Viewpointe at Shingle Creek Apartments in Brooklyn Center was recently purchased by a local non-profit developer at HUD’s last foreclosure sale. Read more details in this MN Public Radio story.
Tenant protections (including the right to organize and protection from unlimited rent increases) were first threatened in early 2010, when HUD removed them in order to attract buyers for the building that had gone into foreclosure. The high bidder at the first foreclosure sale the spring of 2011 was Emmanuel Ku, a New York landlord, infamous for repeated housing violations and disrepair in many of his buildings. With the prospect of this purchase, tenants feared a future of increased rents, probable neglect, and fewer rights to fight either problem.
HOME Line organizers worked with tenants and organizational partners to fight HUD’s decisions to retract tenant protections and allow a landlord with a bad track record to purchase the building. Their efforts were met with success when a well-reputed, local, non-profit developer purchased the building with the intention to keep rents low and extend protections through 2019, the original contract period.
