Fires, floods, and other emergencies displace numerous New Yorkers each year, often leaving them separated from their communities and uncertain about returning home. Estella Singleton's experience exemplifies this struggle, as she faced relocation after a fire uprooted her life. The City Council's Back Home Act aims to address these issues by implementing stricter penalties on negligent landlords and ensuring displaced tenants are relocated within their neighborhoods. The Act also seeks to limit landlords' ability to collect insurance indefinitely and compels the Department of Buildings to provide repair timelines.
Every year, thousands of New Yorkers displaced by fires, floods, or other catastrophic events wrestle with similar challenges. People forced out of their homes, oftentimes with just the clothes they have on their backs, are separated from their communities and left in the dark about the status of repairs or whether they'll even be able to return to their apartments.
The Back Home Act also mandates that the Department of Housing, Preservation and Development (HPD), which helps displaced tenants with temporary housing after an emergency, relocate them within their own neighborhoods.
The City Council's recently-passed Back Home Act aims to change that by better supporting tenants who are displaced by emergencies.
It will put stiffer penalties on building owners who drag out repairs by strengthening enforcement of the 7A program, which allows the city to take over managing buildings when landlords fail to address serious issues.
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