market now in addition to all of the landlords who have already lost everything. Plus 32% of total landlords’ credit scores have taken a nose-dive while trying to merely survive.

"Someone recently asked us what message we have for the 'Free Housing' advocates and lobbyists. Well, we have a solution for you. Take our tenants to live in your own homes for free for the next 2 years."