Brooklyn tenants with disabilities filed a lawsuit against their landlord and management company for failing to fix critical building infrastructure so they can safely access their Brownsville homes.
The Legal Aid Society said it filed a federal lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York against Park Monroe II Rehab Housing Development Fund Corp., Shinda Management Corporation, and Claudette Henry, the entities and individuals responsible for managing and operating 1933 Union St. for failing to provide tenants with disabilities safe and equal access to their homes.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of multiple tenants with mobility disabilities, alleges that the landlord has allowed critical accessibility infrastructure — including a wheelchair lift and elevators — to remain broken or unreliable for extended periods of time, forcing residents to endure dangerous and humiliating conditions simply to enter and leave their apartments, lawyers said.
The landlord and management company are well known to tenants’ advocates and have previously appeared on New York City’s “Worst Landlord” list due to longstanding building conditions and tenant complaints.
For over a year, the wheelchair lift servicing the building has been out of operation, leaving residents who use wheelchairs trapped in their homes or dependent on others to physically carry them up and down stairs. The building’s elevators also frequently malfunction, forcing tenants with disabilities and chronic conditions to navigate multiple flights of stairs or cross a hazardous rooftop to reach functioning elevators on the opposite side of the building, lawyers said.
“These conditions are not only unacceptable — they are discriminatory and dangerous,” said Madeleine Reichman, staff attorney in the Civil Law Reform Unit at The Legal Aid Society. “These residents should not have to risk injury, miss school, or depend on being physically carried just to access their homes. Federal, state, and local laws require housing providers to ensure equal access for tenants with disabilities, and we are seeking immediate relief to force this landlord to comply.”
Tenant complaints in the lawsuit include a child who uses a wheelchair missing school because she could not safely leave the building when the superintendent was unavailable to carry her downstairs; her mother suffering back injuries from repeatedly carrying both her child and a heavy wheelchair up flights of stairs; a tenant developing painful sores and obtaining physical injuries after being forced to use crutches on stairs because the wheelchair lift remained broken; and a resident with arthritis forced to cross the building’s roof during elevator outages, despite dangerous tripping hazards and significant physical pain.
The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief requiring the landlord to immediately repair the wheelchair lift, properly maintain the building’s elevators, provide reliable stair-free access for tenants with disabilities, and implement accommodations during elevator outages, lawyers said.
In addition to the federal action, Legal Aid Society has filed a separate Housing Part (HP) action in New York City Housing Court addressing additional
