Tag: Urban Affairs

Sep 30

2025

Buffalo’s Housing Court: Fewer fines, lax collections

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The City of Buffalo over the past six years has failed to collect $6.5 million in Housing Court fines that could help to address the city’s budget deficits.  Since January 2020, Housing Court judges have issued $7,024,200 in fines, according to data Investigative Post obtained from the New York State Office of Court Administration. The city has collected $481,500, or 8.5 percent of the fines issued. And between 2017 and 2019, the city failed to collect another $6.8 million in Housing Court fines, according to city records. That’s more than $13 million the city has left on the table over[...]

Posted 2 weeks ago

Aug 12

2025

Absentee landlord hit with historic fine

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The Elmwood Heights Apartments are for sale as former owner faces record fines. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel. The absentee owner of a Buffalo apartment complex may soon be hit with the largest fine ever imposed by Buffalo Housing Court. On July 23, Housing Court Judge Phillip Dabney issued a $1.3 million judgment against Elmwood Heights LLC, the owner of the now-vacant Elmwood Heights Apartments at 597-605 Elmwood Ave., at the corner of Lexington Ave. The three-story, 49-unit apartment complex, which has been in Housing Court since 2018, was condemned in March 2023 by the city for unsafe living conditions, with[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Jul 23

2025

More delays in creating Buffalo Housing Court panel

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Plans to reinstate the Buffalo Housing Court Advisory Council — which, despite being written into law, has been inactive for over three decades — seem to have stalled yet again.  The state judicial system says not enough people have shown interest in joining the council, which is intended to monitor Housing Court, make recommendations to the judge, hold quarterly meetings and produce annual reports.  Meanwhile, community members say the courts have done a poor job of advertising the search for applicants. “It shouldn’t be shocking that you don’t get a lot of applicants if you don’t actually make the position[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Jun 3

2025

Protesting city inaction on lead poisoning

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Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, executive director of the Partnership for the Public Good (center) joined by community advocates and state elected officials Jon Rivera (left) and April Baskin (right). Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel Local housing advocates and elected officials are condemning Buffalo’s failure to spend over three-quarters of a $2 million federal grant dedicated to removing toxic lead paint from city homes.  Meanwhile, proposed state legislation aims to pressure landlords to clean their property of lead when identified by housing inspectors.  Investigative Post reported last week that the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency to date has only spent  $479,481 of the $2[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Mar 27

2025

A new approach to East Side development

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Henry Louis Taylor of UB presents plans for Census Tract 166. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel Census Tract 166 — an economically devastated community situated in the heart of the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood — will be ground zero for a new approach to revitalizing the East Side. The census tract is peppered with 1,300 vacant lots, more than any other neighborhood in the city.  Only 25 percent of its adult residents work, according to 2022 US census estimates. More than a quarter of its households live below the poverty level. Henry Taylor, director of the University at Buffalo’s Center for Urban Studies,[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Mar 4

2025

An unusual housing discrimination case

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For only the third time in the past decade the City of Buffalo is using its fair housing law to sue a landlord and his property manager. The city usually prosecutes negligent property owners in City Housing Court, but for reasons officials refuse to discuss, the landlord was never taken to Housing Court despite a history of repeated code violations. The case involves a property at 323 Dewey Ave. in northeast Buffalo. The lawsuit contends mold inside the house caused health problems for tenant Zakkiyya Carter and her underaged son. The city is suing Kapil Verma, his company Vaastu Energy[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Feb 11

2025

Preservationist fined for housing code violations

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A cottage at 1029 West Ave.  formerly owned by Bernice Radle. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel Bernice Radle, 38, is a preservationist who finds herself in the awkward position of being fined $13,500 by Housing Court. The reason: She failed to correct code violations on a West Side property she intended, but failed to renovate. Radle, executive director at Preservation Buffalo-Niagara, doesn’t dispute the code violations, but she does question the fines. She said the city’s inspections department, court, or both, have failed to maintain updated records related to the property and for some time sent her notifications to an old[...]

Posted 8 months ago

Jan 17

2025

Judge tosses lead lawsuit against Buffalo

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Community groups last February rally in front of City Hall for more funding for lead inspections. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel A judge has dismissed a lawsuit that contended the City of Buffalo is failing to enforce a law that mandates inspection of rental units for the presence of lead paint. Partnership for the Public Good and three other community organizations filed the lawsuit last July against the city and the Department of Permits and Inspections. It claimed a failure to fully implement the rental inspections law contributed to substandard living conditions for city residents and increased risks for lead poisoning[...]

Posted 9 months ago
Investigative Post