Press Releases

Roosevelt Island, NY – Today forty-nine 4-year-olds will be able to attend free pre-kindergarten at Roosevelt Island Day Nursery thanks to the advocacy from Council Member Ben Kallos, organizing by Roosevelt Island Parents Network, and last minute intervention from Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation.

Roosevelt Island Parents Network’s Eva Bosbach and Susana del Campo helped to organize a list of more than 90 families that agreed to send their children to Universal Pre-Kindergarten on Roosevelt Island. Council Member Kallos reached out to every Pre-Kindergarten and childcare provider on Roosevelt Island and the East Side to ask them to participate in Universal Pre-Kindergarten. Roosevelt Island Day Nursery led by Executive Director Pamela Stark was the only provider on Roosevelt Island to stand up for their community to serve their needs. Council Member Kallos helped Roosevelt Island Day Nursery through the bureaucratic Department of Education application process through approval. Once approval was obtained an obstacle arose that Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation’s President Susan Rosenthal was able remedy leading to the on-time opening of Roosevelt Island Day Nursery to serve forty-nine 4-year olds on Roosevelt Island.

New York, NY – Artists and community groups seeking a space to perform or meet would be able to search and rent city-owned or operated spaces online under “City Spaces” legislation authored by Council Member Ben Kallos with Council Members Jimmy Van Bramer, Laurie Cumbo and Helen Rosenthal. The Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) that  manages a large portfolio of the city’s properties, will be required to post all suitable properties and accompanying information to a publicly accessible website where artists or anyone can rent municipal spaces.

Fair and Complete Tenant Screening Reports Would Protect Renters Who Have Been in Court from Being Targeted by Landlords and Refused Apartments

New York, NY – Tenant screening companies which create so called “tenant blacklists” would be regulated to ensure they provide fair and complete information, including court records that show when tenants were in the right. This added level of scrutiny will lessen the number of prospective tenants who in many cases are repeatedly denied a place to live merely because they were involved in a housing court case. This legislation is authored by Council Members Ben Kallos, introduced with Public Advocate Leticia James and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, with support from Assembly Member Daniel O’Donnell and State Senator Liz Krueger.
 
Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers named in housing court cases every year are reported to be on “tenant blacklists.” These “blacklists” are created by screening reports sold by companies along with credit reports and are often used to deny applications to renters. Tenant screening companies who provide a list of those named in housing court cases without any indication of the particulars or outcome of the case include: CoreLogic SafeRent, TransUnion Rental Screening Solution, On-Site, and ALM. This legislation would license these companies and require them to provide the necessary details of housing court cases such as the outcome and who initiated the proceedings in order to protect tenants who were in the right from being “blacklisted,” a frightening prospect for anyone looking for an apartment in an already tough renters market.
 
The legislation requires anyone who assembles or evaluates screening reports which contain court histories to register and obtain a license from the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) and requires the following:

• Each housing court case mentioned must contain the names of all parties involved, the claims alleged, the current status or outcome of the case, and which party initiated the case;
• Tenant screening companies will have to state the defenses asserted by the tenant and the specific outcome of the case, including any rent abatement awarded.
• The Department of Consumers Affairs is tasked with enforcement with civil penalties of $500 per report inaccurate report and fines for non-compliance up to $5,000.
• Anyone who believes they have been harmed by an inaccurate screening report could bring their own case in court.

 “No one should face discrimination for having exercised their constitutional right to seek justice in the courts. Tenant screening companies have a responsibility to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but truth about house court cases,” said Council Member Ben Kallos. “We can't have a legal system where someone can be vindicated in housing court against a bad landlord and then repeatedly denied a place to live. Tenant blacklists degrade housing court and create a system where even if you win, you lose.”
 
 

The Department of Investigation's independent report confirms the influence of lobbyists in the lifting of deed restrictions at Rivington and that the interest of the city was not adequately considered. The report includes many facts and findings that pose more questions which must be answered at a public hearing of the City Council.