by Natasha B. | Apr 5, 2023 | CMS in the News, News
April 3, 2023
By Ethan Marshall
Photo by Ethan Marshall, Jackson Heights Post
Tenants of the Jackson Heights apartment building at 94-16 34th Road were joined by representatives from the Right to Counsel NYC Coalition (RTCNYC) and Catholic Migration Services on April 3 for a rally demanding safer living conditions and a statewide right to counsel.
The rally outside the Queens Housing Court in Jamaica marked the second held by the tenants in just over a month.
With the building’s tenants being predominantly low-and-middle-income people of Hispanic descent, they held the rally to bring attention to the poor living conditions that has put the health and safety of the building’s residents for the last 30 years. Additionally, they are uplifting their case to call for the passage of legislation-Statewide Right to Counsel (A1493-Joyner/S2721-May) for all New York state residents in any type of case that could result in eviction.
When the tenants and landlord met at their Feb. 27 court appearance, an agreement was ultimately reached to arrange access for maintenance to complete the repairs. However, the landlord’s workers frequently didn’t show up on certain access dates, according to the tenants. This has led to unresolved repairs, including insufficient heat and a malfunctioning elevator.
According to one of the tenants, Wanda Martinez, in her 30 years living at the building, she’s seen it change from owner to owner without any of the violations being addressed. She credits the Catholic Migration Services for helping the tenants organize and get the case to court.
“The first time [we were here] we established dates of access so that they can come in and start the repairs,” Martinez said. “They showed up to some, but didn’t show up to others, so we’re back here to negotiate. We’re going to give the [landlord] one more time to do what they have to do before we approach the judge and let them see that there is no good faith and that we may have to present a court case.”
Martinez said that the feedback she has received from the Catholic Migration Services attorney representing them, as well as the willingness of tenants to discuss their problems, has led her to determine April 3 as being an ultimatum date for the landlord.
According to Catholic Migration Services attorney Sarah Hainbach, there has been an agreement to a May 31 deadline of getting the building’s issues fixed. If the issues are not resolved by then, the tenants would sue the landlord.
“The landlord and the tenants agreed to a settlement today,” Hainbach said. “They agreed to all the repairs being completed by May 31, 2023. We’re hoping that’s what happens.”
Photo by Ethan Marshall, Jackson Heights Post
“Our thing is to get our repairs done, to have a good quality of life and not to be at a war with the owner,” Martinez said. “We understand that it’s his property, but we live in it and we deserve a good quality of life.”
In addition to repair issues like a lack of heat and hot water and the failure to address the building’s broken elevator in a timely manner, other factors leading to the tenants’ legal action include the failure to address mold and pests in the building. Additionally, the landlord attempted to pressure tenants to sign illegal leases without offering them new correct leases as well as harassing them by showing up at tenant association meetings and banging on their doors without warning.
A representative from the office of Assembly member Jessica González-Rojas was also on hand to read a statement she provided. In the statement, González-Rojas voiced her support for the tenants.
“No one should have to experience harassment at home,” Assemblymember González-Rojas said in her statement. “It is outrageous that the landlord has not provided the tenants with the renewal leases and that the repairs are not being completed since [the workers] are failing to show up on the dates arranged. Everyone deserves dignified housing and it’s clear that the tenants are not receiving that from the landlord. I urge the landlord to correct these issues immediately and stand and will continue to stand with the tenants of 94-16 34th Rd. until the repairs and needs are met.”
According to Catholic Migration Services Tenant Organizer Bryan Fotino, the landlord will be held accountable for doing the bare minimum in getting the repairs done before the deadline. If the work is not done by May 31, he said they plan to file a lawsuit against the landlord in contempt.
Photo by Ethan Marshall, Jackson Heights Post
“We are also out here in support of statewide right to counsel,” Fotino said. “We have been up in Albany working with state legislators to support this statewide right to counsel legislation. It would not only expand right to counsel throughout New York State, but it would also cover affirmative cases. Tenants who have repair issues will now have a lawyer who can support them as they’re filing their cases to sue their landlord. It’s been very important for the tenants to have the support of CMS legal team, helping them file out paperwork, helping them magnify their voices, helping answer questions about their rights. What this law would do is expand that for everyone.”
by Natasha B. | Aug 31, 2022 | CMS in the News, News
Photo: Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens
August 29, 2022
By Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens
Yesterday, Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens, Catholic Migration Services, and the St. Charles Borromeo Parishioner volunteers welcomed over 140 migrants and asylum seekers at an information session and lunch at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Downtown Brooklyn. Since July, over 220 asylum seekers have come to Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens Community Outreach Center in Brooklyn seeking assistance. To welcome them, provide support, and help them settle in further, we teamed up with Catholic Migration Services for a Spanish-language informational session that addressed deportation, ICE, change of address and applying for Asylee status.
Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens also provided small produce boxes with fresh fruit, loaves of bread, toiletry/food bags, COVID test kits, socks, masks and other necessities. The St. Charles Borromeo volunteers donated and served lunch for the attendees. Additional Catholic Charities social service staff were in attendance with information and resources.
Media Coverage:
For over 124 years, Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens, through its social services arm, Catholic Charities Neighborhood Services, Inc., has been providing quality social services to the neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens and currently offers 160-plus programs and services for children, youth, adults, older adults, and those struggling with mental illness. Since 1975, Catholic Charities Progress of Peoples Development Corporation, the affordable housing developer of Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens, has been transforming vacant land and buildings into affordable housing units and transforming the lives of individuals and families, and completed more than 4,450 units with supportive services for seniors, families, veterans and the formerly homeless. Since the pandemic began, Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens has provided much-needed food packages and services at 56 Catholic Charities parish-based food pantries and has distributed over $8.5 million in food assistance. Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens continues to deliver crucial mental health counseling, housing services, family services and early childhood education and COVID vaccines at a variety of locations. For more information, please visit www.ccbq.org.
by Natasha B. | Aug 8, 2022 | CMS in the News, News
AUGUST 5, 2022 / 11:25 PM / CBS NEW YORK
BY MARCIA KRAMER, ALI BAUMAN
NEW YORK — A red state, blue state border war has erupted after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent dozens of migrants to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, taking advantage of New York City’s right to shelter law as he fights with President Joe Biden over immigration policy.
Mayor Eric Adams is furious, CBS2’s Marcia Kramer reported Friday.
The Port Authority Bus Terminal became the scene of the crime – what city officials think is a political crime by Abbott.
The Texas governor bused over 40 migrants – men, women and children – to New York City, his new drop-off location, to remove them from border towns in a challenge to the Biden administration’s open border policies.
“Governor Greg Abbott is continuing to play with the lives of human beings. We think this is cruel, it’s disgusting and it’s pure cowardice,” said Manuel Castro, commissioner of the mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.
A spokesperson for Adams called the move “an embarrassing stain on the state of Texas,” but stressed that as a right to shelter city, he would welcome the asylum seekers with open arms.
In a statement, Adams’ press secretary Fabien Levy said, “… but we are asking for resources to help do so. We need Washington, D.C.’s assistance in dealing with the cruel political games being played by inept politicians like the governor of Texas.”
Abbott has been busing migrants to Washington, D.C. but said New York City will be a new location.
“New York City is the ideal destination for these migrants, who can receive the abundance of city services and housing that Mayor Eric Adams has boasted about within in the sanctuary city. I hope he follows through on his promise of welcoming all migrants with open arms so that our overrun and overwhelmed border towns can find relief,” Abbott said in a statement.
Castro said some of the migrants were confused to arrive in the Big Apple and relief workers who met the buses said many had no idea they were coming to New York City.
“I spoke to another family who thought were coming to Maryland, and in fact, their paperwork from immigration says that they were going to these destinations, but they were lied to in Texas and now they’re being sent to New York City,” Castro said.
“Some of them weren’t even supposed to be in New York. I mean there’s people going to Portland, Oregon. We had to get them tickets to North Carolina, Washington, D.C. and all sorts of other places. So they were kind of inappropriately brought to New York,” said relief worker Andrea Garbarini.
Kathryn Kliff, a legal aid attorney, said she’s also worried that Abbott sent people here against their will.
“By their own choice, have endured horrific things before they got here and this is just an additional trauma to be sent somewhere that’s not where you want to be,” Kliff said.
CBS2’s Ali Bauman spoke with a 44-year-old single father of three from Venezuela who wants to stay anonymous because he fears for his safety.
He has been staying in Queens with his three sons since they arrived a few days ago.
In Spanish, he spoke about their journey.
“I spent five days in the jungle from Colombia to Panama,” he said. “I got robbed, all my food and money was taken, so my kids and I spent two days in the jungle with no food.”
Eventually, they made it to Texas.
“This charity in Texas sent us a voucher so we could fly from Texas to Chicago to New York,” he said.
He added he feels blessed to have shelter, food and fresh clothing here, and he and his children say they’re excited about the future.
This father is one of the 4,000 migrants seeking asylum who have come to New York City this summer.
Adams, meanwhile, is now turning to the federal government for more resources.
“We already have a housing crisis. Help us here because not only it’s housing, it’s translation services, it’s education, it is food,” he said.
The city is helped by nonprofits like Catholic Migration Services in Brooklyn, which provides legal services.
“We have the knowledge to help them. We just need more resources to be able to,” said Raluca Oncioiu, an attorney with Catholic Migration Services’ immigration program.
She says they’re now receiving hearing notices for immigration court for people who are not their clients and they cannot contact.
“A number of them have told us that it was the officers at the border who put the address on the papers,” she said. “Processes that have been put in place to ensure that people have their day in court, that they can actually seek asylum, those processes are being bypassed.”
The city says it is increasing its capacities across the board for additional beds in the shelter system, as well as interpreters and legal services.
Legal Aid is asking Adams and Castro to provide a plan for addressing the needs of the migrants who have arrived here.
Read the original story on CBS News New York: Mayor Adams furious after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent dozens of migrants to New York City against their will
