'These Are the Forces of Gentrification': Politicians, Activists Rally Against Slumlords in Inwood

INWOOD, NY — From the outside, 78 Thayer St. in Inwood looks like any other apartment building. But inside, it's a ghost town with 31 vacated apartments left in shoddy condition. Entire floors are left with only one tenant as people who have lived in the building for decades are forced to leave due to the conditions.

Politicians, tenants and community activist group Picture the Homeless gathered outside 78 Thayer St. on Tuesday to protest the actions of the landlord, and other landlords across New York that allow building conditions to deteriorate in an effort to force out tenants.

City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez said that 31 apartments have been left vacant in 78 Thayer St. for months.

"I'm sure if we go over the record those 31 hard-working men and women did not choose to leave their apartments, they were forced to leave their apartments as a result of bad tactics," Rodriguez said.

Here are some photos of vacant apartment units at 78 Thayer Street:

Rodriguez said that in the next few days the Department of Housing Preservation and Development will send inspectors to 78 Thayer St. to do a full structural inspection on the building's vacated apartments. Rodriguez used the rally to promote the Housing not Warehousing Act, a package of three pieces of legislation sponsored by Rodriguez, Council Member Jumaane Williams and Public Advocate Letitia James.

The three bills would create a database of all vacant land in the city, force landlords to register vacant properties and face a fine if they fail to do so and require the city to keep track of any publicly owned vacant land for prospective affordable housing developments.

State Sen. Adriano Espaillat also spoke at the rally, and said that Washington Heights and Inwood would be the "epicenter of the storm" for gentrification.

"These are the forces of gentrification," Espaillat said. "Speculating in our neighborhood, lurking around, sticking their ugly heads outside the windows to see how they can capture affordable, rent-stabalized apartments and take them into the market-rate."

John Feliciano, a 16-year resident of 78 Thayer St. gave his personal story of how the landlords displaced him. After enduring deteriorating conditions for years the landlords called Feliciano into their office and told him they were going to raise his rent.

Felciano's rent was going to spike from $800 to $1,450 overnight, Feliciano said.

"In the beginning it was good," Feliciano said. "But it started to fall apart and they told me they wanted the apartment regardless."

Feliciano — who works for the Transit Authority maintaining buses — will be moving out of the building on Friday to live with his mother as he searches for another apartment, he told Patch. He knows somebody living in an apartment who will be moving to Los Angeles and hopes he can move in after they leave, he said.

Photos: Brendan Krisel/Patch