In June, a judge said there were three to five cases being heard in Brooklyn Housing Court each week in which public housing tenants raised concerns about overcharges.
They had been called by the landlord of the property after other tenants raised concerns about a nasty smell coming from a room that used to be occupied by the factory worker.
Mary Ann Rothman, executive director of the Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums, said that for a growing number of tenants, raising the rent was not an option to cover increased labor.
Maggots, mould, asbestos and leaky roofs are just some of the pitfalls tenants have posted about, along with a consistent trend of a reluctance of landlords to fix problems when tenants raise them.
"These upzonings would have a hard time passing if they looked like what they were: the real estate lobby (land owners) forcing working class communities of color to make room for wealthier tenants, raising their property value while displacing our people".
During the inquest, Norman's landlady, Christina Miller, said her tenant had raised concerns about a bulge in a retaining wall at the back of the house, prompting her to call in a structural engineer who warned about the risk of "catastrophic collapse".
Mr. Williams kept detailed minutes of a sometimes tense meeting last August between Mr. Ohnesorg and the eighth-floor tenants in which, he said, the executive director criticized the "destructive attitude" of tenants who raised questions.
