Tag: Housing

Dec 14

2022

City Hall and the House from Hell

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The boarded-up house on Arkansas Street stands as a testament to City Hall’s ineptitude in dealing with urban blight. Not one, but two people — suspected drug users — have died inside the abandoned house since Sept. 26. That followed years of housing code violations and frequent complaints from neighbors about drug use and other quality of life issues. A maintenance man alerted police when the first man overdosed, but officers didn’t go inside to check on him, according to neighbors and police reports. That didn’t happen until eight days later, when neighbors called police again because of the stench[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Nov 10

2022

Podcast: Reporting on evictions

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On Thursday, Investigative Post reported on the number of eviction warrants issued in Buffalo City Court, more than 3,700 this year alone. Across Erie County, primarily in Buffalo, landlords have moved to evict tenants in numbers greater than anywhere else in the state, save for Kings County, which encompasses Brooklyn. Reporter I’Jaz Ja’ciel sat down with Garrett Looker, host of our podcast series, to discuss her reporting. You can watch the interview via our YouTube channel or listen to it as a podcast.  

Posted 1 year ago

Nov 1

2022

Activists seek renter protections

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Responding to a spike in rents, Buffalo housing activists Tuesday called on City Hall to take steps to provide more affordable housing and protect tenants from bad landlords. Citing a 16 percent increase in rents since 2020, housing advocates and tenants hand-delivered documents to Common Council members asking for action on four fronts: Limiting evictions for just cause, such as nonpayment of rent or lease violations.  Requiring landlords to make repairs in a timely fashion. Mandating targeted rent controls to ensure a supply of affordable rental housing.  Establishing a $1 million revolving loan program to help low-income renters and homeowners.[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Jan 20

2016

Quick Hit: Greenleaf update

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Buffalo State’s college newspaper, The Record, provided the owner of Greenleaf and Co. a forum to criticize Dan Telvock’s investigation of his business operations. The newspaper also gave Buffalo State officials an opportunity to explain why they support Greenleaf’s off-campus student housing project. But not everything they said passed the fact checker. Read Telvock’s “Quick Hit” in the Public.

Posted 8 years ago

Nov 11

2015

Housing firm has checkered history

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A landlord working with Buffalo State College to build off-campus student housing has a history of renting apartments with leaky ceilings, electrical hazards and insufficient heat. Take 353 Bird Ave., for example. The ceiling in the downstairs dining room has been stained for a couple of years from a leak that tenants believe comes from an upstairs toilet. The ceiling has collapsed on at least two tenants during that time, including Elizabeth Coffie. “It looked like colored rain and the smell was awful,” she said. Rather than fixing the problem, she said, the landlord simply replaced the ceiling tile. The[...]

Posted 8 years ago
Investigative Post

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