The Legal Aid Society has filed a lawsuit on behalf of 25 tenants residing at 2201-05 Davidson Avenue in the Bronx. The suit demands immediate action to address the litany of dangerous health and safety violations that have plagued the building and its residents for decades.

In addition to seeking immediate repairs to hazardous conditions, tenants are also calling on the City to intervene and remove the current owners, which would allow the building to be placed into the hands of a responsible third-party entity pending permanent ownership of the building as a tenant-owned co-operative building or by a non-profit organization.

“For decades, tenants of 2201-05 Davidson Ave. have suffered immensely from a near-constant onslaught of hazardous housing code violations that have severely impacted their quality of life and wellbeing,” said Russell Crane, an attorney with the Housing Justice Unit Group Advocacy at Legal Aid.  “Despite years of repeated efforts by tenants to address these concerns, the violations have been routinely ignored by the building’s landlords who simply sit back and allow the City to make repairs through its Emergency Repair Program at taxpayer expense.”

“This egregious inaction has to end, and these owners must be forced to account for their years of neglect,” he continued. “The City must take immediate action by using all available legal avenues to remove ownership from the current neglectful owners and ensure that the building’s ownership is transferred to an entity that will actually take responsibility for maintaining the building and serving its tenants.”