It produced thousands of pages of documents and information, and continued to offer more evidence of compliance. Lead poisoning is a serious and immediate problem, particularly in New York. Specifically, the agreement requires Chestnut Holdings to: Chestnut Holdings will also pay $300,000 to the OAG to fund projects that help protect children from lead poisoning. Lead is a highly toxic metal that can cause serious and irreversible adverse health effects. Unfortunately, tenants are often denied a fair chance at renting an apartment due to source-of-income discrimination, where housing vouchers are seen as less desirable forms of payment. Data analysis was handled by Senior Data Analyst Akram Hasanov, under the supervision of Research and Analytics Department Directior Jonathan Werberg and Deputy Director Megan Thorsfeldt. All rights reserved. In the lawsuit, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) identifies six specific Dalfin properties that serve as examples of the egregious and illegal lead hazard management practices used by the landlords and the poisoning of children in those properties. In 2013 Chestnut acquired the Shalom Aleichem Houses, three distressed properties made up of 15 buildings, in Van Cortland Village in the Bronx. According to a 2018 study, the city of Buffalo suffers from some of the highest rates of childhood lead exposure in the nation from poor housing conditions in old homes with lead paint. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that in 2017, 715 children in Erie County under six years of age tested with blood lead levels between 5 and 9 g/dL, and 415 children tested with blood lead levels of 10 g/dL or higher. Mehdi Bolour faces 25 criminal charges over illegally rented Hollywood building, More than 1,000 children in public housing have had high levels of lead since 2012, Landlord groups say lead poisoning laws will hurt affordable housing, Chestnut Holdings buys Bronx-centric 19-building retail portfolio, High Street, Daiwa bring resi to River Oaks, St. Charles revamp of torched resort takes center stage in local City Hall races, LIV plans massive resi project in Fort Worth, KBS deal to sell Union Bank Plaza to Joel Schreiber delayed for 9th time. )D Lead paint in residential housing has been a pervasive problem for decades, particularly in New York. Chestnut Holdings is dedicated to visually and culturally enriching our Bronx neighborhood. In addition, since 2013, at least 63 of these houses have been cited by county and city inspectors for housing code violations, either for conditions conducive to lead poisoning, which are prohibited by the Erie County Sanitary Code, or for chipping, peeling, or deteriorating paint, which is prohibited by both the county and city. The lawsuit, filed in October 2021, alleged that Kiggins and Endzone endangered the health of its tenants, primarily children, by repeatedly violating lead paint laws and failing to properly address related hazards. Nathaniel Ari Weisbrot, Esq. I thank Attorney General James and our partners at Onondaga County for helping us put a stop to the bad practices of John Kiggins and Endzone Properties once and for all, said Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh. Google Translate cannot translate all types of documents, and it may not give you an exact translation all the time. I thank the attorney general for pursuing justice and reaching this settlement on behalf of tenants who have faced dangerous conditions as a result of Chestnut Holdings' negligence, and am glad to see that, as a result, more children and families can be protected against hazards in their homes., I applaud Attorney General Letitia James for having taken infamous Bronx-based landlord Chestnut Holding to task and reached a settlement agreement that will make them fully comply with our city's existing childhood lead poisoning prevention laws, said State Senator Gustavo Rivera. hUmo0+jlNH4t : C Legal Services NYC, a non-profit offering free civil legal services to low-income individuals, claims that Chestnut Holdings brokers denied housing to eight New Yorkers after these tenants revealed they would be paying their rent with vouchers. CHESTNUT HOLDINGS INC. Email | Print | Comments (0) No. The Office of Attorney General does not make any promises, assurances, or guarantees as to the accuracy of the translations provided. Chestnut Chestnut purchased its first building in the Bronx in 1997, and still owns that property today a testament to the firms long-term commitment to enhancing and effectively managing its properties. Any landlord or group that fails to address properties that contain these dangerous levels of lead need to be held accountable, and I commend the Attorney General for taking action., I have seen the impact of lead poisoning on members of my own family, and one of my proudest moments as a legislator was the creation of a pilot program to expand educational intervention services for children who suffer from lead poisoning, said Erie County Legislature Chair April N. M. Baskin. Upon revealing that she would be paying her rent with the voucher, the broker shut down the conversation and said, Oh, were not taking those.. A group of eight New Yorkers is suing a Bronx real estate company for allegedly refusing to accept housing vouchers as rent payment. I am holding Endzone fully accountable for their deplorable and illegal actions, and I will continue to use the full force of my office to uphold the laws that protect our children from lead poisoning.. Aaron Carr, whose tenant watchdog group Housing Rights Initiative is also suing Chestnut for deregulating apartments in buildings receiving tax benefits, said that James is proving to be the most proactive attorney general combatting unlawful real estate practices.. agreement resolving her lawsuit against landlord John Kiggins and his company, Endzone Properties, Inc., for failing to protect children from lead paint hazards in Syracuse. Initiating evictions of tenants in lead-poisoned houses in violation of New York law. Additionally, Chestnut Holdings has repeatedly certified in new leases that it has complied with the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Acts turnover requirements, even though it had not done so. Our intention is to deepen our understanding and connection to nature and weave it into the daily life of our communitys residents. According to a complaint her office filed today, Chestnut Holdings repeatedly exposed children to lead paint and fraudulently certified that it had complied with the law passed to prevent that. Elevated blood lead levels are also more prevalent in Buffalos low-income neighborhoods than high-income neighborhoods. View Case; Cited Cases; ALEJANDRO HUGGINS, on behalf of himself and others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. forms until after the February 18 deadline had passed, and (2) did not receive any text message notice about this lawsuit, Decl. As Buffalo continues to have some of the highest rates of childhood lead poisoning in the country, my office will continue to hold bad actors responsible. Any future violation of the law by Chestnut Holdings will violate the agreement and subject the company to possible legal action by the OAG. According to the complaint, 600 children in Chestnut Holdings buildings are under the age of six and receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, colloquially known as food stamps. Anyone relying on information obtained from Google Translate does so at his or her own risk. The health impacts of lead paint in rental housing are particularly acute in the Buffalo region, where children who live in communities of color are 12 timesas likely than children who live in predominately white neighborhoods to be diagnosed with an elevated blood lead level. This is the second time the property management company is being sued for housing discrimination. The New York attorney general is filing a lawsuit against a Bronx-based property management company for violations of the city's Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act. NYC Realty Company Discriminates Against Moms With Vouchers: Attorney General James Shuts Down Syracuse Landlord 216(b). 1037 (PAC). All New Yorkers in every city, village, and town across this state have a right to live in homes that dont make them sick, said Attorney General James. Using shell companies to avoid complying with city rental registration requirements; Failing to comply with city and state property management and real estate broker licensing requirements; Conducting business in New York without authority to do so from the Department of State; and. The Judge overseeing this case is John Preston Bailey. Welcome to Chestnut Holdings - Chestnut Holdings Understanding Recent Changes to New Yorks Gun Laws, Repeated and Persistent Violations Result in Continuing Health Risks, Dozens of Reported Childhood Lead Poisonings. There is no looking the other way. This particular plaintiff was forced to remain in a homeless shelter for seven more months after the incident with Chestnut. Commitment to the Community This group of landlords and property managers put low-income Buffalo communities at extreme risk, and today we are holding them accountable. Tens of thousands of rental properties in Buffalo that were constructed before 1978 contain lead paint which, if not properly maintained and managed, can cause lead poisoning. The landlords frequently allowed paint on their properties to deteriorate to the point of being a lead hazard instead of preventing deterioration of paint, as required by local and state building codes, and only addressed the lead hazard after a lead-poisoned child was discovered. Plaintiff Huggins brings this action on himself and all similarly situated current and former employees pursuant to the FLSA and NYLL. This settlement shows that victories against lead poisoning are not only possible, but imperative. Attorney General James thanks the City of New York and the New York State Homes and Community Renewal for their assistance with data collection during the investigation. Todays agreement, negotiated in partnership with Onondaga County and the City of Syracuse, permanently bans Kiggins and Endzone from managing or owning residential rental properties in the state of New York. AG files suit against property management company for An attorney representing Chestnut Holdings responded to this lawsuit saying the company has fully and completely cooperated with the Attorney General's Office in its lead paint investigation. Attorney General James thanks HPD for its assistance in this and other related ongoing investigations. On February 6, 2018, Plaintiff Huggins filed a civil lawsuit in the United States District Court Southern District of New York against CHESTNUT HOLDINGS OF NEW The passage of the New York City Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act in 2004 made it possible to systematically and equitably erase lead hazards in housing across the city and promised to end childhood lead poisoning by 2010. The Office of Attorney General does not make any promises, assurances, or guarantees as to the accuracy of the translations provided. b``$@z'@ e1 She's passionate about the future of work and helping Latin American freelancers achieve time, location, and financial freedom. In September 2020, she sued a group of Buffalo individuals and companies for repeated violations of city, county, state, and federal laws by illegally allowing lead paint-related hazards to proliferate in their rental properties.