Former residents of 441 Wilson Avenue, along with community supporters and local organizations, gathered to protest and demand justice for the “displacement and trauma” they have suffered after three building fires and a subsequent vacate order. The rally, which took place November 20th, highlighted the ongoing battle for housing rights in Bushwick.
The residents of 441 Wilson Avenue, a building that housed mostly young people and single mothers, were displaced after a full vacate order was issued by the building’s owner. This action left them ‘without homes and without access to their belongings’. The vacate order has been in place for almost a year, and the residents have been in a legal battle suing ownership for ‘appropriate compensation for the trauma’ they have endured as a result.
Several local leaders and community organizations voiced support for the tenants at the rally, including Council Member Sandy Nurse and representatives from Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez, Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, and State Senator Julia Salazar’s offices. Council Member Sandy Nurse declared, “After almost a year of displacement, the tenants at 441 Wilson Avenue deserve better. Since March, my office has assisted these residents through a maze of bureaucracy while they continue to be locked out of their own homes. I cannot and will not stand by and allow private equity firms like The Raisner Group to systematically push out everyday, long time residents who have called Bushwick home for years. I am standing with these tenants today to affirm that we will not condone their mistreatment and we will support them in their struggle for housing justice in our district”.
Former tenant, Bailey Macejak, recounted her experience, stating, “Because of the negligence of the ownership of 441 Wilson Ave, I not only lost both of my jobs in the city, but also my home. […] My entire life got turned upside down in three weeks and no one cared at all.”
Other residents are also engaged in a legal battle with the owner and management company, seeking compensation and access to their belongings. Angel Kaba, another former resident, shared, “My daughter is sad, she will cry sometime at night, […] She said she doesn’t want to be homeless, she wants to have a normal life. As a single mom, I feel so helpless, it’s very challenging”.
Alyssa Sanders, a Staff Attorney with Community Services, noted, “Right now we’ve been in continued settlement conversations. We have been asking and we’ve been very clear about what we’re looking for for Angel. Angel’s really great about communicating what she needs and being really vocal and present, which I deeply appreciate from a client,because it makes it easier to give her what she needs… the landlord for months was unwilling to provide her any offers that reflected the thing she was asking for, and continued not only to disrespect her by providing offers that were not reflective of what she was asking for, but making snide comments about who she was, her moral character, things like that. which was really ironic coming from somebody who, you know, has a building where their tenants are out and have such immense trauma from three fires in the course of about a month, month and a half. so they were providing settlement offers for a while that really were not reflective of her and what she was asking for. They finally have started producing offers that are incorporating her needs”.
Despite the difficult circumstances, the residents of 441 Wilson have found strength in their community and are working together to ‘fight for what they deserve‘. Grace Landefeld, a former resident of Unit C2, said, “Living in this building has created a never-ending nightmare for all of us. We’re young people, students, and mothers—the majority of us living on our own and in difficult financial situations. […] I’m so grateful for the other tenants of this building though. We lifted each other up and supported each other through these unbelievably traumatic events—we were helping each other move, document, make calls, whatever we needed to do to protect each other”.
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