Archinect - News

Brooklyn tenants reject landlord's plan to install facial recognition system

2019-05-09T09:00:00-04:00

Last year, residents of Atlantic Plaza Towers, a rent-stabilized apartment building in Brooklyn, found out that their landlord was planning to replace the key fob entry system with facial recognition technology. [...] But some residents were immediately alarmed by the prospect: They felt the landlord’s promise of added security was murky at best, and didn’t outweigh their concerns about having to surrender sensitive biometric information to enter their own homes.

"Housing complexes of low-income residents may be one early testing ground for residential applications of facial recognition technology," writes Tanvi Misra for CityLab. "But they’re not the only ones. Amazon’s doorbell company, Ring, is coming out with a video doorbell that incorporates facial recognition, which has the ACLU worried about the risk of high-tech profiling of 'suspicious' persons."

Corrupt NYC landlord ordered to pay a record $8M to tenants and sentenced to 1 year at Rikers

2017-12-22T14:31:00-05:00

In the summer of 2016, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman charged Croman with 20 felonies, including harassing tenants at rent-regulated apartments within his various properties as well as falsifying rental income in order to secure as much as $45 million in financing. This fall, Croman plead guilty to charges of grand larceny, tax fraud, and an additional fraud charge relating to false statements.

The notorious Manhattan landlord Steve Croman, who owned nearly 150 buildings across the city, has agreed to pay $8 million to his former tenants, the largest-ever settlement with an individual landlord in the state. Additionally, he has been sentenced to serve one year of jail time at Rikers Island.

In recent years, New York lawmakers have been pushing for stricter laws to crack down on abusive landlords. Back in August, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed an 18-law package that aims to protect tenants from harassment by landlords and make it easier for residents to take abusive building owners to court. They also increase punishments and enforce laws against dangerous and illegal construction.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has echoed these efforts, emphasizing that his office has zero tolerance for landlords who try to boost their profits while disregarding the wellbeing of their tenants. Croman, who would push out rent-regulated tenants by turning off their electricity, removing wa...

Berlin approves rent cap law to curb its skyrocketing rents

2015-06-02T13:42:00-04:00

Berlin has become the first city in Germany in which rent-control legislation has come into force in a bid to put the breaks on some of the fastest rising rents in Europe. From Monday, landlords in the capital will be barred from increasing rents by more than 10% above the local average. Such controls were already in place for existing tenants but have now been extended to new contracts. “[...] the difference between the rent paid in existing contracts and new contracts is so high [...]”

Open data's potential & challenges to boost tenants’ rights activism

2015-05-11T17:54:00-04:00

Open data, and the interactive mapping and data visualization that can come of it, has become a de facto engagement and storytelling tool among contemporary journalists, social justice activists, and civic-minded technologists. But despite its allure, open data’s potential for fostering civic engagement and creating transparency and dialogue is plagued by issues of usability, access, and quality control.

Should tenants pay for earthquake retrofitting costs?

2014-02-25T20:17:00-05:00

The city of Los Angeles is considering a proposal from Councilman Bernard Parks that would pass the cost of retrofitting apartment buildings on to tenants. Currently, only 50% of major renovation costs may be passed along to tenants, with landlords and building owners paying the cost of retrofitting.